EQUUS 2024
On the cover
Gaynor Rupert received the Equus Owner Of The Year award on behalf of Drakenstein Stud from Cape Racing Executive Justin Vermaak at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth last Thursday evening. Wayne Marks took the photograph.
EQUUS JOY!
Khaya Stables’ Racing Manager Jehan Malherbe has collected his fair share of silverware over many decades, but is clearly delighted after he collected the award for Equus Champion 3yo Colt for the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Green With Envy at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth last Thursday evening. Wayne Marks took the happy photograph.
SALUTING THE STARS OF 2024
SA Champion trainer Justin Snaith addresses the audience|
Credit: Wayne Marks
Global View gelding Dave The King was crowned South Africa’s Champion Horse Of The Year at the 2024 Equus Awards Banquet held at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth last Thursday evening.
Owned by Messrs Lindsay Ralphs, Gary Player and Larry Nestadt and trained by Mike De Kock, Dave The King showed tremendous improvement after being gelded back in November and was the only horse through the course of the season to pick up victories in two Super Grade 1 events.
The first came in June when scoring in the Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge (Gr1-WFA) over 1600m, and then seven weeks later the son of Global View trounced a high quality field when taking out the Hong Kong Jockey Club Champions Cup (Gr1-WFA) over 1800m. Dave The King was bred at the Gary Player Stud.
Dave The King’s stable companion, Gimme A Nother was a strong contender for the title, having remained unbeaten throughout the Season, but she never took on the males and was an obvious winner of the Equus Champion Three Year Old Three-Year-Old Filly title for owner-breeders Mauritzfontein Stud.
Daughter of Lance, Quid Pro Quo (Smanga Khumalo) has cemented her claims of being the best two-year-old filly in the country (Pic –Candiese Lenferna)
The sensational juvenile filly, Quid Pro Quo, owned and bred by Gerald Kalil and trained by Barend Botes, was a dominant winner of the Champion Two-Year-Old Filly category but the equivalent for the juvenile Colts & Geldings was somewhat more competitive, with the Trophy being awarded to Gold Medallion (Gr1) winner, Proceed, from the stable of Sean Tarry and sporting the silks of the Wernars family.
Dual Grade 1-winning Green With Envy was voted Champion Three Year Old Colt ahead of
Media legend Charl Pretorius enjoys the overdue acknowledgement| Credit: Wayne Marks
fellow nominees Purple Pitcher, Main Defender, Lucky Lad and Hollywoodbets Durban July hero Oriental Charm. Trained by Dean Kannemeyer and racing in the colours of Christine Laidlaw’s Khaya Stables, Green With Envy was born and raised at the Varsfontein Stud.
Green With Envy looks likely to remains top of the betting boards with Hollywoodbets
Lucky Lad was also a nominee in the Champion Sprinter category, but was upstaged by his stable mate Thunderstruck who has now gone on to take up stud duties at Ridgemont South Africa. The judging panel were divided when it came to debating the Champion Sprinter Award, but Thunderstruck
was named the “split-vote” winner.
Charles Dickens was voted Champion Miler following his victory in the King’s Plate, Royal Victory Champion Middle Distance Horse as a result of his successes in the Betway Summer Cup (Gr1) and World Pool Premier’s Champions Challenge Challenge (Gr1) at Turffontein, while Master Redoute walked off with the Champion Stayer title having won both the New Turf Carriers Western Cape Stayers over 2800m and the World Pool Gold Cup over 3200m on the final day of the Season.
Dave The King was also voted Champion Older Male (any distance) while the Equus trophy for Champion Older Female went to recently exported Princess Calla.
Ossie Noach and Kuyan Kotzen both looked dashing| Credit: Wayne Marks
THE EQUUS STARS OF ‘24
Champion Two Year Old Filly
Quid Pro Quo
Champion Two Year Old Colt Proceed
Champion Three Year Old Filly
Gimme A Nother
Champion Three Year Old Colt Green With Envy
Champion Sprinter Thunderstruck
Champion Miler
Charles Dickens
Champion Middle Distance Horse
Royal Victory
Champion Stayer
Master Redoute
Champion Older Female
Princess Calla
Champion Older Male
Dave The King
Champion Apprentice
Kobeli James Lihaba
Champion Jockey
Richard Fourie
Champion Trainer Justin Snaith
Champion Owner Drakenstein Stud
Champion Breeder Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein
Champion Sire Gimmethegreenlight
Champion Broodmare Beach Beauty
Outstanding Breeder Drakenstein Stud
Outstanding Stallion One World
Media Award (Broadcast)
Vicky Minott
Media Award (Print)
Charl Pretorius
Media Award (Photographic)
Chase Liebenberg
Vaughan Koster and Andre Nel enjoy the evening | Credit: Wayne Marks
Varsfontein’s Susan Rowett chats to Judy Wintle | Credit: Wayne Marks
The old and the new!
Outgoing record-holder
Anthony Delpech and new
star Richard Fourie pose with the Equus trophy
Credit: Wayne Marks
IS THE MAGIC NUMBER!
Twenty two years after riding his first winner at Clairwood Park, Sean Veale is enjoying the season flyer of his life and took his tally to 12 winners after just a week and a day of the new term as the sun set on a jam-packed Fairview on Friday.
It’s official. Newly crowned Winning Formsponsored South African Champion jockey Richard Fourie rode 378 winners in a recordbreaking 2023/24 season.
Right up to the moment a proud Fourie received his Equus trophy last Thursday evening at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth, there was a difference of opinion over the total winners.
In a comparison of statistics furnished by the Winning Form against National Horseracing Authority records on Monday, it was confirmed to the Sporting Post by the racing regulator’s Hazel Kayiya that on 9 June 2024 Fourie finished second on Bay Empire to the subsequently disqualified Bjorn Ironside.
This was confirmed in an NHRA media release dated 13 August 2023. So, it’s 378!
The tireless and talented Fourie stormed his way into the history books of the South African turf on Saturday 8 June when Double Grand Slam became his 335th winner, shattering Anthony Delpech’s 25-year record of 334 winners in a season.
The Delpech magic mark, set in the 1998/99 season, shattered Piere Strydom’s existing record at the time, and had stood the test of a quarter of a century of intense competition
featuring some of the world’s greatest jockeys.
The 38-year-old Fourie registered the new benchmark, in the process banking the Hollywoodbets Delpech 334 Challenge Incentive bonus of R1 million.
In a defining moment for South African sport, the winner raced in partnership by golfing legend Gary Player (also owner of newly crowned SA Horse Of The Year, Dave The King), Suzette Viljoen and Dave McLean.
At the commencement of the 2023/24 season, Hollywoodbets ignited unprecedented interest in the chase for a new national record when South Africa’s leading international sportsbook operator offered a record R1 million incentive for the first rider to break the Delpech record.
Fourie is currently priced up at 9-10 with Hollywoodbets to complete the championship double.
See the betting here.
Sean Veale and Muzi Yeni have chalked up 18 and 14 winners respectively, against the reigning champion’s 3 winners, which were all achieved on the rain delayed Hollywoodbets Durbanville racemeeting of 1 August.
Fourie has been on holiday since and is expected to return at month end.
EQUUS CHAMPIONS –SPREAD OF SIRES HAVE A SAY
The top echelon sires will always have the added advantage of bigger books, higher fees and greater quality of mares. Yet it is heartening to see that horses like Dave The King, Princess Calla, Legal Eagle and Classic Flag are proof that any stallion is capable of siring a Horse of the Year.
SA Horse Of The Year, Dave The King – a son of Global View | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
The champions of the 2023-24 racing season were honoured at the recent Equus Awards in Cape Town and it was quite illuminating that a number of category winners were sired by ‘lesser’ stallions, those that seldom hog the limelight.
Also named the Champion Older Male, the dual Gr1 winner is by far the best progeny of the Ascot Stud resident, an American-raced son of the mighty Galileo.
