SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 1

Thursday 2 march 201716 March Thursday Mistico Equestrian Centre • Paarl

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Gr2 Gauteng Guineas - Turffontein

Mike de Kock and Sean Tarry hold the aces in pure numbers and firepower in R1 million Gaut-eng Guineas, run over the Turffontein standside mile. The two top yards saddle seven of the ten runners in the first leg proper of the SA Triple Crown. With William Longsword, winner of the ‘alternate’ first leg – the Gr1 Cape Guineas – hav-ing retired to stud duties, the golden highway is open for one of ten 3yo’s on Saturday to write the first chapter into the history books.

de Kock’s Snitzel colt heavenly Blue tops the SP ratings and is the joint highest rated runner in the race with stablemate Janoobi. after winning his first two starts with ease, heavenly Blue arrived too late in the Graham Beck Stakes (behind doosra) and the dingaans (behind Singapore Sling). he failed to pro-duce any spark in the cape Guineas, finishing some five lengths off William Longsword, but did have excuses - having drawn wide (15 of 16) and racing first time on a left-handed track, in a slow run race,

wearing blinkers first time.Janoobi didn't settle in the false run cape Guineas

and finished fourth, two lengths off the winner, and three lengths ahead of heavenly Blue. It remains to be seen if he can confirm that form with his stable companion.

The Graham Beck Stakes winner doosra has shown quite consistent ratings, mostly over shorter distances. he tries the mile for the second time in his career.

Secretariat Stakes winner matador man ran on very well from behind to chase the filly Ektifaa home in the Gr3 Tony Ruffel Stakes last time out. he tries a mile for the first time, and on pedigree could find that about the limit of his stamina. matador man beat doosra by some three lengths in the Tony Ruffel and meets that one on 3kg worse terms here.

chili con carne gets the advantage of a number one draw and seems likely to race with the pace again. his best form has been over less than a mile,

Friday 24 February Fairview - race 8Sporting Post

Best HandicappedKingvoldt

WON 12/1

FAIRVIEW turf FridayBest Roving Banker: r8 - (5) Cock-A-Hoop (4/1)

GREYVILLE poly FridayBest Roving Banker: r7 – (2) Roy’s Gold (10/1)

tuRFFontEIn SaturdayBest Roving Banker: r7 – (10) Shaama (4/1)

KEnILWoRtH SaturdayBest Roving Banker: r6 – (2) Jetano (3/1)

GREYVILLE poly SundayBest Roving Banker: r1 – (8) Pomona (1/1)

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 2

G r 2 G a u t e n G G u i n e a s

can be purchased here

Match RaceGr2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas - TurffonteinThe first leg of the Wilgerbosdrift-sponsored Triple Tiara looks a straight shootout between two badly drawn but very smart fillies, saddled by two champion trainers. Sean Tarry’s locally bred Safe Harbour versus Mike de Kock’s Australian bred Ekti-faa, who goes for her fifth win on the trot. That’s the match.

Tarry goes for his hat-trick in the race, but de Kock’s Ektifaa looks something very special. She has not put a foot wrong since winning her maiden over the Vaal 1200m in September. a cape-win in the Gr2 choice carriers Fillies championship and a rollicking romp after a 3-month break when beating the boys in the Tony Ruffel at this track has foist the daughter of more Than Ready into the spotlight. She tries a mile for the first time.

Safe harbour has put up showings of note, winning the R2.5m Lanzerac Ready To Run cup at Kenilworth in November, and following on with narrow seconds in the cape Fillies Guineas and Paddock Stakes. her last effort in the R6m cTS mile, when beaten five lengths, was no reflection of her ability in a false run race.

What of the opposition?maleficent has so far failed to deliver in her 3yo season and

returned from an unplaced effort in the cape Fillies Guineas to produce a disappointing performance in the Three Troikas. She was fancied and ran handily before fading right out to finish tenth of twelfth. Not her form and another chance should be given.

anna Pavlova completed the hat-trick when flying late to win the Three Troikas last time out, recording a career best rating. She tries the mile for the first time has drawn very wide, right be-tween Ektifaa and Safe harbour.

Babbling Brooke also ran in the Three Troikas, finishing over 4 lengths off the winner. She’s previously ran fourth in the Fillies mile and might be more comfortable over the mile.

Last chirp showed prominently for a long way in the Three Troi-kas before being swallowed up late for a one length third.

One of only 3 four-time winners in the race, she is out of a speed mare and tries the mile for the first time.

Gr3 Fillies mile winner Smiling Blue Eyes returns from a 14 week break, in search of a hattrick of wins at only her fifth lifetime start. She could be anything, but is drawn widest of all. Being Fabulous looks held by Smiling Blue Eyes on their encounter in the Gr3 Fillies mile.

al hawraa ran on steadily when beaten 2 lengths in the Three Troikas. She tries a mile for the first time, and has to improve to feature.

Pool Party has drawn pole position, and finished fourth to anna Pavlova in the Three Troikas, beaten a length. She has yet to race beyond 1400m after 18 lifetime starts, which is interesting as her dam won over 2000m (and had four siblings who all won over a mile and more). a mile should be at least what she needs.

Visuality has drawn very wide but showed what appeared to be a return to her best 2yo form when looking a winner late before

and looks held by doosra and matador man on the Gr3 Tony Ruffel Stakes collateral.

Gary alexander and andrew Fortune team up with unagi who ran a gutsy two length fourth to chili con carne in the Ready To Run cup back in November, at level weights. his best ratings have been recorded in races over a mile.

The unbeaten al Sahem makes only his third racecourse ap-pearance, after an eleven week break following his withdrawal on grounds of a respiratory disease from a 1400m Progress Plate on 24 January. his two previous starts were over a mile, which he won with ease, and good market support. he's bound to be much better than rated. That makes it all the more curious that S'man-

ga Khumalo takes the ride on stable companion Furiosa. This one's the winner of 2 of his 6 starts to date. Last time out

he beat the older amsterdam in an mR80 handicap over 1800m on the inside track, recording a career-best rating.

de Kock’s third runner is daffiq who showed promise at two, but has battled with lameness a few times and did not race from July to January. On known form he has a bit to find in this company

Tilbury Fort travelled to the cape for the R6 miilion cTS mile on met day, but was never in the hunt. he appears to be out-classed here.

2012 1 Golden Chateau 58.0 ( 3) 99/1 2 Brooks-Club 58.0 ( 5) 40/1 3 Slumdogmillionaire 58.0 ( 8) 19/102013 1 Tellina 58.0 ( 7) 6/1 2 War Horse 58.0 (14) 7/1 3 Killua Castle 58.0 ( 2) 22/12014 1 Louis The King 58.0 (10) 15/1 2 Forest Indigo 58.0 ( 2) 7/2 3 As You Like 58.0 ( 8) 15/12015 1 Harry’s Son 58.0 ( 6) 18/10 2 French Navy 58.0 ( 5) 12/1 3 Forest Fox 58.0 (10) 16/12016 1 Abashiri 60.0 ( 3) 2/1 2 Champagne Haze 60.0 ( 6) 5/1 3 Malak El Moolook 60.0 ( 5) 75/1

Gr2 Gauteng Guineas past winners

START PA7/PICK SIX64:35PM Gr2 GAuTenG GuineAS (3yo’S) - 1600M TuRffonTein 9 SAME TRAINER:(1-2-9)(4-7-8-10) Snitzel 1 HEAVENLY BLUE(MF de Kock) C Murray .......10 60.0 Silvano 2 JANooBi(MF de Kock) P Strydom ..................... 7 60.0 Captain Al 3 DoosrA(JJ v Vuuren) G Lerena ........................ 8 60.0 Toreador 4 MAtADor MAN(SG Tarry) L Hewitson ............. 9 60.0 Just As Well 5 CHiLi CoN CArNE(M Houdalakis) M v Rensburg .. 1 60.0 Admire Main 6 UNAgi(GM Alexander) A fortune ........................ 2 60.0 Silvano 7 AL sAHEM(SG Tarry) A Delpech ....................... 4 60.0 Fastnet Rock 8 FUriosA(SG Tarry) S Khumalo ......................... 5 60.0 Silvano 9 DAFFiq(MF de Kock) - scratched ...................... 3 60.0 Horse Chestnut 10 tiLBUrY Fort(SG Tarry) R Danielson ............. 6 60.0

Crowning GloryThe R7-million Sa Triple crown is the richest series of races

in africa and has been won three times. mike azzie’s Go dep-uty gelding abashiri won in 2016, preceded by mike de Kock’s horse chestnut in 1999 and Geoff Woodruff trained Louis The King in 2014.

