The promising Alistair Gordon-trained three-year-old Dupont gelding Bunker Bill is being targeted at the Gr 3 Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m at Turffontein on October 31 and will certainly not be lacking support as there are a crowd of a passionate racing folk involved in the ownership syndicate behind him.

Gordon said the strikingly handsome bay’s participation in the Graham Beck would depend on the draw he lands and an alternative target would be the Listed KZN Guineas Trial over 1600m on the Greyville Turf on November 8.

He added, “He came out of his last run really well and I think he is looking for the extra distance.”

Bunker Bill was having only his third career start in that last race over 1200m at Scottsville and finished just 2,75 lengths behind the Gr 1-winner Guiness, who is an out and out sprinter. Furthermore, he was receiving only 4,5kg from Guiness, which meant he was 2kg worse off than weight for age, so it was an outstanding performance. He also had the promising newcomer Executive Power beaten by two lengths.

Further evidence of Bunker Bill’s potential is contained in his maiden victory over 1200m at Scottsville, which he won in commanding style by eight lengths on July 15 in his second career start. This race has provided one of the strongest maiden formlines of the season in KZN as the runner up African Ruler is unbeaten in two starts since, third-placed Land Of Legends has won his only start since, and fourth-placed Apollo’s Gift has won and been placed second respectively in his only two starts since.

Bunker Bill looks likely to provide fun for a group of owners who deserve a good horse as they are avid supporters of the sport.

He also has a heart-warming story behind him.

The cousins and close friends Bruce Armstrong and Peter “Pumpy” Lambert raced Bunker Bill’s dam Promise Me together with Alistair Gordon and his wife Jeannet. Under the experienced care of Gordon, Promise Me proved a consistent sort and won one race over 1450m at Clairwood, while also running several places ranging from 1200-1600m. Her career spanned three seasons from June 2008 until September 2010 and she ran 22 times.

The connections then struck a deal with breeder Mark Greene, giving her away on the condition they could in turn have her first foal for racing.

Greene was at that stage boarding his mares at the Sandown Stud farm of James and Joy Armitage in Stellenbosch.

Dupont, a son of Zafonic, has always been a good value sire having produced three stakes winners and nine stakes placed horses from 198 foals, 73% of which raced, while 45% of those runners won.

Among Dupont’s stakes winners was the Gordon-trained Lady Magpie, who won the Gr 3 King’s Cup over 1600m in 2011. Among the boys she beat that night was the subsequent J&B Met winner Martial Eagle.

Promise Me’s twice Gr 1-winning sire Labeeb was a big loss to Sumerhill Stud when passing away in 2006, having produced 12.5% stakes winners to runners, including four stakes winners and seven Black-type performers, in his first crop of just 31 foals.

James Armitage revealed that Bunker Bill was a “fantastically good looking foal from the word go.”

He appeared to be a natural and Armitage added, “When he was sent to Alistair he looked as good as any horse going to the yearling sales but hadn’t even been prepared for the sales.”

Bunker Bill has turned out to be amazingly well named. Most could be excused for believing he was named after Peter Lambert’s ebullient father Bill, who is known as KZN’s “Mr Racing” and sometimes by the nickname “Bunter.” However, the horse was in fact named after Mark Green’s father-in-law.

Peter Lambert decided to lease his share to Greyville’s “Box B”, which is usually the rowdiest box on course being frequented as it is by Peter and his twin brothers Ian and David and their equally festive friends. Gordon’s stepson “JP” Coppez and his wife Bronwyn have also taken a share. Bunker Bill therefore has a huge and passionate support base.

Meanwhile, Mark Greene has set up Ndoro Stud on leased land in Wellington, which was once the residence of the late Godfrey’s Gird’s JSE Listed Stud operation Oaklands.

He will be looking forward to the future progeny of Promise Me, which to date includes an unraced two-year-old colt by Warm White Night and a younger filly by Twice Over. Promise Me is currently in foal to Judpot.

In other Gordon yard news he confirmed that the three-year-old Argonaut gelding Beat The Retreat needed his run on Sunday at Scottsville when third to the two classy sorts Split the Breeze and Executive Power in a Graduation Plate over 1200m and added that he was looking for a lot further. Gordon believes Beat The Retreat, who finished 1,5 lengths at level weights behind the Equus Champion Two-year-old colt Seventh Plain in both a Gr 2 over 1100m and a Gr 1 over 1400m last season, will go a mile or even 2000m and is targeting him at the KZN Guineas Trial.