A Gr2/3 winner on turf, Global View boasts a fine female line, his dam, the Storm Cat mare Egyptian Queen, tracing to Canadian Stakes winner Ocean’s Answer, a three-parts sister in blood to Storm Cat’s own sire Storm Bird. Significantly, he is bred on the same Galileo x Storm Cat cross as successful Coolmore stallion Gleneagles.
Until the rise to prominence of Dave The King, Global View had put together a respectable innings as the sire of Gr3 winner Decorated, the smart Listed Caradoc Gold Cup winning stayer Rule Book and the Port Elizabeth stakes winners Global Drummer, Fairy Knight and Sound Check.
Bred by co-owner Gary Player, Dave The King is out of a mare by Jet Master, and joins Rainbow Bridge as the second Horse of the Year recipient bred from a daughter of the remarkable seven-time champion, who himself earned the ultimate accolade in 1999 and became the sire of three-time Horse of the Year Pocket Power.
The Jet Master saga does not stop there. In addition to being the damsire of both Dave The King and Gr1 Cape Town Met winner Double Superlative (as well as runner-up Rascallion), he features as the sire of neglected son Lance, whose juvenile daughter Quid Pro Quo was an overwhelming winner of the Champion Juvenile Filly award.
Two Gr1 victories would have been beyond her connections’ wildest dreams at the end of her two-year-old season, or indeed when she was bought back as a yearling for a mere R60,000, yet she utterly dominated the division, whilst her fine treble of the Gr1 Allan Robertson Championship, Gr1 Douglas Whyte Thekwini Stakes and Gr2 Golden Slipper is a rarity in itself and a feat never achieved before.
By the way, the juvenile filly division yielded a second Gr1 winner in VJ’s Angel, who upset the boys in the Premiers Champion Stakes. It just so happens that her dam Tally-Ho is out of Jet Master’s stakes winning daughter State Coach.
Underrated stallion Pathfork was in fine form this past season and he too sired his first champion when four-year-old son Royal Victory was the recipient of the Champion Middle Distance award. The KZN-based fouryear-old took his career to new heights when he travelled to Turffontein to annex both the Gr1 Betway Summer Cup and Gr1 Premier’s Champions Challenge.
Pathfork also had a sniff at the Champion threeyear-old male award with Gr1 winning son Main Defender, winner of the H F Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes. Alas, he had to bow to Cape Derby/Daily News 2000 ace Green With Envy, one of no less than three Equus winners on the night for the season’s dominant stallion Gimmethegreenlight, who also accounted for the undefeated Champion three-year-old filly Gimme A Nother and Champion juvenile male Proceed.
Interesting that for all his successes, the only gap in Gimmethegreenlight’s glittering resume remains a Horse of the Year!
Not so Flower Alley, another stallion who has never hit commercial heights, yet is the sire of former Horse of the Year Princess Calla, most appropriate, given that his best South African performers have been his fillies. Although she failed to hit similar heights at age six last season, she won the Gr1 Majorca Stakes and reached the frame in the Gr1 HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut and Gr1 Paddock Stakes, good enough to retain her Champion Older Female award.
A look down the Honours List provides more compelling evidence that less ritzy stallions have sired a Horse of the Year.
Rainbow Bridge, who took the honours in 2020, is by Ideal World, who, despite his impeccable pedigree and access to Mauritzfontein Stud’s exalted broodmare band, has never quite made the same impact as former barn mate Fort Wood. Besides, many will argue that Rainbow Bridge’s dam Halfway To Haven deserves to take credit for her son’s achievements, given the fact that she produced three Gr1 winners, all by different sires.
Champion 2yo Filly, Quid Pro Quo – a daughter of Lance | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
The wonderful miler Legal Eagle claimed successive Horse of the Year titles in 2015 and 2016 and was sired by champion Greys Inn, a Durban July winner who had subsequently performed with credit at the highest level in Dubai, Hong Kong and Australia.
Sadly, the son of New Zealand powerhouse stallion Zabeel failed to grab the imagination of the country’s breeders and unfortunately never received the support his fine credentials deserved.
Classic Flag, the 1997 Horse of the Year, likewise was sired by a blue collar stallion in the shape of Allied Flag, who stood with breeder
Peter Blythe at the erstwhile Clifton Stud in faraway Lothair in Mpumalanga. He boasted a fine pedigree, being by Danzig from the family which gave us Secret Prospector, but being too inaccessible to mainstream breeders, covered primarily his owner’s mares and Classic Flag is his sole top level winner.
Granted, the top echelon sires will always have the added advantage of bigger books, higher fees and greater quality of mares. Yet it is heartening to see that horses like Dave The King, Princess Calla, Legal Eagle and Classic Flag are proof that any stallion is capable of siring a Horse of the Year.
Champion Older Female, Princess Calla – a daughter of Flower Alley | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
SUMMER JUST GOT HOTTER!
The countdown is on for the 2024 Betway Summer Cup. In a media release published on Monday 19 August 2024, we are informed that, continuing to lead the charge for horse racing in South Africa, Betway & 4Racing proudly announce an increase in the 2024 Betway Summer Cup to a record-breaking R6 million.
The increase in prize money makes this the richest race in Africa and further highlights Betway’s commitment to sport on the continent, while recognising and celebrating both the sport and the country’s rich history, alongside being committed to being a key driver in the industry’s growth.
“This is the third year in partnering with 4Racing for the Betway Summer Cup – a renowned event where racing heritage meets urban sophistication. Our commitment to this relationship underscores our dedication to both the sport of horse racing and the vibrant community that it engages. The R6 million stakes this year (up from R5m in 2023) is a thrilling incentive not only in making history, but also set to elevate excitement among stakeholders and spectators alike. We look forward to showcasing South Africa’s best race horses, fashion and entertainment taking place at Turffontein Race course, on 30 November 2024” said Jonathan Blumberg – Betway Africa
In addition to the stakes, the grooms with horses in the Betway Summer Cup, who are also an integral part of horseracing and particularly on the day, will also be acknowledged for their role and will receive a R20 000 prize.
v Royal Victory (Muzi Yeni) charges to victory in the 2023 Betway Gr1 Summer Cup | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
“Grooms are the lifeblood of the sport; their dedication for and love of horses, knows no bounds, so we want to celebrate them and thank them for their continued hard work in the sport” Blumberg added.
“The Betway Summer Cup is distinctly Joburg and with Betway’s support, we have now transformed the People’s Race into Africa’s Richest Race with an extraordinary R6 million stakes. This stake will no doubt attract interest from owners and trainers from around the country. Our mission is to also gather people from all walks of life to experience the glamour and adrenaline of what promises to be a phenomenal race day. This event is the start of Gauteng’s festive season – and what better way
to do it than celebrating with Silks In the City –the theme for the 2024 Betway Summer Cup,” remarked Fundi Sithebe, 4Racing CEO.
Horseracing fans and the general public looking forward to a fantastic day in the Gauteng summer and eager to secure their spot, can visit Ticketpro to purchase general access tickets from just R100 as well as the various Hospitality Packages.
Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details.
For additional information and ticket purchases, please visit www.betwaysummercup.co.za
“Lance was a completely different class. He was as good a 3yo as anything else that I’ve trained at a similar stage in his career.” Sean Tarry, Multiple Champion Trainer
Stakes winning son of multiple champion Jet Master
Damline has produced multiple group winners
Powerful family of champions - Big Swinger, Duc Du Orleans, Rebel King
50% winners to runners
Covered 25 mares last season - limited opportunity prior to that Excellent fertility
r 5.000 live foal
MUZI – ALWAYS A FACTOR IN A FINISH
Muzi Yeni – the personification of a true competitor | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
It’s a sobering reality that nobody ever remembers, or cares, who ran second. That certainly applies in horseracing, and just think about it for a moment – who was runner-up behind SA Champion Richard Fourie last season? It was, coincidentally, the same man who fell just 3 winners short of Lyle Hewitson for national title honours in the 2018/19 season.
