Benton will always be best remembered for his association with one of the country’s biggest owners Cyril Hurvitz, for whom he trained many winners.

Benton started out in racing as a jockey in 1949 and formed a life long friendship with the great KZN trainer Herman Brown Snr for whom he often rode.

He had to give up riding due to his weight, but then took out his trainer’s license in 1956.

His big break came when his doctor introduced him to Hurvitz, a millionaire businessman who had become interested in buying horses.

Hurvitz, who was powerful in character, build and in business, was behind the Bull Brand trademark and was regarded as the leader of the mighty millionaires, who included Graham Beck and Laurie Jaffee.

He was the backbone of Benton’s stable from 1958 to 1970 and again from 1978 to 1984.

Benton was KZN Champion trainer in the 1962/1963 and the 1965/1966 seasons.

Brown recalled that in those days punting was a big part of most stables and of racing in general. He said, “Buller was always under a lot of pressure training for Hurvitz, but when the money was down they won. Buller was known as a shrewdie.”

Some of the better horses in his first stint with Hurvitz were Chatham, Belligerent, Reference, Pretty Prize and Laura and three other notable horses were Phareen, Poplin and High Frequency, as they all broke their maidens in feature races.

Benton had many wonderful times with Hurvitz, who loved racing and loved to talk about it for hours. However, there was always the potential to raise his ire through stable information being leaked and eventually the pressure of training for the big man became such that Benton had to be admitted to hospital in 1970 on the edge of a breakdown and with bleeding ulcers.

They parted company, but after Hurvitz next trainer, Fred Rickaby, retired, Benton was back in favour and the partnership was renewed.

In their second stint together Benton and Hurwitz had much success with horses like Have A Fling, Frisky, Rule By The Sword, Abbey Boy and the best of them all Bold Tropic.

One of the most memorable Mercury headlines was on the morning of July 2, 1979, and said simply, “Muis Sleeps as July Fever Soars.”

The magic of the country’s premier horseracing event, the Durban July Handicap, were perfectly encapsulated in those words and it referred to Bold Tropic, who looked set to give the great jockey Michael “Muis” Roberts his first win in the big race.

Bold Tropic had come into the July with a career record of 9 wins in 14 starts. His recent wins had included the Gr 1 Richelieu (Cape) Guineas and Gr 1 Cape Derby, after which he returned to Durban and beat top older horses like Sun Tonic and Over The Air in the Drill Hall Stakes. He lost to Anytime Baby in the South African Guineas a month before the July but was still considered a certainty for the big one and was sent off as 22/10 favourite. Alas, he ran a flat race and finished unplaced. However, he went on to win seven races in the USA, including four Gr 2s.

Benton said about this Birch Brothers-bred colt by Plum Bold, “The two qualities which made him rise above his contemporaries were his highly competitive spirit and his superb action.”

In the 1982 Summer Cup Benton’s top filly Frisky was favourite, but was a difficult customer and he knew she was not up to the task with topweight, so he got her scratched in order to get Have A Fling into the race. Kevin Shea was only an apprentice at the time and rode her to victory, landing a big coup for Hurvitz.

After Benton handed in his licence he work as assistant to the maestro trainer Terrance Millard for five years, Ricky Maingard for two years and he assisted his son Craig for two years.

In later life worked as an estate agent and then for the South African Jockeys Academy. He was also assistant and mentor to the country’s only black trainer, Bennett Bulana.

Benton and his wife Pam had three sons. Craig is currently a riding master at the Apprentice Jockey School in Hong Kong, Steve was a long time Ashburton-based trainer and Peter, who holds two masters degrees, is the New Business Development and Risk Manager at Phumelela Gaming & Leisure Limited.

Buller was a great raconteur and was always good for a story or two. He had a phenomenal memory and recalled many a big race and had many stories about the “old” days.

He was always willing to give advice when approached and was a thoroughly likeable man.

Herman Brown Snr was clearly fond of him and said, “He was a very good rider and I recalled we had a lot of winners when taking horses down to the Eastern Cape. He was always confident and was a very genuine fellow. He became a very good trainer too.”

The memorial service is yet to be arranged.

This filly, who weighs only 367kg – almost 100kg less than most of the opposition, is running for the 13^th time and she has a clear chance on form after finishing second on her last three runs. However she performed way below that when she went to Durbanville earlier in the season.

“We were having problems with another trainer’s wife at that time,” Allie relates. “I am not going to mention names but she was causing big trouble saying that Hilaria was too small to run, and I nearly handed in my licence because of it.

“I am going to prove her wrong. I bought the horse from Klawervlei and I’ve seen smaller, although if she touches 15.hh that’s the lot.”

Allie, 61, trains four horses at Philippi and has a general-dealer shop in Tyger Valley. He numbers the Durbanville Cup among his triumphs but ill-health forced him to stop training for several years.

“I got thrombosis in both legs and it’s difficult for me to move around but my nephew persuaded me to start training again and I won with Master Chi (at 50-1!) at Kenilworth two seasons ago.”