The Gr2 Gauteng Guineas is the first leg, followed by the R2-million Gr1 Sa classic over 1800m at Turffontein on 1 april.

The final leg is the R2 million Gr1 Sa derby over 2450m on Saturday 6 may.

a bonus of R2 million will be paid to the owner/s of the horse that wins all three legs .

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 3

being nabbed by anna Pavlova in the Three Troikas Stakes. She was Gr1 placed as a 2yo and on best form should not be ignored.

The lightly raced Orchid Island was an impressive winner when beating the boys in the Listed Sea cot-tage Stakes. her 4 length victory over Furiosa from the worst of the draw was eyecatching, but in terms of ratings she has it all to do this time.

The same is true for S’manga Khuma-lo’s mount Redberry Lane who won her maiden by eight lengths, making all. The lightly raced filly is a full sister to Solo Traveller who won the cape Guineas and a half-sister to Starship Legacy, who sold for R4.5 million at last month’s cape Premier yearling Sale.

Mine’s From Cartieras is the case with the Triple crown, the winner

of the alternate first cape-leg of the Wilgerbos-drift Triple Tiara does not make the trip. It is left to one of the sixteen starters for the Gr2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas to try and emulate two previous Tiara winners – Igugu in 2011 and cherry On The Top in 2013.

The Triple Tiara is, at R2.5 million, the richest series of races for fillies in africa, this apart from a bonus of R1 million for the owner/s of all three legs of the series. The second leg is the R1-million Wilgerbosdrift Gr1 Sa Fillies classic over 1800m on 1 april, the final one the R1-million Wilgerbos-drift Gr2 Sa Oaks over 2450m on 6 may.

START PA6/PICK SIX5/JACKPOT44:00PM Gr2 GAuTenG fiLLieS GuineAS(3yo’S) - 1600MTuRffonTein 8 SAME TRAINER:(1-10-13-16)(2-7-8-15-17)(4-11)(12-18) Elusive Fort 1 sAFE HArBoUr(SG Tarry) Wei Marwing ......16 60.0 More Than Ready 2 EktiFAA(MF de Kock) C Murray ......................14 60.0 Judpot 3 MALEFiCENt(AG Laird) R Simons ................... 4 60.0 St Petersburg 4 ANNA PAVLoVA(RR Magner) JP vd Merwe ...15 60.0 Western Winter 5 BABBLiNg BrookE(OA Ferraris) P Strydom .. 9 60.0 Announce 6 LAst CHirP(SD Gray) A fortune ..................... 7 60.0 Silvano 7 orCHiD isLAND(MF de Kock) A Delpech ......10 60.0 New Approach 8 AL HAwrAA(MF de Kock) M yeni ..................... 6 60.0 High Chaparral 9 BEiNg FABULoUs(JJ v Vuuren) G Lerena ....... 5 60.0 Dynasty 10 sMiLiNg BLUE EYEs(SG Tarry) R Danielson 19 60.0 Kahal 11 PooL PArtY(RR Magner) J Penny ................... 1 60.0 High Chaparral 12 sANtiBUri(RR Sage) C Maujean ...................12 60.0 Visionaire 13 VisUALitY(SG Tarry) L Hewitson ....................18 60.0 Elusive Fort 14 ELUsiVE strikE(S Ferreira) M v Rensburg..... 2 60.0 Golden Sword 15 BELLE rosE(MF de Kock) R Munger .............13 60.0 Western Winter 16 rEDBErrY LANE(SG Tarry) S Khumalo .......... 3 60.0 Bernardini 17 BiBLiCAL sUsAN(MF de Kock) - reserve 1 ...11 60.0 Silvano 18 oriENtAL oAk(RR Sage) - reserve 2 ............17 60.0 Pathfork 19 MY FriEND LEE(M Houdalakis) - reserve 3 .... 8 60.0

2012 1 Go Indigo 58.0 (13) 22/1 2 Ilha Bela 58.0 ( 1) 6/1 3 Hidden Beauty 58.0 ( 5) 8/12013 1 Cherry On The Top 58.0 (13) 5/1 2 Do You Remember 58.0 ( 6) 33/1 3 King’s Temptress 58.0 ( 8) 10/12014 1 Arcetri Pink 58.0 ( 6) 25/1 2 Not Sulking 58.0 ( 8) 7/1 3 Athina 58.0 (12) 8/12015 1 Siren’s Call 58.0 ( 7) 3/1 2 Trophy Wife 58.0 ( 2) 16/1 3 Smart Call 58.0 (10) 3/12016 1 Heaps of Fun 60.0 ( 6) 20/1 2 Negroamaro 60.0 ( 5) 1/1 3 Frosty Friday 60.0 (14) 20/1

Gr2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas

past winners

G r 2 G a u t e n G F i l l i e s G u i n e a s

tie Me Kangaroo Down SportGr2 Hawaii Stakes - Turffontein

A small but closely handicapped field turns out to contest this R400k feature over 1400m, with thunderstorms probably the real best bet of the day. The Gr2 race is open to all horses, with 4yo’s and older on 58kg and 3yo’s carry-ing 55kg. Winners of Gr1 races get an extra 2kg, while Gr2 wins accrue a 1kg penalty.

Kangaroo Jack, who had been in a sweet vein of form, produced a rare below par showing at his last start, reportedly pulling up lame on the off-fore. Which may be why he failed to produce his customary kick, finishing four lengths fifth to New Predator. his earlier form and reputation suggests he should make amends here. he’s Sporting Post’s joint-toprated runner.

New Predator was in receipt of 6kg when he beat Kangaroo Jack, and now competes at level weights. On balance of probability the tables will be turned. The two had previously met at level weights (last October, over 1450m), when Jack won, more than two lengths ahead of the Predator in third.

mike de Kock’s lightly raced Redoute’s choice colt Rafeef takes his first plunge into deep waters after a second place in the Wolf Power 1600 last time out. This australian bred winner of 4 from 7 starts will have to improve on his current rating if he’s to have a chance.

The consistent Romany Prince is five kg better off with Rafeef on their run two-three finish in the Wolf Power 1600. he has mainly raced over distances of a mile and more, so it is interesting to see him come back to 1400m. The same goes for French Navy, who ran unplaced in the 2000m Gr1 Sun met in the cape last time out, but was only four lengths off the winner and ran close to his rating. For both of them much will depend on how testing the pace is going to be.

Will Pays finished a length behind the below-best Kangaroo Jack last time, and almost 6 lengths off winner New Predator who is 4kg worse off here. Will Pays could be returning to his best form shown in October last year, when he ran two lengths second to Kangaroo Jack. The two meet on virtually identical terms here.

Fort Ember is the only filly in the line-up and is weighted accordingly. She returns from a 2-month break, but had excellent form at her last starts. her usual style of running is with the pace and she might well be the one to turn this race into a true-run contest. On ratings she has a serious chance, so the others can’t afford to give her too much leeway upfront.