At the age of 37, and whether you are one of his legion of fans and love him, or don’t like him too much, or are simply indifferent, nobody can ever suggest that the Clermont-born Muzi Yeni is not a must-include jockey in all bets.
The enormously talented Stone-Stamcor sponsored jockey is an eclectic cocktail of hard work and fierce competitive spirit personified. He rode Mike de Kock’s Officer In Command - his 100th ride of the less than three week old season - for his 14th winner at Hollywoodbets Scottsville last Sunday. Coincidentally, Muzi registered his first career winner at his 12th ride when Storm King won - also for Mike de Kock - at Clairwood in November 2003.
Hollywoodbets recently published the betting for the 2024/25 SA Jockey Championship, and while it was a largely a one-horse race last season, with Richard Fourie (now 9-10 to repeat the feat) shattering records at every turn, there could be value about some of the other riders on the betting boards – including Muzi Yeni, currently quoted at 6 to 1.
Fast approaching his 2500th career winner, Muzi told the Sporting Post on Monday that despite his flying start to the new season, he would be focusing on maintaining his work-rate and enjoying his work, rather than chasing the national title.
“They were great days but the travelling to Kimberley was time consuming and energy-sapping, and I have found that KZN has absorbed that slot very nicely,”
He recalls that De Kock’s then assistant Nathan Kotzen put him on the ‘aimer’ and he enjoyed an armchair ride, winning by many lengths. It’s got tougher at times since that cosy baptism, but he has numerous regional championship titles to his credit and has ridden 15 Grade 1 winners to date – including a couple for the same Nathan Kotzen, now the accomplished trainer of Equus champion, Royal Victory.
“I am intent on building a good resume to allow me to pursue international opportunities if that window ever opens. Things are looking up in South African horseracing on many fronts, but it’s tough for many jockeys with the restructured insurances and medical aid demands. I have a family to support and am prepared to work hard and give it my all. I have many good years left, and if one looks at a top man like Anton Marcus, he probably peaked after 45!” says Muzi, who modestly believes that given the wide spectrum of demands on a professional jockey today, he is probably something of a ‘late bloomer’.
“I had a good last season. I rode top Grade 1 winners of the likes of newly crowned Horse Of The Year Dave The King, and the gutsy Equus Champion Middle Distance horse Royal Victory. And history will show that I was runner-up to Richard Fourie, who had an
extraordinary season,” adds Muzi, as he observes that he remains very realistic about the realities and the challenges of catching a big fish like the Capetonian in a championship race.
“I’m a fierce competitor and hungry for success. But let’s face it. Richard is a great rider and he enjoys solid support across the board. His record of 378 winners last season is going to be tough, if not near impossible, to ever topple. And I believe that the Alan Greeff yard, for whom he will take over from caretaker Sean Veale, will be even stronger this season, given the injection of support of some of their new owners, and their foundation of high-class existing patrons. But I intend focusing on my own game and continuing to work hard on the Highveld and KZN, as I have been, while the Eastern Cape remains an option, without me having a firstcall job there at this stage,” said Muzi as he painted a picture of the current state of play.
where even multiple champion veteran Piere Strydom has seen the opportunities of batting on.
Like he did last term, Muzi has also finished second twice on the national table to Lyle Hewitson – including in the 2018/19 SA Jockey Championship, when riding 215 winners. But unlike the runaway Fourie train that ran amok in 2023/24, the deficit in 2018/19 was only 3 wins.
In two decades in the saddle, Muzi has been consistent, having won the Northern Cape championship eleven times, the Eastern Cape title twice, and Highveld championship once.
We asked whether, like many of us, he missed the old Flamingo Park and those magic Mondays of yore.
“They were great days but the travelling to Kimberley was time consuming and energysapping, and I have found that KZN has absorbed that slot very nicely,” he adds.
Since the day his Grandmother, a chicken retailer, persuaded him to give a career as a jockey a chance, Muzi has never looked back, overcoming prejudices and his own internal wildfire, while never forgetting the tough streets of the Clermont township where he was raised.
Despite his share of controversy – largely as a result of his fiercely competitive streak and passionate will to win – he remains a popular figure amongst the punting community. If a horse has half a chance of winning, Muzi will give his supporters a guaranteed run for their money.
Muzi is one of the most seasoned jockeys around in what, with respect, is considered by many observers to be a relatively shallow pool,
“Please allow me to thank all the owners and trainers that support me, my agent Tony Jacobs, and sponsors Stone-Stamcor and Mr Willem Ackerman. I couldn’t do any of this without them and I value the backing,” concluded Muzi.
GIMME’S STAR COLT IS CAPE CHAMPION
The star colt Green With Envy was crowned Cape Racing Horse of the Year at their annual awards gathering at the weather impacted Hollywoodbets Durbanville racemeeting on Saturday, headlining a day where 16 different category winners were honoured.
Green With Envy was a double-winner, also being named Champion Three-Year-Old Colt.
Cape champion! Green With Envy (Craig Zackey) wins the SplashOut Gr1 Cape Derby | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
He won five times in the 2023/24 season in the colours of owner Lady Laidlaw’s Khaya Stables and is trained by Dean Kannemeyer.
Green With Envy’s three-year-old season was dotted with wins, including the Gr3 Schweppes Politician Stakes, Gr1 SplashOut Cape Deby and the Gr1 Daily News 2000 and he started favourite for the Hollywoodbets Durban July.
Other category winners included two Grade One winners who featured earlier in the season.
Charles Dickens put a full stop to his racing career in style when winning the Gr1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate before being retired to stud, while Beach Bomb won the Gr1 Cartier Paddock Stakes before being exported to the United States to continue her career.
In paying tribute to the winners, Justin Vermaak, Cape Racing: Executive Racing & Bloodstock, said: “Well done to all the winners and indeed to everyone who contributed to the success of the 2023/24 Cape Racing season. The winners are recognised by the panel as the best in their categories and they
represent some of the finest in their fields in the country. Particular mention must be made of Champion Trainer Justin Snaith, Champion Jockey Richard Fourie and Champion Owner Drakenstein Stud, all of whom won Equus awards earlier in the week, which saluted them as leaders in their fields,” added Vermaak.
He went on to say that Cape Racing is fortunate to oversee the best of the best when it comes to the equine racing industry.
“While we reflect on the 2023/24 season that has ended, albeit it in the midst of one of the wettest Cape winters on record, we want to thank all our patrons and staff and the public for making it the success that it was. We are working hard to ensure that 2024/25 will be just as memorable and successful as a region,” Vermaak said.
Double category winners on the day were Green With Envy and Charles Dickens, while trainer Andre Nel enjoyed success with owner and breeder Plattner Racing when they won Champion Older Female with Saartjie, and Champion Stayer with Master Redoute.
Khaya Stables Manager Jehan Malherbe with Green With Envy’s Award | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
Kevin Sommerville of Drakenstein received Charles Dickens’ award | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
Jenny Jones and Vaughan Marshall received One Stripe’s Champion 2yo Male award | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
All the winners:
Juvenile Male: One Stripe
Juvenile Female: Kinda Wonderful
Three-Year-Old Male: Green With Envy
Three-Year-Old Female: Beach Bomb
Older Male: Charles Dickens
Older Female: Saartjie
Champion Sprinter: Surjay
Champion Miler: Charles Dickens
Champion Middle Distance: Double
Superlative
Champion Stayer: Master Redoute
Champion Work Rider: William Bambiso
Champion Jockey: Richard Fourie
Champion Trainer: Justin Snaith
Owner of the Year: Drakenstein Stud
(Nom: Mrs GA Rupert)
Horse of the Year: Green With Envy
Exciting Dave The King – crowned SA Horse Of The Year last Thursday | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
The KZN Racing awards will be held on 30 August in the Classic Room at Hollywoodbets Greyville and there is going to be a quandary this year about the KZN Horse Of The Season, just as there was last year.