The yard’s promising three-year-old Trippi colt Monte Christo is being aimed at handicap over 1400m at Scottsville on the 18^th of this month.

Gordon is the longest standing trainer at Summerveld and has been associated with many good horses in his time. His yard, having had an upturn in fortunes last season, look to have good prospects for this season and Bunker Bill could well be leading the charge.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Bunker Bill (Nkosi Hlophe)

The Duncan Howells-trained Mambo In Seattle gelding Saratoga Dancer proved he will be a force to be reckoned with in the Gr 2 Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile when sauntering to his fifth career win over 1600m at Scottsville yesterday in a Pinnacle Stakes event under Muzi Yeni.

Saratoga Dancer sat about five lengths off the pace and it was soon clear in the straight he was going to beat the favourite, the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Gr 1-winner Afrikaburn, who was a little headstrong early. Saratoga Dancer was receiving 4,5kg from Afrikaburn.  He won cosily by 1,5 lengths from the progressive Charles Laird-trained Stormy Eclipse, who proved himself more than just a polytrack horse as he ran at level weights with the winner. Afrikaburn was beaten two lengths into third, but will come on from the run.

Another hot race on the day was a Graduation Plate over 1200m in which the Charles Laird-trained 11/2 shot, the four-year-old Brave Tin Soldier gelding Split The Breeze, returned from a four month layoff to produce a strong finish under Anton Marcus and overtake the second favourite, the Mike Miller-trained Executive Power, who was having only his third start and is full of promise. The Alistair Gordon-trained Gr 3 runner up and Gr 1 fifth placed Beat The Retreat started favourite but proved just in need of the run and was 3,5 lengths behind the winner in third.

Mark Dixon had a 1950m double on the card, winning a maiden with the Mogok gelding Red Red Ruby under Athandiwe Mgudlwa and a MR 70 Handicap for fillies and mares with the Eyeofthetiger filly Timeforatiger, who was ridden by Sean Veale.

Alistair Gordon’s winner of the first over 1000m, the Warm White Night three-year-old colt Sublime Code, caught the eye when winning effortlessly under Alec Forbes and looks to be a fair sort.

Forbes scored a quick double when the consistent Wendy Whitehead-trained A. P. Answer filly Hannah’s Answer won the second over 1200m.

James Goodman’s hard knocking six-year-old gelding Piano Man gave Mogok a quick double when winning the fifth over 1000m under Ian Sturgeon. It was Piano Man’s sixth career victory.

Yogas Govender had his first winner since going on his own when winning the last over 1950m with the Horse Chestnut fill Roy’s Gold and this gave Marcus a double.

*

At Longchamp in Paris Frankie Detorri was at his brilliant best when winning his fourth Gr 1 Prix de l’Arc De Triomphe, this time aboard the John Gosden-trained three-year-old Cape Cross colt Golden Horn, who has now won four Gr 1s. Golden Horn’s only blemish in eight career starts was when narrowly losing the Gr 1 Juddmonte International at York. Yesterday, Dettori stayed well wide of the pack in the first straight, probably in superior going, and this could have been the key to the win as the colt found a handy position and won full of running to deny the French filly Treve, who only managed fourth place, a record third successive win in the race.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Saratoga Dancer (Nkosi Hlophe)

TREVE proved unable to rewrite racing history when failing to make it a third win in the Arc as victory went to Golden Horn and a delirious Frankie Dettori. Flintshire finished second, as he was last year, with New Bay third and Treve fourth in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Group 1) at Longchamp yesterday.

In the end, after all the expectation and endless speculation, the outcome was remarkably clear cut.

Golden Horn had shadowed Treve’s pacemaker Shahah more closely than any of the other 15 runners and when kicked on in the straight opened up a clear gap as all eyes looked for Treve among the chasing pack.

There she was, wide and closing, but never with anything like enough momentum to threaten the winner, whose owner Anthony Oppenheimer had said, somewhat controversially, that his horse would beat Treve “easily” on fast ground.

So it turned out, with Dettori basking in the adulation of the crowd on a colt who has now won the Investec Derby, Coral-Eclipse, Qipco Irish Champion Stakes and Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

“I really believed in this horse and he put it to bed like a superstar,” said Dettori after his fourth Arc win.