Bulleting home is the second of the Tarry runners and has S’manga Khumalo up, with stablemate French Navy having the services again of his regular jockey mawing. Strictly on ratings Bulleting home looks to have a bit to find to feature here.

highclass sprinter Talk-tothestars returns from a cape summer campaign, and carries topweight with 60kg. he finished last in this race last year after setting the pace in

START PA4/PICK SIX3/JACKPOT22:50PM Gr2 HAWAii STAKeS - 1400MTuRffonTein 6 SAME TRAINER:(4-7) Overlord 1 tALktotHEstArs(FC de Beer) R Simons ...... 6 60.0 Querari 2 kANgAroo JACk(GM Alexander) A fortune ... 9 59.0 New Approach 3 NEw PrEDAtor(JJ v Vuuren) G Lerena ......... 1 59.0 Count Dubois 4 FrENCH NAVY(SG Tarry) Wei Marwing ........... 7 58.0 Imperial Stride 5 wiLL PAYs(MG Azzie) C Zackey........................ 4 58.0 Kahal 6 roMANY PriNCE(OA Ferraris) R Danielson ... 8 58.0 Western Winter 7 BULLEtiNg HoME(SG Tarry) S Khumalo ........ 5 58.0 Redoute’s Choice 8 rAFEEF(MF de Kock) C Murray ......................... 2 58.0 Elusive Fort 9 Fort EMBEr(PA Peter) L Hewitson................. 3 55.5

2012 1 Kavanagh 56.0 (11) 4/1 2 Snowdon 55.0 ( 8) 75/20 3 Rebel Knight 55.0 ( 5) 33/12013 1 Whiteline Fever 58.5 ( 9) 6/1 2 Approachable 58.5 (10) 22/1 3 Galileo’s Destiny 58.5 ( 4) 4/12014 1 Whiteline Fever 60.0 ( 8) 22/10 2 Chekilli 55.5 ( 9) 7/1 3 Uncle Tommy 58.5 ( 6) 18/12015 1 Chekilli 58.0 ( 7) 11/2 2 Halve The Deficit 60.0 ( 1) 8/1 3 Ashton Park 58.0 ( 6) 8/12016 1 Captain Aldo 59.0 ( 1) 16/1 2 Lazer Star 57.5 ( 2) 5/1 3 Ice Machine 60.0 ( 7) 2/1

Gr2 Hawaii Stakes past winners

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 4

Weighing up the ChancesGr3 Acacia Handicap - Turffontein

When is a handicap not a handicap? In the last dozen years, the Acacia handicap has been won by short priced favourites six times, three of them starting at odds-on. Given that according to the NHA’s Rules a handicap is a race ‘in which the weights to be carried by the horses are allocated by the handicapper for the purpose of equalising their chances of winning’ those short winner’s odds are startling stats. The market clearly didn’t think the weights allocated by the official handi-capper were correct, and at least half the time they weren’t wrong!

The acacia handicap, restricted to fillies and mares, is run over a mile on the standside track. The draw appears to be of lesser importance, and in the last two years the trifecta was made up of draws 8/13/2 and 6/11/8, on good and soft going.

Sporting Post’s best handicapped of the 15 runners is Silver class, who recorded a career-best rating over the course and distance last November. her two subsequent runs, over 1400m, were disappointing, but don’t write her off.

Next in the ratings is Sensible Lover, who finished ahead of Silver class in November, and also dropped the ball in her subsequent two runs. a return to the November form would give her a first chance.

soft going. he seldomly races beyond 1200m, so it is hard to know what to expect. On his best rating he’d leave this field stonecold.

AlohaThe hawaii Stakes is named in honour of ha-

waii (bay, 1964, by utrillo – Ethane by mehrali), a champion at two and three in South africa, sent to race in the uSa for his owner charles Engel-hard. Voted american champion Turf horse, he set a track record in the 2400m man O’War Stakes on turf at Belmont Park.

hawaii retired from racing having won 21 of 28 career starts, with earnings of $370.000.

he went to stud at claiborne Farm in Kentucky.hawaii sired Epsom derby winner henbit and

Epsom derby runner-up hawaiian Sound. he is broodmare sire of Gr1 stallion hennessy (whose dam is full sister to Sa sprinter Springing Leopard).

EmblemThe acacia is better known as the wattle, especially in australia.‘This here's the wattle, the

emblem of our land. you can stick it in a bottle, you can hold it in your hand.’

First Bruce in the Four Bruces sketch, monthy Python - have a laugh here

There are two Australian-breds in the Acacia handicap line-up, Sensible Lover and Shaama. Their presence looks to be well scripted!

G r 2 H a w a i i s t a k e s

2013 1 Amur Affair 56.5 ( 8) 11/2 2 Formation 53.5 ( 6) 12/1 3 Demanding Lady 58.5 ( 4) 6/12014 1 Orator’s Daughter 57.0 ( 3) 5/2 2 Uptothemoon 55.5 ( 8) 10/1 3 Love Vivien 53.5 ( 6) 10/12015 1 Whatalady 59.0 ( 8) 7/2 2 Fortitude 52.0 (13) 14/1 3 Be Mine Tonight 53.5 ( 2) 5/22016 1 Off The Mark 52.0 ( 6) 7/1 2 Sensible Lover 53.5 (11) 16/1 3 Noor 53.5 ( 8) 6/1

Gr3 Acacia Hcp past winners

START PA5/PICK SIX4/JACKPOT33:25PM Gr3 ACACiA HAnDiCAP (f&M) - 1600M TuRffonTein 7 SAME TRAINER:(3-7)(5-8)(9-10)(13-14) Go Deputy 1 FLYiNg iCE(OA Ferraris) G Lerena .................... 1 61.5 Judpot 2 PoLYPHoNiC(AG Laird) P Strydom .................. 3 59.0 Silvano 3 BELLA soNAtA(G v Zyl) W Kennedy ................ 8 58.0 Trippi 4 kiLAUEA(D Nieuwenhuizen) C Maujean ............. 6 57.5 Silvano 5 tAHiNi(SG Tarry) L Hewitson ............................. 5 57.5 Good Journey 6 sENsiBLE LoVEr(WH Marwing) Wei Marwing 10 55.5 Jet Master 7 CAssiE o’MALLEY(G v Zyl) K Zechner .........13 54.5 Jet Master 8 oFF tHE MArk(SG Tarry) S Khumalo ...........14 54.5 Tiger Ridge 9 NotHEr rUssiA(MF de Kock) C Zackey .......15 54.0 Redoute’s Choice 10 sHAAMA(MF de Kock) C Murray ....................... 9 54.0 Bankable 11 BANkiNg APriL(M Houdalakis) M v Rensburg 12 53.0 Mogok 12 PENNiNgtoN sANDs(T Zackey) M yeni ......... 7 53.0 Silvano 13 siLVEr CLAss(JJ v Vuuren) R Simons ............ 2 52.0 Ideal World 14 work EtHiC(JJ v Vuuren) J Greyling .............. 4 52.0 Trippi 15 LEisUrE triP(A Nel) JP vd Merwe ...............11 52.0

Rated slightly behind her is the trio of Shaama, Tahini and Work Ethic. Tahini finished ahead of Sensible Lover and Silver class in November, then travelled to the cape where she had three runs in top company – races won by Whisky Baron, Bela-Bela and Nightingale. She never quite got involved from off the pace in those races. Better this time! Shaama was off the track from February last year until January. her two runs since then were an excellent win and a second. She tries a mile for the first time and on her best 2yo rating (when sec-ond in the Sa Nursery) would have this field stone-cold. She could well be the next short-priced winner. Work Ethic ran a nice race on polytrack at Greyville in January, but her runs prior to that and afterwards were disappointing. She’s another whose best rating was higher than we have her here, so she cannot be taken lightly.

Going down the race ratings, there’s Off The mark, who looks well held by Shaama. Next is cassie O’malley, who usually races with the pace, but is drawn 13 and will have to make an early effort to get to her favoured position. her usual tactics are not easy to execute and she isn’t always able to get home. Pennington Sands often spoils her chances by starting slowly and cannot afford to do that in this company.

Polyphonic finished second in the November race mentioned earlier, and she’s yet another whose two subsequent runs were way below that form – although she started at short odds both times. She was dropped two points by the handicapper, and has Strydom in the saddle here. Nother Russia has shown solid, good form in three starts following a break from march till November last year. She should have the beating of Banking april following on from their last encounter.

Bella Sonata looks closely matched with Kilauea, who beat Shaa-ma at level weights last time, but is worse off at

G r 3 a c a c i a H a n d i c a p

the weights.Top-weighted Flying

Ice has had two runs fol-lowing a break from July to November. The sec-ond of those suggests that she may be back to best here with the blinkers back on. She would probably have preferred a stiffer test distance-wise, though. cape-visitor Leisure Trip looks to be an optimistic entry, and competes under sufferance by a few points.

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 5

World Cup Woes & WondersMike de Kock’s dream of winning the Dubai World Cup has tak-en a sobering left hook with the news that Hall Of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has decided to travel to Dubai with Gr1 Pegasus World Cup winner Arrogate.

de Kock has never shied away from taking on the best and after his 2016 dubai World cup runner-up mubtaahij prepped beauti-fully last week with a second in the curlin handicap, it looked as if 2017 could be the champion trainer’s year to lift the $10 million race trophy.