The Horse Of The Year award, unlike the other awards, are open to horses from the yards of trainers who are not domiciled in KZN as long as the subject horse has had three or more runs in KZN. It can thus be won by an out of province horse who has excelled inKZN during the season.
Gold Circle report that the other awards can only be won by horses from KZN yards, although Glen Kotzen and Dean Kannemeyer count as KZN yards because they have had satellite yards in KZN for many years.
The Horse Of The Year exclusion was probably made due to there not being a suitable candidate for some seasons in recent times.
However, should not genuine KZNtrained horses like the Michael Roberts-trained See It Again last year and the Nathan Kotzen-trained Royal Victory this year be acknowledged in some way?
It is likely that many would have viewed the former as the best horse from KZN in the 2022/2023 season, although the Peter Muscutttrained Isivunguvungu could also have laid a
KZN flagbearer See It Again | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
claim, and this season Royal Victory is viewed by all and sundry as the best horse from KZN. Although the Gareth van Zyl-trained Flag Man could also lay a claim having performed better on paper than Royal Victory in both the Gr1 Hollywoodbets Durban July and Gr1 HKJC Champions Cup.
The Highveld racing awards could also potentially lead to an out of province horse being named Horse Of The Season. They are actually called the Highveld Feature Season awards as they go on performances of horses on the Highveld in features races during the season.
Royal Victory was thus named the Champion Middle Distance Horse and Champion Older Male in the Highveld feature Season awards this year and he was only ousted in the Horse Of The Season award by the outstanding Mike de Kock-trained Gimme A Nother.
However, the big difference is that the Highveld features only have a sprinkling of out of province horses competing in them. The Horse Of The Season award will virtually always be won by a Highveld horse and was this year it went to the outstanding Mike de Kock-trained Gimme A Nother, even though Royal Victory became the first out of province horse in history to win both of the Highveld’s biggest races, the Gr 1 Betway Summer Cup and the Gr 1 World Pool Premier’s Champions Challenge.
The KZN horses, on the other hand, have to compete with every champion from every province, because all champions from around the country descend on KZN for the threemonth-long world-famous racing festival, The Champions Season.
Last year the Horse Of The Season was won by multiple Equus star, the Sean Tarry-trained Princess Calla, who won three Gr1s in KZN during the season.
This year the favourite must be the Mike de Kock-trained Dave The King. He qualifies because he ran in KZN three times in the season and he won two open weight for age Gr 1s in KZN. He was in fact the only horse in the country to have won two open Gr1’s last season, thus him cracking the nod as Equus Horse Of The Year on Thursday evening.
However, Equus champion Royal Victory is a history-making KZN horse. On top of being the first out of province horse to do the Highveld double of the Summer Cup and Premier’s Champions Challenge, he is in fact the first out of province horse to have ever won the Premier’s Champions Challenge and the second out of province horse this millennium to have won the Summer Cup. He could well go home empty-handed on KZN Awards night.
If Dave The King is to be named Horse Of The Season then he must also surely be named Champion Older Male.
Furthermore, the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Green With Envy ran three times in KZN during the season, so qualifies for awards –as explained earlier – by Kannemeyer’s KZN status, and like Royal Victory he won two middle distance Gr1’s during the season and one of them was in KZN, so he must be in pole position to win the Middle Distance award.
So, the widely acknowledged best horse in KZN, Royal Victory, might be completely unacknowledged in his home province.
There are special awards occasionally put on at racing award ceremonies and this might be a case in point of creating one.
However, what would probably be better considering the realities of racing in KZN during any given season, would be to create a new permanent award to acknowledge KZN’s best horse of the season. The award should only be open to horses from KZN yards. • www.goldcircle.co.za
Royal Victory – deserves recognition | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
JUST ONE DAY TO AUGUST 2YO SALE!
Long regarded as one of the country’s best value for money thoroughbred auctions, Thursday’s BSA August 2yo Sale, which consists of more than 300 lots, is set to take place at the TBA Complex in Germiston over two days.
The sale will commence each day at 10h30 sharp.
Numerous equine stars have been sold at the August Sale previously, with the auction’s honour roll including the likes of Bela-Bela, Jackson, J J The Jet Plane, River Jetez and The Apache.
In recent years, high-class thoroughbreds purchased off this sale include such graded stakes winners as Feather Boa, Let’s Go Now, Mover And Shaker, Taikonaut.
This year’s August Two Year Old Sale is replete with progeny of such high-class stallions as multiple champion Gimmethegreenlight, Master Of My Fate, One World, Querari, Rafeef, Trippi,
Vercingetorix, and What A Winter.
Exciting young sires represented at the August Sale for the first time include Declarationofpeace, Erik The Red, Hawwaam, and Summa Cum Laude.
Safe to say, this catalogue has something for everyone!
2yo Sale action – Will you be buying? | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
WHO WILL BE TOPSELLERS AT BSA AUGUST SALE?
Nestled in the scenic Daleside Valley, the tranquil Heversham Park overlooks the majestic Paardekop. Affectionately known as ‘the farm’, their ethos is founded on raising animals slowly and naturally.
Heversham will be presenting an impressive draft of eight attractive lots at the BSA August Two Year Old Sale 2024.
“We aim to stimulate interest among buyers and the general public, and of course in our own eight lots on the sale. This is our best ever draft and includes Lot 198, a beautiful colt by star freshman One World out of Little Fastnet. He is a half-brother to this season’s Gr2 SA Nursery winner, Little Ballerina,” said Kat Riley of Heversham.
In addition to the exciting buyer opportunities,
the farm will be staging a predictor competition for the sale, scheduled for 22 and 23 August at the TBA Complex, Gosforth Park.
The
BSA August 2YO Sale
catalogue comprises of 327 choice lots from a good variety of top stud farms and with many excellent pedigrees represented, so selecting the highest-priced lots will take some homework and perhaps require a visit to the sales grounds for conformation buffs.
Tranquil and majestic Heversham | Credit: Heversham Park
The free-to-enter competition is open to all and two cash prizes of R5,000 each can be won.
The first prize will go to the individual who can correctly predict the top-selling colt at the sale. The second prize will be given to the individual who can correctly predict the top-selling filly at the sale.
Heversham extends an invitation to individuals interested in racing or breeding to enter the competition.
To enter:
• Entrants must email their names, contact details and the lot numbers of their predictions
of one top-selling colt and one top-selling filly to info@hevershampark.co.za.
• Entries must be submitted before 09h00 on Thursday, 22 August.
• If there is more than one winner in one or both of the categories, a single winner for each category will be drawn from the correct entries by a Heversham Park representative.
The winners will be announced on Monday, 26 August. Results will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
View the sales catalogue online to make your selections and enter now!
BLUE SKY’S BLUE-BLOODED DRAFT
Blue Sky Thoroughbreds will be offering a highclass draft at the BSA August 2YO Sale 2024, to be held on Thursday and Friday this week. The farm’s large draft includes two-year-olds by the likes of Act Of War, Danon Platina, Hawwaam, Legislate and Rafeef.
Lot 205 – Unnamed (c) by Rafeef ex Marsala
• Rafeef had a wonderful season in 20232024 with the likes of Beating Wings, Frances Ethel and Thunderstruck. The son of Redoute’s Choice is represented here by a colt whose twice winning dam Marsala is a Gimmethegreenlight full-sister to Gr2 Cape Merchants winner Vikram. This is the wonderful family of Gr1 winners Nania, Red Ray, Set Afire and July winner Royal Chalice among others.
Lot 106 – Unnamed (f) by Hawwaam ex El’ Zara
• Silvano’s champion son is represented by two members of his first crop in this draft. The first is this filly whose granddam is a twicewinning half-sister to the Silvano sired Gr1 J&B Met winner Martial Eagle.
Lot 307 – Unnamed (c) by Hawwaam ex Sunday Seventh
• Dam is a winning half-sister to four stakes winners (one of whom was sired by Silvano) including globetrotting champion and four-time Gr1 winner Jay Peg.
