BREED-SHAPING CLASSIC WARRANTS GR1 STATUS

A stellar programme of stakes racing is on tap for Saturday’s Turffontein racemeeting. Five graded stakes races will be contested, amongst which the Wilgerbosdrift Bridget Oppenheimer Gr2 SA Oaks.

Steeped in history, the 2400m classic for fillies dates back to 1913 and has been a fountainhead for top broodmares, many of which went on to create their own dynasties.

Yet, in spite of it being of prime importance to the breed and the fact that the winner invariably ends up a champion, the Oaks carries only Gr2 status, this on the grounds that the average rating of the runners is not deemed high enough.

For those not in the know, the quality of a graded race is measured against an international benchmark and takes into account the top finishers over a period of three years or four years. Should said quality comply with the required standard, the race status could be subject to a review.

Since the Oaks lost its Gr1 status in the late eighties, the race has been won by such worthy champions as Icy Air, Monyela, Royal Aproval, Festive Occasion, Igugu and Cherry On The Top.

And if we narrow our focus to the past three renewals, the winners comprise a trio of exceptional fillies. All three completed the Triple Tiara and between them, accounted for numerous championships, not to mention a coveted Horse of the Year award.

Summer Pudding, the 2020 winner, needs no introduction. A champion at three and four, this daughter of Silvano ripped through her first nine starts unbeaten, a streak which included the Triple Tiara as well as a facile victory in the Gr1 Summer Cup. Beaten just twice in her career, she was a worthy recipient of the 2021 Horse of the Year.

It is only fitting that this year's race has been named for the late Bridget Oppenheimer, she of the famed Mauritzfontein Stud, where Summer Pudding was bred, as was her 'aunt', the 2013 winner Cherry On The Top, whose daughter Blossom ran second to champion Return Flight in the 2019 Oaks.

The Kimberley stud boasts an unparalleled record as the source of no less than fifteen winners of the South African Oaks, fourteen of which carried the famed Oppenheimer silks to victory.

A second successive Triple Tiara winner was crowned a year later when War Of Athena captured the 2021 SA Oaks at the expense of subsequent Hollywoodbets Durban July winner Sparkling Water. Bred at Summerhill Stud, the daughter of Act Of War recorded a sixth straight victory by defeating the fine galloper Princess Calla in the subsequent Gr1 Woolavington 2000, and narrowly missed out on a third Gr1 win when involved in a head-bobbing three-way finish to the Garden Province Stakes.

The 2022 Oaks went the way of Duke Of Marmalade filly Rain in Holland, who clinched the Triple Tiara by defeating subsequent Gr1 Woolavington 2000 runner-up Light Of The Moon.

A champion at both two and three, the Drakenstein homebred subsequently won the Gr2 Gerald Rosenberg and while she has yet to add another Gr1 success, she returned to her sparkling best when leaving her male rivals floundering in last weekend's Gr2 Colorado King Stakes. Quality runs deep in this female line, for her dam is a half-sister to the grand racemare Dancer's Daughter, who famously deadheated with Pocket Power in the 2008 Gr1 Vodacom Durban July.

If one analyses the results of the last three renewals alone, one cannot dispute that the quality of the SA Oaks is up to snuff. Perhaps the time has come for an upward review of this breed-shaping classic?

Dubai’s loss is our gain and it will be good to have South Africa’s hottest property new generation racecaller back in the Turffontein eagle’s nest for The Championships Day 3 on Saturday.

There is no question that 2023 has been a watershed character-building year for the 32 year old commentator, widely regarded as our number one caller and a man who has grown in stature since Phumelela took a chance on him as a greenhorn some 14 years ago.

A career defining opportunity, and well deserved international recognition, saw Alistair appointed the Emirates Racing Authority’s English-language race caller at all five UAE tracks at the start of the 2020-21 season, when succeeding the Australian Craig Evans.

Enjoying his second stint in the UAE, and widely regarded for his professionalism behind the binoculars, Alistair was shockingly summararily dropped at short notice by the Dubai Racing Club for last Saturday’s Dubai World Cup racemeeting and replaced by well experienced US caller Larry Collmus.

Chatting to the Sporting Post on Tuesday, the philosophical Durbanite has taken the boltfrom-the- blue knife in the back in his professional stride, but admits he had to call on the decorum of all of his impeccable upbringing, and bite both lip and tongue, initially.

“After every racemeeting, I analyse my personal performance. Nobody is ever too old or smart to learn and the best tool for a commentator is self and external criticism, and admitting one could have done this or that better. Ironically, I felt chuffed and genuinely thrilled after the World Cup curtain-raiser on Super Saturday that it was probably one of my best call days ever. Everything fell into place. As it turns out, the decision had already been made to bullet me for World Cup day, so it had nothing to do with my performance at all,” he muses as he puzzles over something he may never know the truth about.

It was just 24 hours after Super Saturday that Alistair heard from a source that the American caller was going to take the hotseat on World Cup day.

“I was told in confidence and it seems that the decision was known to only a handful of people. I hadn’t been informed prior to Super Saturday as I believe there was concern that it could have impacted on my performance. I discovered that week that the everyday folk in the structures knew nothing – I mean, for goodness sake, I had been involved in the planning for the barrier draw ceremony as I had been in 2022. The commentator is allowed to