Never mind.The 4yo arrogate burst on to the scene with a spectacular wire-

to-wire score in the GrI Travers Stakes at Saratoga last august. he then accounted for horse of the year california chrome at the Breeder’s cup in November, and again beat the now retired champion again in the $12 million Pegasus in January.

after an impressive workout on monday at Santa anita, where he clocked a mile in 1:38.40, a thrilled Baffert said that he would travel to dubai, together with last year’s third finisher hoppertunity.

mubtaahij will not have another run before the big night.

That said, Mike de Kock will be a busy man on Saturday. He saddles a host of runners on Guineas Day at Turffontein and also has six Super Saturday runners in Dubai. This meeting, which carries prizemoney totalling $1.8m, is the major prep for the World Cup meeting on 25 March.

de Kock’s six runners include a treble handed attack in the $300.000 Gr1 Jebel hatta, an 1800m turf event. he has won this event four times – dating back 13 years to Ipi Tombe in 2003,

followed by Surveyor in 2004, master Of hounds in 2012 and the most recently Vercingetorix in 2014.

Ertijaal finished third in the same race last year, but his recent form is sketchy and Light The Lights ranks as de Kock’s spearhead. The son of Western Winter has run three outstanding

prep runs – winning his first, then going second to Promising Run – last time finding the mile on the short side when running fifth behind the top-class championship.

Evergreen 7yo Sanshaawes is the third of the trio and won his penultimate start. he is as game as the day is long and Bernard Fayd’herbe will get the best out of him.

de Kock’s other runners at the meeting are Fawree, Lindo amor and Tahanee.

Get your SuperSaturday Racecard here

Light The Lights - De Kock’s spearhead| DRC Andrew Watkins

Date Race Name Class Course Dist Track Prize Money

mar 4

al Bastakiya L meydan 1900 dirt uSd 250,000

Burj Nahaar G3 meydan 1600 dirt uSd 200,000

dubai city Of Gold G2 meydan 2410 TuRF uSd 250,000

Jebel hatta G1 meydan 1800 TuRF uSd 300,000

mahab al Shimaal G3 meydan 1200 dirt uSd 200,000

maktoum challenge R3 G1 meydan 2000 dirt uSd 400,000

Dubai Carnival Diary

d u b a i d i a r y O p - e d

A Disgraceful TimeEveryone's an expert and we all know exactly what's wrong with racing. Now that is rubbish and we can put it behind us. But I believe strongly that we, the racing public, have a le-gitimate complaint to make about Sectional Timing. Just where the hell is it? It’s disgraceful how it’s been handled and how we have been handled. As much as this is a cliche there is no other way to put it. It’s just a disgrace.

I fell in love with horse racing at a time when it was complete-ly inaccessible to me. I was a kid and had never been to a race track. It was before IGN, I don’t remember being able to call for commentary and I wasn’t able to go to totes or bookmakers rooms. my interaction with racing was a racecard, the 10c jack-pot, the results on Radio Goodhope and the very first edition of any newspaper which showed the dividends.

I fell hard for racing and now many years later I’ve had my pic-ture taken with Lester, I was close up for millard’s magic, patted Empress club and Jet master, horse chestnut and dynasty, met michael Roberts, owned and bred some horses, and handicapped and gambled on both sides of the counter.

Racing had a burst of energy from about the 90’s. We discov-ered that every stallion did not have to be an import. We nation-alised the tote and discovered international racing. We corpora-tised the industry. We decided to change how we handicapped and saw Betfair flicker the burst into existence. and for a moment we almost got sectional timing off the ground. maybe someone even has a copy of the redesigned racecard that incorporated the sectional timing for that brief time.

Frankel is the best horse I have ever seen, and as you watched the pictures from overseas you knew it was once in a lifetime. It was impossible to miss Frankel, or Black caviar, and also the sectional timing that came attached. Once you saw the times ex-plained with frankel as the star, you just knew it was only a matter of time for us.

But now all we really have is a public relations disgrace. We know from rumours and internet gossip that sectional timing is on the table. It’s been franked by credible comments from standup trainers and witnesses. But it goes on and on as a disappearing act which is really a strategic disaster with no leadership in sight to rescue the thing.

Everyone is concerned that racing’s current aging enthusiasts all come from the time before cell phones when gambling on horses was the only game in town. yet the sectional timing, which is how the digital generation will understand racing, is not being given the chance to build up the years of exposure that it will need? Please, can anyone explain how this is possible?

2996 And Counting…We are not putting the mockers on, but a glance at his

runners at the Vaal this afternoon, and meydan and Turffon-tein on Saturday, suggests that mike de Kock may well hit the magical 3000 winner milestone in a matter of days. We are watching closely!

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 6

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 7

p e r s O n a l i t y

The Portuguese AmbassadorBryn Ressell

Bryn Ressell’s hamilton Rugby club colours have become a fix-ture on our tracks, and his ‘hammie’s’ naming prefix makes them easy to pick out on the card.

after years of sponsoring the Gr3 Premier Trophy under the calulo banner, Bryn has continued his support sponsoring the Prix du cap with Vasco Tavern on a day that has become synonymous with cape Town’s annual end of season prawn festival.

despite not being in racing all that long, Bryn has been asso-ciated with a number of really good horses including the likes of hammie’s hooker and What a Winter, as well as current hope, marinaresco.

Bryn’s racing, his colours and his sponsorship of the Prix du cap neatly tie up his three passions in life. his silks are the colours of hammies rugby club and his passion for racing and the sponsor-ship ties back in to where it all started at Vasco Tavern, which Bryn bought a few years ago.

About BrynTo unpick the threads of how it all came together, one has to

go back a few years. Bryn grew up in the Eastern cape, attending dale college in King William’s Town. From there, he opted for ucT where he studied accountancy.

Bryn has always been a keen rugby player and tried valiantly to play for ucT, but in his own words, didn’t get much of a look in. “One day a friend said come and play at hamilton Rugby club (“the oldest and proudest rugby club in South africa,” he says fondly). as it happened, the coach was also a dale college man and had been in the same hostel as me. he’d even played hooker like I did. They just said ‘welcome’ and that was how I got involved.” Bryn has subse-quently served on the committee and been intimately involved with the club for the last 30 years. hammies’ is also where he met marsh Shirtliff, who he fondly refers to as ‘Pops’.

Calulo Shippingafter completing his nation-

al service, Bryn joined mobil. as the political landscape started to shift and sanctions lifted, mobil morphed into SacO and then Engen and Bryn headed up the shipping depart-ment. “I was in my late 30’s. The director was 52 or 53 and not going anywhere. I wasn’t married and had no kids or

responsibilities. I’d always been very much for transformation, even before BEE became a reality. One day I met mkhuseli Faku and on a handshake we became partners and that was the birth of calulo Shipping back in about 1997. We’ve been together ever since.”

Racing“Vasco’s was my local pub and my best friend GK and I used to

go there all the time. One day, we’d had a long long long lunch with mike Reynolds and they were showing a horse auction on TV. In our condition, we decided we would buy some horses. I rang them up, but no-one could understand us over the phone, so mike suggested phoning marsh as he would probably be there anyway. I got hold of marsh and said we wanted to buy 3 horses. I had no clue about the cost – I’m from the Eastern cape where a horse costs R2 or R3k. The next morning I had a call from marsh at about 7am asking whether I remembered calling him the day before. I hadn’t got a clue, but said yes. he asked whether I still wanted the three horses I’d asked for. I said, “I’m an Eastern cape man of my word. Of course I do!” a week later the bill arrived and it had more zeros than I’d ever seen. my other partners wisely decided they’d opt out, but that was it for me,” he chuck-les. Rose Reserve won her first 4 races and it all seemed too easy. The bug bit.” however, his bravery has paid off and he was handsomely rewarded with the success of What a Winter, who was his 7th horse.

Vasco Tavern“Vasco’s is a Portuguese taverna and was established in 1972.