Lot 185 – Unnamed (f) by Heavenly Blue ex Krystle Carrington
• Smart galloper Player has a Heavenly Blue half-sister on offer
Lot 191 - Gunnery Sergeant (f) by Act Of War ex Lady Tatty
• Gr3 Cape Classic runner up Captain Tatters has an Act Of War half-sister on sale. Filly is from the immediate family of the Act Of War sired champion War Of Athena.
Blue Sky will also be offering two fillies on behalf of Courtney Soal, and a further two fillies on behalf of Sarsden Stud. This quartet includes:
Lot 181 – Kapture The Peace (f) by Declarationofpeace ex Katch
• A filly from the first crop of War Front’s son Declarationofpeace and hailing from the family of Covenant, Malmoos and Master Of My Fate, and Sarsden Jet
Lot 283 – Sarsden Jet (f) by Rabada ex Seven Suns
• A daughter of the underrated Rabada from the family of champions Disco Queen and French Navy.
This draft can be viewed from Block C at the TBA Complex in Germiston.
BLOOMHILL STUD BLOSSOMS IN AUGUST
Bloomhill Stud will be offering an attractive string at the BSA August 2YO Sale 2024, with this draft including two-year-olds by all of Declarationofpeace, Elusive Fort, Master Of My Fate and What A Winter.
The farm’s Sandra Trethewey had the following comments to make regarding her August Sale draft:
Lot 17 - Wyze Declaration (f) by Declarationofpeace ex Wysiwyg
• Filly out of one of the nation’s elite mares, dam of five winning foals, including Bohica and Bartholdi
Stable E73
Lot 63 - Songs of Winter (f) by What A Winter ex Cantana Choir
• Filly out of family of Bella Sonata, Casper Netscher
Stable E74
Lot 208 - Just a Winter (f) by What A Winter ex Masaaqaat
• Filly out of family of Darci Be Good (NZ) Babylon Berlin (AUS)
Stable - E75
Lot 218 - Flying Fate (f) by Master Of My Fate ex Miss December
• Family of August Rush, Miss October, Tempting Fate and October Morn.
Stable - E76
Lot 247 - Pick A Pomodoro (c) by Pomodoro ex Pick Of The Field
• Out of a Kahal daughter - half-sister to Pick Six
Stable - E70
Lot 254 - Elusive Glow (c) by Elusive Fort ex Princess Vicky
• From the family of Princess Anastasia
Princess Calla and Princess Victoria
Equus Champion 2yo Filly in 2011,
Equus Champion 3yo
Stable - E71
This draft can be found in Block C at the TBA Complex in Germiston.
Benmarne Stud will be offering four very classy two-year-olds at the upcoming BSA August Two Year Old Sale, to be held at TBA Complex on Thursday and Friday.
Their quartet consists of two-year-olds sired by Erupt, Futura, Querari and the sensational One World. With this attractive draft including a halfbrother to graded stakes winners Monks Hood and Prophet, it is easy to see why Arne Botha is high on his draft for the 2024 August Sale.
Arne had the following to say about the quartet he will be bringing to the sale:
Lot 33 - Devoted (c) by One World ex Amber Bouquet
• He is a special One World Colt. Well balanced, very good mover. A half-brother to
BENMARNE STUD BRINGS THEIR BEST THE SPRINT
Monks Hood and Prophet. Dam has had seven foals, seven runners, seven winners.
Lot 88 - Fiery Frolic (f) by Querari ex Cotillion
• Beautiful Querari filly, who is on her toes. A half-sister to a six-time winning filly and a seven-time winning colt.
Lot 149 - Smuggler (c) by Futura ex Hawker
Hurricanev
• A big, strong Futura colt and is from the family of Flying Carpet.
Lot 200 - Total Eruption (f) by Erupt ex Love From Al
• A strong Erupt filly, she stands over ground.
This string can be found in Block B at the TBA Complex in Germiston.
ASCOT’S AUGUST ROYALTY
Ascot Stud enjoyed another good season in 2023-2024. The farm’s alumni included Gr1 World Pool Moment Of The Day Premiers Champion Stakes runner up The Specialist, Listed East Cape Guineas/Listed Ibhayi Stakes hero Fairy Knight, Listed 4Racing Caradoc Gold Cup winner Rule Book and Gr3 Flamboyant Stakes queen Rockie Reef, to name a few.
Dr. Ashley Parker will be bringing a top-class draft to the BSA August 2YO Sale, with Ascot’s string including two-year-olds sired by resident sires Global View and Heavenly Blue, as well as by Act Of War, Elusive Fort, Erik The Red, Fire Away, and One World.
This draft also includes siblings to the likes of Foreign Source, Rockie Reef, Silvan Star and Three Rocks.
Dr. Parker is confident that buyers will be impressed with this draft and shared the following comments about the standout lots.
Lot 39 - Bahamian Beat (c) by Global View ex Bahamian Express
• A strong, scopey colt who is half-brother to Foreign Source from a wonderful English family
Lot 58 - Grey Warrior (c) by Heavenly Blue ex Bold Choice
• This great moving colt who is a half-brother to Gr3 winner Silvan Star from the family of Durban July winner Bold Silvano.
Lot 225 - Knowmore (c) by Fire Away ex Moreamore
• An attractive, flashy colt from the same family as legendary sire Storm Cat
Lot 255 - Zena’s Act (f) by Act Of War ex Princess Zena
• A powerful first foal out of a half-sister to multiple Gr1 winner Smart Banker and family of Champion Arabian Lass.
Lot 266 - Rockie Blue (f) by Heavenly Blue ex Rockie Bright
• A beautiful full-sister to Three Rocks, stakes winner of 7 races, and half-sister to Rockie Reef, a six-time Gr3 winner.
This draft can be found in Blocks B and C at the TBA Complex in Germiston
WINTERBACH STAR-STUDDED AUGUST DRAFT
Hawwaam, One World, Rafeef, Vercingetorix, What A Winter - these are just a few of the top stallions with offspring for sale in Winterbach Stud’s draft at this year’s upcoming August Two Year Old Sale.
Outstanding sire Vercingetorix, sire of the first two home in the 2024 Gr1 Hollywoodbets Durban July, has two colts on offer.
Lot 298 – Speedman (c) by Vercingetorix ex Speedy Suzy
• An impeccably bred colt, whose Trippi dam is a Gr3 Pretty Polly Stakes winner, half-sister to stakes winners Olympic Owen and Team Gold as well as the classy sprinter Ziyasha.
Lot 174 – I Am Invictus (c) by Vercingetorix ex Jet Supreme
• A colt out of Jet Master’s triple Gr3 winning daughter. Bred on the same cross as the likes of African Warrior, Rascallion and Padre Pio.
Lot 77 -Train Station (c) by Hawwaam ex Cherry Orchard
• Like Vercingetorix a son of the all-conquering Silvano, is the sire of this colt, whose dam is a half-sister to Gr2 Tibouchina Stakes winner Red Dor.
Lot 20 – Unnamed (c) by One World ex Zili
• South Africa’s Leading First Season Sire by some way in 2023-2024, is represented here by a half-brother to six winners including Gr3 Jubilee Stakes winner Meridius.
Other lots bound to attract plenty of attention:
Lot 316 – Sylvan’s Princess (f) by Rafeef ex Sylvan On Fire
• Out of the Silvano-sired Gr3 Yellowwood Handicap winner
Lot 332 – Unnamed (f) by Rafeef ex Tuscan Lass
• A Rafeef half-sister to Gr2 Post Merchants winnner Val D’Orcia.
Winterbach Stud’s consignment can be found in Blocks D and G at the TBA Complex in Germiston.
STAR SIRES TO SHINE FOR VARSFONTEIN
Varsfontein Stud celebrated a successful season in 2023-2024 by surpassing their highest previous stakes earned and achieving the most number of stakes winners (14) and wins (21) for a season.