“It was an amazing performance. I scratched my head all week about what to do, but I knew I was on the best horse so I wanted to make use of him and show the world just how good he really is.

“He’s probably the best horse I’ve ridden.”

Dettori caught the eye in the early stages when taking Golden Horn wide on the course, from a draw in stall 14 connections felt beforehand may prove a hindrance.

“When you’re drawn wide like we were,” said Gosden, “we had to stay wide and run our own race before slotting into the field. The plan was to do that to get him in a prominent position and it worked perfectly in the end.

“Frankie has given him a great ride – he rides this track quite beautifully.”

Gosden, winning the €5 million race for the first time, said: “It’s great to win the Arc in France, just as it is great to win the Derby in England.”

What comes next depends on how Golden Horn emerges from his exertions, but Betfred decided to introduce him as 4-5 favourite for the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on October 31.

Flintshire and New Bay both represented owner-breeder Khalid Abdullah, and they may have contrasting futures.

Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for Abdullah, said: “They have both run fantastic races, we can’t complain. They had good positions, travelled very well, kicked in the straight and did everything right. The best horse won, unfortunately!

“I think we have to think about plans quite carefully. Flintshire could be a Breeders’ Cup possibility. I would have to speak to Andre [Fabre] and the prince about what they wanted to do with New Bay. We would have to see about whether he stays in training.”

Erupt finished fifth a place in front of Free Eagle, whose rider Pat Smullen said: “They didn’t go over-fast but the way he travelled into the race I was very happy.

“When they straightened up I thought he would pick up a little bit better than he did. But he rode a very good race and stayed to the line, so overall I’m happy enough with the run.”

– Racingpost.com

Picture: Golden Horn winning the 2015 Arc (Galop)

Act Of War will attempt to follow in the talented hoofprints of Capetown Noir after smashing the Durbanville 1 400m course record on Saturday.

As did Capetown Noir – the only other horse to justify favouritism in the Kuda Matchem in the last decade – last season’s Cape Guineas winner has the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate as his target and in the meantime there is the possibility – not to put too fine a point on it – of a mouth-watering clash with Legislate and/or Futura in the Green Point Stakes on November 21.

The 1-3 hotpot was entitled to beat Saturday’s rivals with some ease and it wasn’t so much that he won that impressed but the way he did it after being off for five months, having a rushed preparation and travelling as many kilometres as a long distance lorry driver.

Anton Marcus deliberately gave him plenty to do, so much so in fact that at the 1 400m mark the disturbing thought flashed through the writer’s mind: ‘He is going to have to be Nijinsky to win from there.’ Substitute your own, more modern, equine superstar if you will but six lengths in a field at full flow is a hell of a lot. Yet the favourite did it with over 50m still to run and, what is more, he took nearly three-quarters of a second off Signal Green’s 1 min 23.8 sec record that had stood for 20 years.

It all contributed to a day to remember for owner Markus Jooste who was at his daughter’s wedding but his retained jockey recalled an even more memorable occasion when he rode the mighty Empress Club to victory in the South Easter Sprint here in 1992. She also broke the course record that day.

Marcus reckons that this was his last visit to Durbanville and he added: “Joey asked me to ride Act Of War a little more conservatively than usual because he hadn’t run for some time.

“In the race it was always my intention to wait until the last furlong, or furlong and a half, because they went a fair tempo and I wasn’t prepared to get into any sort of bunfight.”

Ramsden recalled how he had galloped the horse at Greyville a fortnight earlier when Marcus wasn’t happy with him.

He added: “I probably left it a little bit late bringing him back down from Durban and we galloped him here last Sunday. I then smashed him on the treadmill on Tuesday, giving him another strong piece of work.

“Today he looked magnificent – the best I’ve ever seen him – and he was different class. I reckon to keep him at around a mile so it’s the Green Point and the Queen’s Plate.”

Ramsden revealed that the Arc-En-Ciel bred Dynasty colt had been under consideration for the Champions Cup in July “but he ran a slight temperature. That’s the only reason we didn’t run him.”

He fitted  a tongue tie for the first time in a race, explaining: “From day one the horse has made a little bit of a noise and, as he had taken to it well, I didn’t see any reason why not to use it.”

Racing manager Derek Brugman added: “This is a bloody good horse and to win like that after what he has been through in the last couple of weeks, with the all the travelling and galloping to get him ready, is quite something.”