It’s referred to as the Portuguese Embassy or the yellow Pages because of the yellow awning out the front. Generations of

fathers and sons have had their first beer there together and it’s where GK and I spent a lot of time. It was our home

from home. We solved all the world’s problems there and probably created a few more,” he acknowledges. “a few years ago they wanted to knock it down for development. It took some persuading, but Bryn managed to secure it and now owns his very own bit of cape Town history. “GK had passed on from pancreatic cancer, so I bought it in memory of him, but also because it’s a historic cape Town landmark. I run it in conjunction with Graeme Smith, Ross cowing and dean Berry. It’s all about being relaxed and having fun. Obviously one can never get things 100% right all the time, but the food is good and as we get a lot of Portuguese guys coming in, we must be doing something right!”

Bryn has had a lot of success with marsh Shirtliff. “I’m passionate, but he

takes it to a different level! my horses are predom-

inantly with the Bass yard, but I’ve also

got horses with

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 8

t H e p O r t u G u e s e a m b a s s a d O r

the likes of Piet Steyn, Lucky houdalakis and a few up in PE.” his interests have also expanded to breeding and he is philosophical. “They say if you want to lose money, buy a horse. If you want to lose a fortune, start breeding!” horses’ futures after racing are one of his con-cerns and he has bought the 40 ha Four Seasons farm in hemel ‘n aarde. “For any of my horses that can’t find a home, there is space there.” They are also renovating and upgrading the property and looking into turning it into a spa / rehab centre or possibly even a spelling and pre-training facility. There is also talk of planting vines. “We are doing it all properly, which is slow going and one sometimes wonders wheth-er it’s not easier to ask forgiveness than get permission,” he quips. “Of course, the surest way to lose money is to become a farmer, but we’ll see.”

Sponsorship“We started out with the Premier Trophy

and we now do the Prix du cap. When ca-lulo sponsored the Premier Trophy it was a way to combine racing with our year-end function. When clients said they wanted something different I decided Vasco would be a good fit as it’s where my racing start-ed and it’s all about having a good time so there’s a lot of synergy.”

does it provide a return? “absolutely. as they say, it’s in the giving that you re-ceive. We get a lot of coverage for Vasco and we’re seeing a real return for our involvement. a lot of the racing fraternity are regulars, but particularly after the cape Premier Sale, we get a lot of support which is really great.”

“In terms of the race day itself, I’ve got to thank Etienne Braun for providing the prawns and helping make the day what it is. my favourite race day is the Queen’s Plate. This is completely different and is more for families and kids, but people come and have fun and it’s a feel-good day out. Whether people end up associating with Vasco I don’t know, but as long as

people come racing and have a good day, we’re smiling. I must thank the Kenilworth Racing team – clyde, mandy and Jenna really push the boat out and one of the reasons we’ve stayed on is because of how good they’ve been.”

FamilyThe family aspect is important to him.

“my family love it. We’ve got a box at Kenilworth and it’s a great way to spend time with my kids. They do come to the races, but don’t come to the stables at 6am on a Saturday - they’re not that passionate!” he laughs. his youngest son michael is perhaps the biggest fan. “he loved What a Winter. Where other kids would watch Tellytubbies, he’d rather watch What a Winter’s race replays. One Sunday mikey was watching a dVd of What a Winter’s runs. While he was busy, Bernard Fayd’herbe rang for a quick chat. When I hung up, mike said “dad, Bernie is absolutely incredible!’ my heart sank – if my kid wants to have a hero in life, please God it be a rugby player!” he says in mock horror. “I said ‘Oh? Why’s that?’ mike re-plied “Bernie can ride What a Winter and speak to you on the phone at the same time, Bernie is incredible!” I just laughed and had to concede that yes, Bernie is amazing.

“The racing fraternity has always been fantastic to my kids and in many ways, like most sport, racing teaches you a lot of life lessons. you learn to take the knocks in life and you learn that there are no certainties. What a Winter gave us a good lesson in that. We all went up to durban for his last run (the mercury Sprint at clairwood). he was 4-10 favourite and we’d taken it more or less as a given that he would turn up and win – that was just what he did. There was going to be a canter past and a farewell and all that stuff. and then he finished 3rd to all Is Secret. my son was absolutely distraught and much as it hurt me to see him upset, it was a helluva lesson that life isn’t fair

and things don’t come easy. But you learn and you grow,” he shrugs.

“Like with rugby, you learn to lose like a winner and win like a loser. you have to re-member that you’re dealing with an animal and that there are no certainties in life. It’s not how you fall, it’s how you grow.”

What A WinterWhat a Winter would be a thrill for even

the most hardened racing owner to have and it’s the dream of any enthusiast to own a horse good enough to go to stud. Bryn says, “he is standing in horse heaven at drakenstein Stud Farm. Every day I say ‘thank you Gaynor Rupert’ for having him.” While it’s hard to look past a champion of that calibre, there have been a few other highlights. “Of all the horses I’ve had over the years, and I’ve had a few, I think I’ve chosen 4. The first one was one of my favourites, Epic Tale. he’s a beau-tiful horse and is now the lead horse for helderberg Blue. another one I bought for the name – Sheer Trouble – and then the other one that I was allowed to buy (in partnership between myself, marsh and markus Jooste) was the first What a Winter ever sold - for obvious reasons. People are speaking highly of the What a Winter progeny in training, but let’s see what happens on the course.”

hammie’s hooker was another memo-rable runner. “In any other era she would have won a few Gr1’s, but she happened to run at the same time as Beach Beau-ty.” considering the name, it is odd that she was one of the few horses not to run in the hammies silks. “marsh was clever there, he managed to choose the best hammies horse to run in his colours. you’ll have to ask him how he managed that one!”

“and of course we’ve got a rather nice horse called marinaresco, that you may have heard of,” he says with a smile. I’ve met wonderful people and it’s been a wonderful journey. The highs are high and the lows are low, but it keeps you honest.”

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 9

Trainer Stef miller’s yard hit top form

at the right time at

Flamingo Park on monday, winning 5 of the 10 races on the card. It was Stef’s best day ever - and made happier by the fact that 4 of the winners are owned by her brother, Francois du Toit.

Racecaller alistair cohen, who was diagnosed with cancer late last year, was in good spirits this week after a scan revealed an improved positive health picture. The 26 year old has had a torrid time of it after his illness forced him to take a sabbatical while he undergoes treatment. “It’s obviously no fun doing this chemotherapy but besides a few nasty side effects it is not as bad as what some people have experienced. and after my scan last Tues-day, I feel a lot stronger.” ali hopes to be back behind the mic in early april.

Justin Snaith’s quip after the Workriders maiden Plate at Kenilworth on Saturday, where he saddled Tweak The Wind (S. Booi) for Eddie Powell on the veteran owner’s 70th birthday: “ These guys (the Grooms) work so hard and put in really long hours. They de-serve the acknowledgement. The jockeys are lying on the beach or playing X-box…”

Short Heads

Going To Hollywood?Other than taxes and death, they say there are no guarantees

in life. Beyond the fact maybe that Joey Ramsden’s first-timers will improve lengths at their second outing – if they are good enough! The Querari filly made In hollywood, a half-sister to Joey Soma’s superfast Graduation day, spreadeagled her field to win the maid-en 1200m by 6,25 lengths at Kenilworth on Saturday under anton marcus. Bred by Ian heyns, the R450k buy races in a partnership of Brian & Kathy Finch, with mayfair Speculators.

OuTsiders By Nature?

Why are the cape jockeys so determined to hug the outside rail, with metres of lush turf available on their inside? Greg cheyne and his mount Nebula were thankfully up on their feet shortly after a nasty inci-dent in the cape mile at Kenilworth on Saturday. The Stipes have opened an inquiry and reported that Victori-ous Jay (aldo domeyer) was hanging out in the straight. They also say that approaching the 200m Nebula (who was full of running) was bumped outwards by milton (m J Byleveld). Nebula made contact with the out-side running rail, became unbalanced and took an awkward stride, in so doing dislodging cheyne.

The TBa council have announced that catherine hartley will be joining the team at The Thoroughbred Breeders’ association with responsibility for Breed affairs.catherine initiated the Beyond Racing programme to promote the thoroughbred to the equestrian field, and through Imagine Racing she has brought in new owners to racing. Earlier this year, catherine took a leading role in the organi-sation of the ITBF conference. catherine's responsibilities at the TBa will cover breeders’ seminars, transformation, industry liaison, stud book, awards, public relations etc. She took up duties on 1 march.