Sean Cormack got off Hilaria last time and promptly said that he would like the ride when she ran next time. She was second to Provenance who franked the form by winning again last Saturday.

Betting World had Cormack’s mount as 16-10 favourite today and made Caesour’s Ides next best at 33-10 with Dance In The Woods at 7-2.

Galaxy King has the dreaded coffin-box draw in the opening maiden juvenile but his two good runs make him well-nigh impossible to oppose even though his trainer voices reservations. “He has seen the course but the draw is such a big thing here,” Ronnie Sheehan points out. “The first four in the two-year-old race on Saturday were all drawn 1-4.”

Justin Snaith’s new patient introductory policy has resulted in only one of the 15 two-year-olds he has run in Cape Town this season winning first time out but he says of Emerald Rose and Victoria Lavelle: “They are two nice fillies who won’t be long winning a maiden and they will run well here.”

Cormack rides Victoria Lavelle but seemingly Mike Stewart is the reason for his surprise visit. “I asked him to ride Promicing Polly in the Racing. It’s A Rush Handicap and I rate her the best of the three he rides for me,” says the Noordhoek trainer. She is available at 3-1 with most of the money in the race coming for the Brett Crawford-trained Bella Spumante who shortened from 7-2 to 22-10 favourite.

Carmina looks good for race two even though she is another with a dreadful draw while Harryhopeithappens, hampered last time, should win the next.  Richard Fourie, who rides Carmina, may also win race four on Eternal Winter.

A 15-minute touch rugby final will take place on the course half an hour before the first race and there will also be a 100m student dash up the straight after the last.

The theme is Moulin Rouge which, according to marketing manager Jenna Adams, means that the female students will dress up as if they were in the Folies Bergere!

The Rag day meeting was reintroduced last season, after a 12-year gap, and attracted a big crowd. There will also be a fashion show, a best-dressed competition and live musical entertainment from the likes of Al Bairre, Hey Fever and others.

Punters are expected to latch on to Garden Feature in the Drakenstein Stud Maiden. The Adam Marcus-trained filly, despite starting at 33-1, finished like a train three weeks ago and was only beaten a short head. Richard Fourie takes over from the sidelined Aldo Domeyer.

Picture supplied by Hamish Niven Photography

The Alyson Wright-trained four-year-old star won the Gr 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes on the last weekend of the 2012/2013 season, a feat which earned him Equus champion two-year-old colt, and yesterday’s Graduation Plate over 1200m on the turf was only his second start since.

He had showed his class in his comeback on February 18 when staying on late for a 2,25 length second over 1200m at Scottsville in a Graduation Plate, despite needing the run badly.

Yesterday, he showed all the hallmarks that have made him a champion, despite the trip being short of his best.

He was held up behind horses in the seven horse field and switched off beautifully. He had the fortitude to edge through a tight gap and then displayed his exceptional turn of foot, which he needed in order to catch the fair sort Nineteen Fourteen, who had stolen a march. At one stage it looked unlikely that he would catch the latter, but he dug down deep and won going away by 0,5 lengths.

He returned odds of 8/10.

Mgudlwa has been doing all of the work on him at Summerveld and commented on how quickly he was able to turn it on, despite being such a big horse.

Kochka would have come on further for the run and will be peaking by the Champions Season.

Earlier, the Paddy Lunn-trained Stronghold filly Supercede flew home full of running under Ian Sturgeon to win the Non-Black Type Umsinzi Handicap over 1800m on the turf, beating home the Duncan Howells-trained Roc ‘N Rose by two lengths with the Mark Dixon-trained San Trip next best. The 17/20 favourite Captain’s Daughter will probably revert to front-running tactics next time out as she failed to quickened from a handy position and only managed fifth.

In the first race, a Maiden Juvenile Plate for fillies and mares over 1200m on the turf, the promising new sire Visionaire had more success when the Doug Campbell-trained Lala scooted in by 4,25 lengths under Donovan Dillon, having been backed in from 25/1 to 33/10.

The 11/10 favourite, the Dennis Bosch-trained Seek The Summit, could only manage third, but Bosch was in the winner’s enclosure two races later, a Graduation Plate over 1200m on the turf, when his Western Winter filly Winter Glory ran on gallantly under Anton Marcus, despite odds of 15/2 and a merit rating of only 73.

Later, Karen and Greg Anthony had their second Greyville polytrack winner of the weekend when Var filly Ire De Fiesta easily won a fillies and mares Maiden Plate over 1400m under Stuart Randolph.

The sixth, a MR 72 Apprentice handicap over1400m, saw an exciting finish as Kilroy and Gulliver’s Travel collared the likely looking winner Aware on the line. The photo showed that the Garth Puller-trained Ravishing gelding Kilroy, who was ridden by Akshay Balloo, had just prevailed.

The seventh, a MR 70 Handicap over 1000m, was won the by the Robbie Hill-trained Tiger Ridge gelding Bengal Boy, allowing Marcus to complete a double on the day and Hill a weekend polytrack double.

The last, a maiden over 1600m, was won by the Var gelding Avaricious, which gave the Dennis Drier and Sean Cormack combination a polytrack treble for the weekend.