The Mike Bass stable is considering bringing Inara back in distance after the way Gaynor Rupert’s homebred gave the stable its second Diana Stakes in three seasons.

Candice Robinson said: “She showed a lot of pace here so maybe she will run in a sprint before going for a second Paddock and Majorca.”

Certainly Grant van Niekerk was impressed, saying: “I was never worried at any stage. I knew what I had under me and she showed what she is made of.”

By Michael Clower

Picture: Act Of War and jockey Anton Marcus in the Kuda Matchem Stakes (Liesl King)

The champion yard of Sean Tarry kicked into full stride at Turffontein yesterday as the four-year-old Trippi colt Trip To Heaven won the Gr 2 World Sports Betting Spring Challenge over 1450m under S’Manga Khumalo in impressive style. The pair later combined for a double when another four-year-old by Trippi, the 101 merit-rated Zambezi River, won a Pinnacle event over 1000m cosily, while Ormond Ferraris also scored a double, including winning the Gr 2 World Sports Betting Spring Fillies and Mares Stakes over 1450m with the crack filly Lazer Star, who was ridden by Weichong Marwing.

Down at Durbanville the Joey Ramsden-trained Act Of War and the Mike Bass-trained Inara confirmed their brilliance when respectively winning the Gr 3 Matchem Stakes under Anton Marcus and the Gr 3 Diana Stakes under Grant van Niekerk, both over1400m.

Trip To Heaven had to be reshod at the start and then stumbled shortly after jumping, but after surging to the front he settled beautifully. The brilliant Charles Laird-trained miler Ice Machine, who raided from KZN, was well in at the weights on official merit ratings under the weight for age plus penalties conditions, but did not get the pace he needed and was forced to race wide from his high draw. Trip To Heaven kicked for home superbly and when Ice Machine’s challenge petered out, it was left to the Alec Laird-trained Bouclette Top to chase him home and clinch his second Gr 2 runner up spot over this sort of trip. The Tarry-trained Whiteline Fever pipped Ice Machine for third and the Tarry-trained Halve The Deficit was fifth. Trip To Heaven now looks likely to stay the trip of the Gr 2 Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile on October 31.

Earlier, the Ormond Ferraris-trained Toreador four-year-old filly Lazer Star proved herself more than just a pure sprinter when winning the Gr 2 World Sports Betting Spring Fillies and Mares Challenge over 1450m under Weichong Marwing. She has now won seven races from just nine starts, six of them over sprints, and is fittingly owned by Marwing’s wife Anneli. Under yesterday’s weight for age conditions, she bided her time in third place behind a steady pace set by Sarve and after creeping forward in the straight she found a telling late kick to go on and win comfortably by 1,75 lengths, converting even money favouritism. Sarve, rated 103 compared to Lazer Star’s 109, held on for second ahead of the three-year-old Madame Dubois.

Ferraris had earlier sent out the Australian-bred Duke Of Marmalade mare Marmalady to score her third win on the trot in a Pinnacle Stakes event over 2200m and she looks to be a highly progressive stayer.

National log-leading jockey Andrew Fortune scored an early double and one of his winners, the three-year-old Gary Alexander-trained Kahal colt Champagne Haze, a half-brother to Piere Jourdan, had a fair bunch spread out like the washing behind him in a MR 92 handicap for three-year-olds over 1450m.

At Durbanville, the Western Cape’s Champion Three-Year-old colt from last season, the now four-year-old Dynasty colt Act Of War, sat one wide in midfield in the Matchem Stakes, which meant he was some way out of his ground on the tight course after the Justin Snaith-trained Heartland, to whom he was giving 2kg, had stolen a march down the inside. However, he came home powerfully after winding up into his big stride and beat Heartland by a comfortable 1,5 lengths, converting 1/3 odds. Charles Lytton finished third and Line Break and second favourite Sail For Gold were next best. Three of the first four are by Dynasty and Charles Lytton is by Dynasty’s half-brother Thomas Crown.

In The Diana Stakes Inara, who conceded at least 3kg to the entire field, sat in second place behind her sprint-miler stablemate Come Fly With Me. After she had eventually found top gear in the straight, she surged past to win by a length, converting odds of 5/10. Come Fly To Me was second favourite at 5/2 and finished second. Fear Not was only a head back in third, ahead of Harvard Crimson and Just Felicity.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Inara winning the Diana Stakes (Liesl King)