O – Me, Oh Myhe may already be an established international sire of 47 stakes

winners – including 7 Gr1 winners – but there is nothing like plain good news on the eve of a sale. Oratorio’s smart son Secret Ora-tion – the first winner from the danehill sire’s first Sa crop – main-tained his unbeaten record with an eyecatching win at Fairview on Friday. The R125k cape Premier yearling Sale buy looks to have a bright future. There are 7 Oratorio’s on the cTS march yearling Sale – and 1 on the BSa cape yearling Sale.

The most expensive yearling ever sold in Victoria, the most expensive yearling sold in the world this year and the most expensive yearling ever by star stallion I am Invincible. a record-breaking day 2 of the melbourne Premier yearling Sale on monday saw Lot 259 sold for $1.4million to ciaron maher Bloodstock. The I am Invincible x Soorena colt from the Gilgai Farm draft was the centrepoint of one of the greatest bidding duels ever witnessed at an australian yearling sale. maher outbid fellow Victorian trainer Robbie Griffiths, who ironically trains the colt’s Group 1-winning half-brother The Quarterback.

Trainer dean Kannemeyer, who declared his cape yard in the grips of a low-grade virus on 6 February, was full of the joys of late summer on monday when announcing his horses all back in full work. “These things happen in racing yards and one has to take a transparent stance and play open cards with the owners and Joe Public. I’m glad to say we are through it and I should send out my first runners within 10 days,” he said.

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 10

Coming from one who just published a bullish missive on the prospects for the normalisation of South Africa’s export proto-cols, this may come as a surprise.

Nothing has happened to alter my sentiments; I remain as upbeat as ever. That said, my illness last year concentrated my thoughts somewhat; I am at an age (probably well past it!) when I should be reflecting on what the rest of life has in store.

Remembering that we only live once, I don’t want to reach 80 regretting the things that haven’t been done.

For the bulk of us at Summerhill, our working day starts in the dark and ends the same way most days; horses have been our lives, and if you’re in it, you can’t be half pregnant. I wouldn’t have had it any other way if I had the chance to do it again, but along the way I’ve neglected my family, my friends and much of what the world has to offer. It’s time to recalibrate, to develop a fresh perspective and to devote more attention to the legacy pro-jects we’ve embarked upon here, our educational programmes at the School of management Excellence and our hospitality students at hartford house. Besides, I’ve been invited to play a more active role in getting our export initiatives over the line with our international trading partners, which I’m only too pleased to do, having spent a good part of my career attempting to harmo-nise them.

In an already busy day, you can’t make space for these things without reducing your concentration on others and in the Sum-merhill context, that means a reduction in the horse population. Parting with some of the old broodmare families that have earned us our championships is emotional enough, but it also comes with the tragedy of job reduction. Numbers of the people who work here, have done so for generations; we’ve seen their kids grow up, in many cases we’ve educated them, and in the process we’ve become firm friends. I need hardly add that they’re among the finest industry professionals I know, and having travelled to most of the great farms of the world, I’d put them with the best anywhere; for that reason alone, it’s the most torturous choice I’ve ever had to make.

That said, there is a certain inevitability to these things, and it’s a source of great pride to us that we’ve populated other farms and hospitality establishments across the land and abroad, with outstanding graduates of our endeavours here. The most recent examples rest in the recruitment by Bloodstock South africa of heather morkel and catherine hartley, and the appointment of

hazel Kayiya as the International Racing manager at the hong Kong Jockey club.

There is never a good time to make these decisions and now is as tough as any. We have been ever mindful of our place in the breeding affairs not only of our province, but of the country as a whole; we are also conscious of our role as the biggest employers in our district. Those thoughts have been in our minds for a long time, and makes this announcement all the more difficult. We are not going anywhere however; we just need to tidy up our numbers. For the most part though, our people are young and enterprising enough to make a fresh start, and for those that remain behind, they will be concentrating their game on the horses belonging to a clientele whose loyalty and friendship deserves no less.

The next few months will be hard for everyone here, as we make the adjustments that come with a transition of this nature. When it’s all over, hopefully we can smell the roses again. and get to know some of you a bit better once more.

b r e e d i n G

The Winds Of Change

Pharoah For Auscoolmore australia have responded to the overwhelming

interest from australasian breeders in the once-in-a-lifetime american Pharoah, who will shuttle to the hunter Valley where he will stand for a fee of $66,000.

coolmore’s Tom magnier said after watching the son of Pi-oneerof The Nile win the third leg of the uS Triple crown that he had never seen a racehorse like him in his life.

he added that the stallion would be well-supported by coolmore’s own band of broodmares, and that, being free of danehill (danzig) bloodlines, he would appeal to the australi-an market.

he is a perfect match for their Fastnet Rock and danehill mares.

american Pharoah was only the 12th horse, and the first since affirmed in 1978, to win the Triple crown. he headed the 2015 World Thoroughbred Rankings and was crowned champion 3yO colt and horse Of The year.

american Pharoah retired to coolmore’s ashford Stud in Kentucky with a record of 9 wins from 11 career starts and uS$8,650,300 in earnings.

his first book of mares in america included 47 G1 winners or producers.

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 11

Hot Property

arrowfield’s Redoute’s choice stallion Snitzel is the sire of Saturday’s Gr 2 Gauteng Guineas con-tender heavenly Blue.

he currently heads the australian General Sires’ Table with a narrow lead over Fastnet Rock. Snit-zel is streets ahead of his peers in the 2yo catego-ry and has continued to build on his equalling of the great Without Fear's 40-year-old season record of thirty 2yo winners in 2015/16.

In 2016, he was responsible for the top-priced yearling at each of australia’s three principal yearling sales. 2017 has started well too – 4 of the top 10 yearlings at the magic millions Gold coast Sale in January were Snitzels.

The Inglis melbourne Premier Sale kicked off at the weekend with a Snitzel colt (lot 68) out of mightier (aus) (Zabeel {NZ}) topping the first day’s trade at a$620,000.

The fuLL Statistics onLine http://www.sportingpost.co.za/horse-racing-statistics/ *Stallion dead or Retired **Stallion Not Standing in RSA **Breeding operations not based in RSA - Statistics for Breeders & Sires reflect ALL earnings, incl. restricted races & handicap races

LEADING BREEDERS by STAKES SeaSon 2016/2017 • 1 August - 26 February 2017

Stakes Breeder rnrs AEPR runs wnrs wns wnr/ SW SW SW/ plcs plc/ SP top earner with stakes rnr% wnrs wns wnr% rns% & % of total stakes

19,329,876 Klawervlei Stud 335 57,701 1492 107 141 32% 8 9 7% 398 27% 8 William Longsword 4,065,000 21% 12,225,975 Summerhill Stud 315 38,813 1585 90 129 29% 3 3 3% 400 25% 0 Africa Rising 669,500 5% 8,182,725 Maine Chance 163 50,201 674 60 79 37% 3 3 5% 224 33% 8 Janoobi 741,250 9% 7,588,813 Avontuur Farm 55 137,978 224 16 21 29% 4 5 25% 65 29% 2 Live Life 3,614,375 48% 7,003,100 Varsfontein Stud 99 70,738 425 46 59 46% 3 4 7% 121 28% 8 Captain America 996,250 14% 6,259,250 Highlands 144 43,467 622 49 65 34% 2 3 4% 162 26% 6 Trip To Heaven 809,375 13% 5,403,600 Drakenstein Stud 86 62,833 376 34 43 40% 2 2 6% 143 38% 6 Singapore Sling 1,383,750 26% 5,337,300 Ascot Stud 88 60,651 394 41 54 47% 1 1 2% 125 32% 4 Bold Respect 690,000 13% 4,184,850 Scott Bros 142 29,471 711 38 43 27% 1 2 3% 169 24% 3 Front Rank 285,100 7% 3,549,438 Lammerskraal Stud 74 47,965 323 32 41 43% 1 1 3% 75 23% 3 Icy Trail 400,325 11% 3,384,750 Wilgerbosdrift 71 47,673 324 25 34 35% 2 2 8% 90 28% 2 Nightingale 725,000 21% 3,250,775 Moutonshoek 88 36,941 401 28 35 32% 1 1 4% 95 24% 1 Extradite 725,625 22% 3,217,413 GJ Armitage 71 45,316 365 27 42 38% 2 2 7% 102 28% 1 Tilbury Fort 218,500 7% 3,112,950 Hemel ‘n Aarde Stud 105 29,647 456 30 40 29% 0 0 0% 115 25% 0 Magical Bet 196,250 6% 3,015,500 Mauritzfontein Stud 48 62,823 254 17 28 35% 1 1 6% 76 30% 2 Irish Pride 663,450 22%