Feature races won by Varsfontein-bred thoroughbreds last season included: the Gr1 World Pool Moment Of The Day Premiers Champion Stakes, Gr1 Golden Horse Sprint, Gr2 TAB Gauteng Guineas, Gr2 TAB Hawaii Stakes, Gr2 Jehan Malherbe Senor Santa Stakes, Gr2 East Cape Radio Tibouchina Stakes, Gr3 Umzimkhulu Stakes, Gr3 Betway Sycamore Sprint, Gr3 Betway National Currency Sprint, Gr3 SplashOut Prix Du Cap, Gr3 Betway Victory Moon Stakes, Gr3 Mother Russia Stakes, Listed Irridescence Stakes, Listed East Cape Breeders Stakes, and the Listed East Cape Sprint Cup.
The farm will be offering a classy draft at this week’s BSA August Two Year Old Sale, with Varsfontein’s champion resident sire Gimmethegreenlight well represented here.
Other exciting sires with two-year-olds on sale include the Varsfontein Stud-bred and based pair of Erik The Red and Master Of My Fate, as well as the likes of One World, The United States and Vercingetorix.
Lot 180 – Just Now (c ) by Vercingetorix ex Justthewayyouare
• This regally-bred colt is bound to attract plenty of attention, a half-brother to all of South African Triple Crown winning sire Malmoos, dual Gr3 winner Captain Splendid and recent
Listed Off To Stud Stakes heroine Mascherina. Out of Listed Spook Express Handicap winner and half-sister to Varsfontein’s hugely successful sire Master Of My Fate.
Master Of My Fate has some outstanding prospects on sale including these two-yearolds who are closely related to his Gr3 winning son Atticus Finch:
• Lot 30 - Echo Check (c) out of Alexa
• Lot 52 - Barolo (f) out of Bi Pot
Lot 105 - Splash Of Love (f) by Master Of My Fate ex Easy In Love
• Out of a daughter of Italian Gr3 winner Alabaaq, herself a daughter of Riverman and English/Irish classic winner Salsabil.
Varsfontein’s multiple champion sire Gimmethegreenlight, is also well-represented here in this draft.
Lot 150 – Hazel Green (f) by Gimmethegreenlight ex Hazaragula
• A filly from the family of Gr1 Investec Derby winning champion Harzand
Lot 166 – Vamanos (f) by Gimmethegreenlight ex Imperadora
• A full-sister to dual Listed East Cape Sprint Cup winner Countdown and half-sister to last season’s dual Gr3 winner One Fell Swoop
Lot 330 – Go Johnny Go (c) by Gimmethegreenlight ex Touch The Sky
• Bred on the highly successful Gimmethegreenlight/Jet Master cross,
SUMMER SAGA - PETER FAMILY OPEN UP
The events of Betway Summer Cup day in 2023 have intrigued and puzzled the South African racing public for over nine months now and questions have again been asked after the latest episode of the long running saga involving the Peter racing family was postponed on Friday 16 August 2024.
Two days before Christmas last year, the National Horseracing Authority confirmed in a media release that the investigation carried out by O’Sullivan Brosnan & Associates, surrounding the events that transpired at the stables of Tony Peter on Saturday 25 November 2023, had been completed.
We were informed that Messrs A P Peter (Trainer), P A Peter (Assistant Trainer) and M D Peter (Stable Employee) will be required to answer to charges at an Inquiry which was set down for Wednesday, 24 January 2024.
In a statement issued on Monday 19 August 2024, the Peter Family responded as follows:
We have been inundated with enquiries regarding the delay in the finalization of the
enquiry regarding the events of Summer Cup Day, which until to date we have not commented on.
However, as a result of recent events, we feel that it is necessary, and without going into the merits of the case to state the following.
It is in the punters interest that we clarify the present situation.
We have been subjected to the most unfair and intense public scrutiny, including videos that have been edited and commented on by anonymous sources, who clearly lack the courage to identify themselves. This has been done in an effort to fully deal with what transpired in the hearing and we will make the entire transcripts available for anybody who wishes to read them.
Trainer Tony Peter – endured a tough nine months | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
We would have at all times been happy to keep the betting public and other industry stakeholders reliably informed regarding the enquiry proceedings and even from the outset requested the NHA that hearings be made public, including livestreaming. This request was denied by the NHRA.
We ask you, the reader, to consider, that if we were guilty of any offence why would we request the streaming of the hearing? It is not our doing to keep these proceedings as secretive as possible and invite the NHRA to make all the transcripts of the enquiry available to the public on their website.
This, we believe would stop the rumour mill and possibly assist all of those punters who lost money on Summer Cup Day when our horses were scratched to better understand what actually transpired. At this time the NHRA is
still busy presenting its case, and we have not begun to present our case.
The latest delay at the hearing, (which is still subject to a ruling by the panel and as such, we cannot go into actual details thereof) was caused by a blatant and admitted contravention of one of the most basic and honoured rules regarding witnesses under cross-examination, which necessitated an application by us to the panel.
At all times we have attempted to resolve this matter as speedily as possible. The matter has now been postponed until 10 and 11 October 2024.
Ed - the Sporting Post requested an update from the NHRA after Friday’s latest postponement. Nothing has been received from the regulator at time of publication of this statement.
Witness Stand wins by 3 lengths at Goodwood
Witness Stand (Expert Eye) wins the Whispering Angel Handicap at Goodwood by 3 lenghts over 1400m on 3rd August 2024, on good to firm ground.
Expert Witness (Expert Eye) won the Peter Bromwich Handicap at Epsom by 3/4 length over 2000m on 1st August 2024, on good to firm ground. (view the race here).
Witness Stand
CAPE RAIDER TRAVELS TO FAIRVIEW
Flashback! Friday’s East Cape Poly Challenge leg 1 contender King Regent seen beating SA Horse Of The Year Princess Calla in November 2023 | Credit: Chase Liebenberg
The annual East Cape Poly Challenge will start a hectic period for horse racing in Nelson Mandela Bay on Friday.This will be the first of four local meetings taking place in the space of just 11 days.
Usually, it is only one meeting a week at the Fairview track in Greenbushes. The extra meetings will be a huge challenge for all the stables, to make sure they are ready to produce their best.
After the closing of the Arlington track the Poly was installed in 2013, as a second track at Fairview. It soon became a popular surface, and in 2016 the Poly Challenge was introduced.
The Challenge has grown in stature and popularity, and racing fans have witnessed some spectacular races.
There is no doubt the Poly Challenge will again be fiercely contested. No horse has been able
to secure the huge bonus for his connections by winning all three legs and it is obviously very difficult for one horse to win those three races over the different distances of 1 200m, 1 400m and 1 600m.
These three races take place over a period of two months, which means it requires a special effort from the trainers to keep their top Poly horses performing at their best over that time.
There is also a consolation bonus to aim for if we don’t see a horse winning all three legs. That will go to the best performing horse over the three legs.
Glen Kotzen will saddle the only visitor in the feature on Friday when he travels with the talented Dynasty gelding, King Regent.The four-time winner beat SA Horse Of The Year Princess Calla back in November last year on home turf, and looks to carry too many guns for his twelve opponents.
THE RAIN’S A PAIN
– NOW MORE PROGRAMME CHANGES
Mother Nature continues to wreak havoc in the Cape and with record winter rainfall continuing unabated in the region.
Cape Racing have advised that after gallops were held at Hollywoodbets Durbanville this morning at 08h00, the underfoot conditions have been deemed unsuitable for racing today.
Today’s racemeeting has therefore been postponed to Friday, August 23.
Unfortunately, heavy rains have been forecast for Saturday.
With this in mind and the newly scheduled meeting for this Friday, they have made the decision to postpone the meeting scheduled for Saturday 24 August , to next week Wednesday, 28 August.
This meeting will also change venue and be run at Hollywoodbets Durbanville.
RACING WORLD SHOCKED BY STAR MARE’S PASSING
Black Caviar, the greatest Australian international sprinter of them all, has died after a short battle with laminitis, a debilitating condition that affects the hooves.
