No. 1946
MONDAY 10th - THURSDAY 13th JUNE 2013
ISSN 1023 / 6996
4
FLAMINGO PARK 12:20pm (Monday) p.3
VAAL SAND
12:25pm (Tuesday) p.11
CLAIRWOOD
11:45am (Wednesday) p.18
VAAL
12:00pm (Thursday) p.30
R115 000 PINNACLE STAKES at Vaal on Tuesday
T
Trainer Romeo Francis rates his charge Funny Glory the horse to beat in the topliner at the Vaal on Tuesday. The astute Francis has been around horses for close on four decades and enjoys remarkable success with his small squad that includes some seriously revitalised retreads.
he red and black Francis silks have been winning races in Gauteng for many years and while the amiable trainer only has twelve horses racing, his name crops up with impressive regularity.
Backbone
While the big five yards with 100 plus horses tend to win the Group races and the championships, it is the middle core of the market that
effectively props the sport up on a day to day basis. South African horseracing boasts some top class horsemen who are the unsung heroes in this middle tier and they really do form the backbone of the sport. The colourful and charismatic 51 year old Romeo Francis falls into this faithful category. He is assisted by his fiancé Chantal Bowles and has a string of twenty horses at his Vaal home base. Only twelve of these are actually racing, as
the balance are babies: “I have been working with horses for almost forty years now and I am very fortunate to enjoy a passion for what I do for a living. I have the support of a good team of loyal staff and while I would obviously welcome a few more Group type horses, my philosophy of simplicity and value works well for me. One never stops learning in this game either so there is no time to take the eye off the ball !” he laughed.
Coupling
gelding will be ridden by Raymond Danielson, who won on him last time out over the Turffontein 1200m. His trainer has confidently given him the thumbs up! His other runner Romeo’s Reward is a three time winning son of Fan Club’s Mister, whose recent form does not look highly impressive on paper. His trainer suggests that we not be lulled into being misled by his apparent poor form, and cautions that he is a danger as he is fit and well and very fast. Francis observes that the handicapper has been a ‘little hard on this chap.’
Francis has two runners in Tuesday’s topliner, a Pinnacle Stakes run over the 1000m on the sand. The Argentinian bred Honour And Glory gelding Funny Glory was a shrewd purchase by him for just R8000 at a dispersal sale in KZN a few years ago: “He has his niggles but I liked him when I first saw him and he is really a very good horse on the sand. He is fit and well at the moment and I expect him to win it. But don’t ignore Romeo’s Reward either,” he cautioned. The former Hernan Brown trained Funny Glory has The Tycoon excellent recent form and has The Mike De Kock trained won five of his last nine starts Captain Al gelding Second in great style. Tycoon is a lightly raced three The fast and versatile time winner.
He is 3,5kgs better off with Benbow after going down 0,75 lengths to him over the course and distance at his penultimate start. That is a winning turnaround and he should be seriously considered.
Melting
Sean Tarry’s Across The Ice is one of the top performers on the sand, but the son of Western Winter ran a shocker at his last start, where we tipped him to win. Cont. p.2