LEADING SIRES by STAKES SeaSon 2016/2017 • 1 August - 26 February 2017 Stakes Sire rnrs AEPR runs wnrs wns wnr/ SW SW SW/ plcs plc/ SP top earner with stakes rnr% wnrs wns wnr% rns% & % of total stakes

16,370,888 Captain Al 158 103,613 675 74 99 47% 9 9 12% 207 31% 12 William Longsword 4,065,000 25% 11,897,200 Trippi 155 76,756 681 61 81 39% 4 6 7% 231 34% 8 Live Life 3,614,375 30% 11,629,900 Silvano 189 61,534 803 84 114 44% 6 7 7% 275 34% 11 Janoobi 741,250 6% 7,055,713 Dynasty 123 57,364 511 48 66 39% 6 7 13% 145 28% 8 Just Sensual 876,250 12% 6,711,313 *Kahal 135 49,713 708 57 86 42% 2 3 4% 199 28% 1 Intergalactic 326,250 5% 5,380,013 Elusive Fort 74 72,703 398 29 39 39% 1 1 3% 122 31% 3 Safe Harbour 1,976,000 37% 5,236,863 *Western Winter 105 49,875 444 42 55 40% 0 0 0% 113 25% 2 Attenborough 1,068,275 20% 5,068,463 Var 172 29,468 680 47 56 27% 1 1 2% 203 30% 3 Rivarine 243,750 5% 4,918,850 Gimmethegreenlight 75 65,585 347 35 47 47% 1 2 3% 113 33% 1 Hack Green 625,000 13% 4,398,050 Greys Inn 56 78,537 276 22 29 39% 1 2 5% 81 29% 2 Legal Eagle 2,200,000 50% 4,187,900 Mambo In Seattle 108 38,777 517 33 42 31% 1 1 3% 122 24% 4 Extradite 725,625 17% 3,877,150 Visionaire 81 47,866 372 32 43 40% 0 0 0% 93 25% 1 Africa Rising 669,500 17% 3,743,951 *Sail From Seattle 98 38,204 392 35 44 36% 0 0 0% 116 30% 1 Sail South 248,750 7% 3,644,600 *Jet Master 55 66,265 285 18 22 33% 1 1 6% 96 34% 6 Master Sabina 1,225,000 34% 3,531,375 *Horse Chestnut 80 44,142 400 32 45 40% 0 0 0% 110 28% 1 Seal My Fate 264,150 7%

LEADING SIRES of 3yO’S by STAKES SeaSon 2016/2017 • 1 August - 26 February 2017

Stakes Sire rnrs AEPR runs wnrs wns wnr/ SW SW SW/ plcs plc/ SP top earner with stakes rnr% wnrs wns wnr% rns% & % of total stakes

9,293,388 Captain Al 49 189,661 226 32 42 65% 2 2 6% 62 27% 4 William Longsword 4,065,000 44% 6,603,200 Trippi 50 132,064 205 25 36 50% 2 3 8% 57 28% 2 Live Life 3,614,375 55% 4,670,100 Gimmethegreenlight 66 70,759 334 32 44 48% 1 2 3% 107 32% 1 Hack Green 625,000 13% 4,033,725 Silvano 73 55,257 256 32 40 44% 2 3 6% 95 37% 2 Janoobi 741,250 18% 3,337,275 Elusive Fort 43 77,611 222 15 16 35% 0 0 0% 52 23% 2 Safe Harbour 1,976,000 59% 3,187,300 Dynasty 48 66,402 184 21 32 44% 3 4 14% 53 29% 1 Just Sensual 876,250 27% 3,005,025 Philanthropist 54 55,649 226 14 19 26% 2 2 14% 60 27% 2 Singapore Sling 1,383,750 46% 2,876,725 *Western Winter 44 65,380 180 18 23 41% 0 0 0% 49 27% 1 Attenborough 1,068,275 37% 2,713,025 Visionaire 44 61,660 203 21 27 48% 0 0 0% 49 24% 1 Africa Rising 669,500 25% 2,392,375 Mambo In Seattle 59 40,549 233 18 24 31% 0 0 0% 46 20% 1 Extradite 725,625 30%

LEADING SIRES by STAKES on Polytrack SeaSon 2016/2017 • 1 August - 26 February 2017

Stakes Sire rnrs AEPR runs wnrs wns wnr/ SW SW SW/ plcs plc/ SP top earner with stakes rnr% wnrs wns wnr% rns% & % of total stakes

1,632,550 Silvano 57 28,641 144 20 24 35% 0 0 0% 43 30% 0 Scent 165,600 10% 1,431,875 Captain Al 50 28,638 128 18 22 36% 1 1 6% 31 24% 0 Trouble Maker 122,500 9% 1,324,750 *Western Winter 44 30,108 119 18 23 41% 0 0 0% 24 20% 0 Winter Is Coming 127,625 10% 1,167,050 Miesque’s Approval 57 20,475 211 11 13 19% 0 0 0% 58 27% 0 Emperor Niarchos 122,725 11% 1,064,450 Dynasty 35 30,413 101 12 16 34% 0 0 0% 31 31% 0 Inviting Lily 146,675 14% 1,063,938 *Kahal 56 18,999 161 11 15 20% 0 0 0% 40 25% 0 Top Form 123,650 12% 960,475 Visionaire 38 25,276 102 12 15 32% 0 0 0% 26 25% 0 Missibaba 122,825 13% 943,675 *Sail From Seattle 36 26,213 110 10 14 28% 0 0 0% 33 30% 0 Wavebreaker 156,500 17% 895,650 Black Minnaloushe 41 21,845 119 8 9 20% 0 0 0% 42 35% 0 Lucky Luciano 121,550 14%

LEADING BREEDERS by AEPR SeaSon 2016/2017 • 1 August - 26 February 2017

Stakes Breeder rnrs AEPR runs wnrs wns wnr/ SW SW SW/ plcs plc/ SP top earner with stakes rnr% wnrs wns wnr% rns% & % of total stakes

with 10 or more rnrs

7,588,813 Avontuur Farm 55 137,978 224 16 21 29% 4 5 25% 65 29% 2 Live Life 3,614,375 48% 1,364,850 M De Broglio 10 136,485 33 2 2 20% 1 1 50% 7 21% 0 Master Sabina 1,225,000 90% 2,798,388 IR Heyns 30 93,280 128 11 17 37% 0 0 0% 50 39% 2 Copper Force 1,450,625 52% 980,650 Worldwise Breeding 12 81,721 69 4 9 33% 1 1 25% 25 36% 2 Wrecking Ball 298,075 30% 7,003,100 Varsfontein Stud 99 70,738 425 46 59 46% 3 4 7% 121 28% 8 Captain America 996,250 14% 5,403,600 Drakenstein Stud 86 62,833 376 34 43 40% 2 2 6% 143 38% 6 Singapore Sling 1,383,750 26% 3,015,500 Mauritzfontein Stud 48 62,823 254 17 28 35% 1 1 6% 76 30% 2 Irish Pride 663,450 22% 5,337,300 Ascot Stud 88 60,651 394 41 54 47% 1 1 2% 125 32% 4 Bold Respect 690,000 13% 1,534,700 Nutfield Stud 26 59,027 106 10 18 38% 0 0 0% 27 25% 0 Elusive Path 431,250 28%

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 12

Been There – Done It!multiple past Sa champion

mike de Kock is the only man to have trained both an Sa Tri-ple crown and Sa Triple Tiara winner. he saddles 15 runners on Guineas day, with Ektifaa and heavenly Blue his potential histo-ry makers. With the dynamics of his operation having changed, he no longer chases championship titles – lying 6th currently and

R11 million adrift of Sean Tarry. But the battlefields will be levelled on Saturday!