Racenet.com.au reports that the mighty mare died shortly after giving birth to a colt early on Saturday morning. It is understood Black Caviar was humanely euthanised at the Scone Equine Hospital.
She was due to turn 18 by birth date on Sunday.
Laminitis is a debilitating hoof condition that is sometimes fatal in horses. The legendary American champion Secretariat lost his life due to the same condition.
The invincible Black Caviar won all of her 25 races including 15 at Group 1 level, with Luke
Nolen in the saddle on 23 occasions.
She was acclaimed as the world’s best sprinter when she dominated racing from 2009-13.
Neil Werrett, one of the part-owners of the champion mare, was too devastated to comment. “It’s a difficult time at present –sorry,” Werrett said.
Trainer Peter Moody reflected on his time with Black Caviar and posted some images of the freakish mare on social media.
“She was a remarkable horse who gave us all the ride of a lifetime and wonderful memories,”
Black Caviar – a champion that took racing to the masses | Credit: Supplied
Moody said. “You don’t think it affects you, but you are being stupid not to think it doesn’t. It’s impossible not to get attached to most animals let alone one like her.”
Black Caviar won the Lightning Stakes three times among her 15 Group 1 victories.
Moody shed tears on Saturday sharing the Black Caviar news with family and staff.
“I rang all the family and the staff, Paddy Bell and those close with her, and I sat in the car and cried for an hour as I was ringing them,” Moody said. “I have a bloke (from the stable, Giovanni Spiga) in hospital, and I haven’t shed a tear, but a horse has died, and I’m crying.”
Moody said despite the best veterinary care there was nothing more than could have been done to save the mare.
“She had the foal this morning, a colt by Snitzel, and they put her down short after that on humane grounds,” he said. “They scanned
her feet yesterday and there was no blood flow at all. She had minimal blood flow in her feet anyhow as she was such a big girl.”
Black Caviar was a winning machine who conquered the world with her famous effort to win the 2012 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot before the late monarch, Queen Elizabeth II.
Her English success was among 15 Group 1 wins that included two TJ Smith Stakes (2011, 2013), three Lightning Stakes (2011-12-13), two William Reid Stakes (2011, 2013) and the 2011 Newmarket Handicap under 58kg in a race record 1min 7.36sec.
Black Caviar was crowned the world’s best sprinter on four occasions and Australian Racehorse of the Year three times.
Chris Waller, famous for training another all-time great mare, Winx, said Black Caviar was a “wonderful ambassador for our sport”.
Peter Moody – deeply saddened | Credit: Supplied
“She flew the flag proudly for Australian racing,” Waller said.
“What she was able to achieve on the racetrack was amazing, I was in awe of her every time she raced. She was close to perfect on the way a horse moves with her power, strength and determination.”
Godolphin maestro James Cummings was working for his legendary grandfather, the late Bart Cummings, when Black Caviar was dominating Australian racing.
“I was saddling up horses for my grandfather and watching her string all those wins together,” Cummings said. “It was really daylight second such was her prowess as a sprinter. She will be incredibly missed.”
Hall of Fame jockey Darren Beadman said Black Caviar “put racing on the front pages”.
“Black Caviar stopped the nation when she won in England,” Beadman said. “She was a magnificent sprinter. I had the chance to ride her once. Peter Moody rang me when I was in Hong Kong, but I couldn’t get back for the race. I would have loved to have ridden the mare.”
Black Caviar’s Snitzel colt was her ninth foal and comes after she produced a colt by The Autumn Sun last year. Seven of her foals have got to the races for four winners, the best of those being Invincible Caviar, winner of four of her eight races.
www.racenet.com.au
She attracted crowds wherever she went | Credit: Supplied
A MEASURE OF THOROUGHBRED EXCELLENCE
The Sky Bet York Ebor Festival started at 14h50 today and we are all set for four glorious days of high quality racing action on the Knavesmire.
The Gr1 Juddmonte International Stakes, unquestionably one of the world’s great horse races, is the main attraction on Day 1.
With an honour roll headed by Frankel, and including the likes of Roberto, Troy, Dahlia (twice), Giant’s Causeway, Sea The Stars, Roaring Lion and Baaeed, the Juddmonte International remains a tremendous barometer of thoroughbred excellence.
But how has the race fared in terms of producing top-class stallions?
First run as the Benson And Hedges Gold Cup, the very first running was won in 1972 by that year’s English Derby winner Roberto (Hail To
Reason).
The latter became a hugely successful sire, broodmare sire and sire of sires, with Roberto siring such Gr1 winners as At Talaq, Brian’s Time, Sookera, Sunshine Forever and Touching Wood, and also producing such top-class stallions as Al Mufti, Dynaformer, Kris S, Lear Fan, Red Ransom, and Silver Hawk to name but a few.
Roberto’s numerous high-class daughters include the likes of Modena, Slightly Dangerous, Suntrap, and Immense.
Roberto is but one of a number of breed shaping stallions to have won the York showpiece.
Ghaiyyath winning the 2020 renewal of the great race in the hands of William Buick | Credit: Supplied
In 1983, the race was won by Caerleon, arguably the finest stallion sired by Nijinsky II.
Also winner of the 1983 Prix du Jockey Club, Caerleon was Leading Sire in Britain and Ireland in both 1988 and 1991, and his offspring included such classic winners as Generous, Lady Carla, Moonax and Cape Verdi. Sire of more than 100 stakes winners, Caerleon was also responsible for Gr1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Marienbard, dual Gr1 Coronation Cup hero Warrsan and dual Gr1 Yorkshire Oaks heroine Only Royale.
Giant’s Causeway (Storm Cat), the courageous winner of the 2000 Juddmonte International, is one of the most influential sires of the century. Three times champion sire in the USA, Giant’s Causeway sired 196 stakes winners, with his star performers including champion and outstanding sire Shamardal, and such stars as Footstepsinthesand, Take Charge Brandi, Bricks And Mortar, Carpe Diem, Ghanaati, and Eskendereya.
Giant’s Causeway has become an outstanding broodmare sire, and is damsire of, among others, US Horse Of The Year and outstanding sire Gun Runner (Candy Ride) and Met winning champion, and prominent young South African sire, One World (Captain Al). At the time of writing, daughters of Giant’s Causeway had produced 220 stakes winners. Thus Giant’s Causeway ranks as the sire or broodmare sire of more than 400 stakes winners.
The Galileo sired Frankel, a breathtaking seven length winner of this race in 2012, has become as great a sire as he was a racehorse. The unbeaten superstar recently marked his 100th group/graded stakes winner, having already sired more than 140 stakes winners.
Champion Sire in Britain/Ireland in both 2021 and 2023, Frankel has already sired
more than 30 Gr1 winners including English classic winners Adayar, Anapurna, Chaldean, Hurricane Lane, Logician, and Soul Sister. His son Mostahdaf emulated him by landing the Gr1 Juddmonte International in 2023.
Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), half-brother to Frankel’s sire Galileo, was an outstanding racehorse who has become a top stallion. Once beaten in nine starts, Sea The Stars won all of the Gr1 Qipco 2000 Guineas, Gr1 Investec Derby, Gr1 Coral-Eclipse, Gr1 Juddmonte International, Gr1 Irish Champion Stakes and Gr1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and retired with a reputation of being one of the best horses to race this century.
Since retiring to stud in 2010, Sea The Stars has sired more than 120 stakes winners, including Epsom classic winners Harzand and Taghrooda, outstanding stayer Stradivarius, once beaten Gr1 Deutsches Derby winner and successful sire Sea The Moon, and brilliant Juddmonte International winner Baaeed.
Sea The Stars had another good weekend, with daughter Aventure landing the Gr2 Prix de Pomone at Deauville, his son Al Aasy winning Saturday’s Gr3 BetVictor Geoffrey Free Stakes and a yearling filly making 730 000 at the Arqana August Yearling Sale.
While the 1979 winner Troy (Petingo) died after just four seasons at stud, he left an indelible mark on the breed. Not only did his son Tropular sire French Derby winner Ragmar, his Gr1 winning daughters Helen Street (Irish Oaks) and Walensee (Prix Vermeille) both did well at stud.
Walensee produced champion stayer Westerner (Danehill), and it is through Helen Street that Troy’s name will last for decades to come. Helen Street is responsible for producing Dubai World Cup winner and outstanding sire Street Cry (Machiavellian), and her daughter Helsinki (Machiavellian) produced another outstanding sire in the form of Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway).
Singspiel, winner of the 1997 Juddmonte International, also enjoyed notable success at stud. The In The Wings half-brother to Rahy and Rakeen left behind 100 stakes winners including five time Gr1 winner Solow, Gr1 Dubai World Cup hero Moon Ballad, Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf queen Lahudood, and French Oaks winner Confidential Lady. His Gr1 winning sons Lateral and Potala Palace have both produced a Gr1 winner in South Africa.
A high-class broodmare sire, Singspiel’s champion daughter Dar Re Mi is dam of champion and sensational young sire Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), one of the world’s most exciting young stallions.
LADIES TAKE OVER AT EBOR FESTIVAL
Thursday, Day 2 of the Ebor Festival at York racecourse, is Ladies Day and appropriately the feature on the card is the Gr1 Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks (16h35). This Oaks is open to fillies and mares three years and older.
2022 Oaks runner-up and course winner Emily Upjohn seeks redemption after a disappointing sixth at Goodwood in the Nassau Stakes behind Opera Singer. The five-year-old Gosden trained mare is joined in the eight-strong line-up by her stablemate Queen Of The Pride, the mount of Oisin Murphy. Very much on the up, the four-year-old mare was a convincing
winner of the Gr2 Lancashire Oaks last month.
However, the three-year-olds look well in here receiving a 9lbs age allowance. The first two home in the Irish Oaks, You Got Me winning under a great ride by Hector Crouch for Ralph Beckett is taken on once more by the Ballydoyle trained Content.
It’s Ladies Day at the Ebor Festival on Thursday | Credit: York Racecourse
The latter was a staying-on second after waiting for racing room in the home straight and will bid to exact her revenge under Ryan Moore.
The supporting feature, the Sky Bet Lowther Stakes (14h50) sees nine juvenile fillies contest the 6-furlong Group 2.
Wathnan Racing’s unbeaten Queen Mary winner Leovanni must confirm her last run with the fourth-placed Miss Lamai, the winner of a Listed race at Naas last time.
Celandine, who was last seen finishing fourth in a strong running of the Gr3 Molecomb Stakes at Glorious Goodwood against the boys, will also contest. She cannot be ignored together with the Aidan O’Brien raider Heavens Gate who was super impressive at Naas earlier this month.
Friday sees the running of the Gr1 Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes (16h35) run over the ‘flying’ five-furlongs.
Plenty of speed on offer with Aussie raider and Kings Stand heroine Asfoora set for a rematch with Big Evs after her narrow loss in the King George Qatar Stakes at Goodwood.
Bradsell last year’s King’s Stands winner who won his seasonal return at Deauville earlier this month, Believing, an unlucky third in the King George now gets the services of Ryan Moore; and the inform Ed Bethell trained Regional are all top-class five-furlong specialists.
Put them all together on fast ground and this looks a high-quality renewal.
PLANNING YOUR MATINGS?
The only Directory of Sires at stud in South Africa is now available! The 29th edition of the Sires 2024 Handbook is a 152 page glossy magazing printed in full colour and packed with information, including extended pedigrees, pedigree evaluatio ns, conformation photographs and statistics.
It features 56 stallions, including nine new firstseason sires for 2024.
They all have their individual website page with a wealth of data, which gets updated daily at www.raceform.co.za
Price is unchanged from previous years, R290. With the current unreliable postal service, it can be sent via courier or Postnet at an additional R100.
HANGING 10-TIMES 7! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOLF
A stalwart of the Cape racing ranks, and a trainer who finally called it a day some nine years ago, the Melkbosstrand-based Dolf Maeder celebrates his 70th birthday today.
A horseman, one-time bookmaker, surfer, squash player and coach, Dolf has seen it all and can recount a few racing truths.
The Sporting Post chatted to Dolf when he
If you would like to wish Dolf, please visit the Sporting Post Facebook platform – click here. v
gave up training – for the second and final time – and his story paints a fascinating picture. We thought we’d republish it for those that missed it first time round.
Dolf enjoys lunch with Glen Kotzen and Gary Player | Credit: Supplied Racecourse
TOP RACING JOURNALIST WILL BE MISSED
Howard Wright, one of the founding members of staff at the Racing Post and a journalist respected across the racing world, died on Friday morning after a short illness. He was 79.
Wright began his career in journalism when he joined Timeform in 1964 and was still writing in the weeks before his death.
When the Racing Post launched in 1986, Wright was news editor working with the paper’s founding editor Graham Rock.
He later became industry editor, becoming the definitive voice on racing’s politics and finances as well as covering the gambling industry, a position he held until he retired from full-time journalism in 2012, although he continued to contribute to the newspaper and other publications until recent weeks.
‘He was beyond compare’ – racing comes together to pay tribute to Howard Wright
Wright was born in Doncaster in 1945 and was soon to become a regular visitor to the town’s racecourse. He attended his first St Leger in 1948 and returned to the course to watch the race in person every year for the rest of his life. His first job was in the civil service in London, but he answered a job advert for Timeform in The Sporting Life and returned north to Halifax to begin his career in horseracing as a clerk at the organisation in 1964.
Howard Wright – a racing man if ever we knew one | Credit: Supplied
Wright went on to join the Sheffield Morning Telegraph as racing editor, staying with the newspaper for 11 years during which time he rose to be deputy sports editor.
He returned to London to become deputy racing editor at the Daily Telegraph and then in 1985 he was approached by the team planning to launch the Racing Post as a competitor to The Sporting Life, with Rock offering him a twoyear contract.
Wright was industry editor for the majority of his career at the Racing Post, writing news, interviews and a weekly column featuring comment on the industry as well as gossip and insight from a mysterious insider known only as The Fly On The Wall.
His contacts book was legendary and there were few people within British racing who would not pick up the phone to Wright, although his forthright opinions could sometimes cause friction with members of the sport’s leadership.
“Howard Wright was a legend of the Racing Post and a true journalist’s journalist,” said Racing Post editor Tom Kerr. “He was one of the paper’s founding staff, possessor of the finest contacts book in the sport and could invariably be spied at racing events around the globe, no doubt having just secured his next scoop. Although he ‘retired’ in 2012, he was still providing Post readers with the benefits of his immense experience and knowledge as recently as April.
“Howard enjoyed the widespread respect and fondness of both his press colleagues and those he reported upon. That was born of his impeccably informed work, his deep integrity and his laconic charm.
“On behalf of all at the Racing Post past
and present, I extend our condolences and sympathy to Anne, his wife, and Andrea and Karen, his daughters.”
Alan Byrne, former editor-in-chief of the Racing Post, said: “Howard is one of a small number of people who shaped the Racing Post. He was news editor at launch and later made the industry beat his own. In everything he did, Howard’s professionalism, integrity and innate sense of fair play shone through.
“His commitment to racing and to the Racing Post was unbreakable. The only things that ranked higher with him were his family and Doncaster – the city, the football club and, in particular, the racecourse. The St Leger will never be the same without him.”
It was not only in British racing that Wright was both a well-known and highly respected journalist. He was a familiar face at meetings and international racing events from the Middle East to Australia, South Africa to Scandinavia.
He also wrote a highly regarded biography of Timeform’s founder Phil Bull and edited a number of other books, including an Encyclopaedia Of Flat Racing.
He had been a trustee of the National Horseracing College near Doncaster since 1990, and vice-chairman since 2004, and was also a member of the British Flat Pattern Committee between 1986 and 2009.
The Sporting Post expresses our condolences to Howard’s family and friends. MHDSRIP.
www.racingpost.com
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