A Bright FutureNational log-leader Lyle hewitson

is the only apprentice with a ride in all of Saturday’s major features – a reflection of the reputation he has built up in a short time in the sad-dle. he currently holds 9th position with 76 winners on the national fully fledged jockeys log and looks a

shoe-in to become Sa champion apprentice at end July. On Saturday he rides alongside the likes of Weichong marwing – who rode horse chestnut to Triple crown glory – long before Lyle had entered nursery school!

Combo’s That ClickLog leading jockey Gavin Lerena

is the most accomplished freelance rider in the country. his association with four different trainers – Johan Janse van Vuuren, Paul Peter, Geoff Woodruff and Roy magner – have

seen these com-binations in the national top 13 with strike-rates of 36% (Janse van Vuuren) down to a very reasonable 21% with mag-ner. Lerena has a

nice card of rides on Saturday – with New Pedator (hawaii Stakes), Being Fabulous (Fillies Guineas) and doosra (Guin-eas), all for Janse van Vuuren, looking his strongest.

FolloW US

Gavin Lerena and Johan Janse van

Vuuren team up with a powerful feature

trio on Saturday

Mike de Kock is out in force on Saturday and will be

hoping for a big day

R a c i n g T o W i n

Apprentice Lyle Hewitson features in another major

day on Saturday

LEADING TRAINERS by STAKESSeaSon 2016/2017 • 1 August - 26 February 2017

trainer runs wins win fav fav wfav 2nd 2nd 1st 1st stakes stks/ % % % % four four% runs

SG Tarry 779 120 15% 149 19% 36% 97 12% 361 46% 17,206,225 22,088 J Snaith 797 109 14% 174 22% 28% 98 12% 374 47% 12,614,575 15,828 BJ Crawford 461 67 15% 69 15% 45% 54 12% 211 46% 10,797,213 23,421 C Bass-Robinson 515 46 9% 70 14% 20% 56 11% 217 42% 9,951,163 19,323 VH Marshall 360 37 10% 45 13% 38% 24 7% 121 34% 8,245,813 22,905 MF de Kock 398 51 13% 100 25% 23% 51 13% 201 51% 6,452,400 16,212 GV Woodruff 257 43 17% 59 23% 36% 27 11% 128 50% 6,253,913 24,334 J Ramsden 273 36 13% 48 18% 38% 37 14% 140 51% 5,709,275 20,913 AC Greeff 590 86 15% 106 18% 29% 57 10% 250 42% 5,238,525 8,879 M Houdalakis 353 42 12% 29 8% 31% 36 10% 147 42% 4,858,025 13,762 JJ v Vuuren 209 39 19% 46 22% 48% 13 6% 90 43% 4,763,300 22,791 GS Kotzen 439 49 11% 53 12% 43% 41 9% 179 41% 4,624,450 10,534 DC Howells 390 39 10% 67 17% 37% 36 9% 152 39% 4,076,788 10,453 DR Drier 313 47 15% 69 22% 38% 25 8% 128 41% 4,052,100 12,946 GM Alexander 303 40 13% 34 11% 29% 30 10% 120 40% 3,916,025 12,924 PA Peter 304 42 14% 31 10% 26% 31 10% 131 43% 3,681,100 12,109

LEADING TRAINERS/JOCKEyS by WINS %SeaSon 2016/2017 • 1 August - 26 February 2017

trainer/ runs wins win fav fav wfav 2nd 2nd stakes stks/ jockey % % % % runs

JJ v Vuuren/G Lerena 36 13 36% 15 42% 60% 2 6% 2,208,875 61,358 PA Peter/G Lerena 39 13 33% 11 28% 27% 6 15% 1,045,025 26,796 BJ Crawford/G Cheyne 60 19 32% 18 30% 67% 5 8% 4,162,900 69,382 A Nel/A Domeyer 73 22 30% 27 37% 59% 12 16% 1,446,400 19,814 GS Kotzen/R Fourie 78 23 29% 28 36% 57% 13 17% 2,244,050 28,770 GV Woodruff/G Lerena 35 10 29% 19 54% 42% 3 9% 1,850,475 52,871 D Kannemeyer/A Delpech 96 25 26% 41 43% 32% 23 24% 1,925,975 20,062 SG Tarry/P Strydom 46 12 26% 19 41% 37% 7 15% 1,022,900 22,237 CS Laird/A Marcus 81 20 25% 30 37% 43% 6 7% 1,487,350 18,362 AC Greeff/G Cheyne 235 55 23% 75 32% 31% 28 12% 3,157,275 13,435 J Snaith/R Fourie 153 35 23% 54 35% 33% 32 21% 2,645,525 17,291 C Lensley/M Yeni 117 25 21% 30 26% 30% 21 18% 1,129,175 9,651 RR Magner/G Lerena 47 10 21% 14 30% 36% 8 17% 782,425 16,647 SG Tarry/S Khumalo 242 45 19% 69 29% 36% 37 15% 5,916,100 24,447 GM Alexander/A Fortune 97 18 19% 22 23% 32% 15 15% 1,875,500 19,335 GM Alexander/C Zackey 52 10 19% 4 8% 25% 5 10% 861,350 16,564

LEADING JOCKEyS by WINSSeaSon 2016/2017 • 1 August - 26 February 2017

jockey rides wins win fav fav wfav 2nd 2nd 1st 1st stakes stks/ % % % % four four% rides

G Lerena 438 109 25% 158 36% 37% 61 14% 280 64% 12,350,488 28,197 G Cheyne 585 104 18% 137 23% 31% 80 14% 343 59% 10,557,400 18,047 A Marcus 332 91 27% 184 55% 35% 48 14% 233 70% 15,171,425 45,697 A Fortune 559 88 16% 139 25% 26% 70 13% 289 52% 6,924,201 12,387 M Yeni 886 86 10% 89 10% 27% 107 12% 369 42% 7,170,675 8,093 R Fourie 385 84 22% 111 29% 40% 64 17% 227 59% 7,248,550 18,827 C Zackey 750 82 11% 63 8% 25% 70 9% 292 39% 6,753,263 9,004 A Delpech 403 81 20% 160 40% 29% 69 17% 243 60% 10,366,850 25,724 L Hewitson 725 76 10% 70 10% 20% 56 8% 264 36% 6,307,414 8,700 S Khumalo 464 70 15% 99 21% 35% 62 13% 210 45% 7,955,050 17,145 JP vd Merwe 628 62 10% 41 7% 27% 53 8% 239 38% 5,046,663 8,036 P Strydom 301 56 19% 85 28% 29% 51 17% 172 57% 7,630,675 25,351 R Simons 555 55 10% 74 13% 31% 47 8% 197 35% 4,989,025 8,989 M v Rensburg 563 53 9% 35 6% 31% 54 10% 209 37% 4,555,013 8,091 A Domeyer 304 51 17% 60 20% 40% 46 15% 159 52% 4,815,888 15,842 K De Melo 414 51 12% 55 13% 35% 41 10% 175 42% 4,104,538 9,914

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 13

This week’s story started out looking like one that Nobody would do anything about and ended up being one where Everybody pulled together. It reaffirmed my faith in hu-manity in general, but in the racing fraternity in particular.

I’ve shared this little gem of wisdom before, but it is worth retelling.

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. anybody could have done it, but Nobody did. Somebody got angry because it was Every-body’s job. Everybody thought anybody could do it, but Nobody realized Everybody wouldn’t. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what anybody could have done.

It all started back in mid-January with news of a livestock auction in a town called hartswater in the Northern cape. The auction, offering an unusually large draft of horses and donkeys, attracted widespread attention thanks to the power of social media and an incredible network of people who worked hard to spread the news.

Why the fuss?It seems there are people who believe (incorrectly) that the gel-

atin contained in donkey skins has medicinal properties. This has created a market for skins that is driving a grizzly industry on our very doorstep. however, unlike animals that are more commonly used for consumption, we do not have the formal infrastructure to slaughter donkeys humanely. Setting aside whether the con-cept of ‘humane slaughter’ is not an oxymoron, the demand and increasingly high prices being offered are resulting in theft and donkeys are being killed by methods that are beyond disturbing.

In the days leading up to the auction, photos surfaced on Facebook as concerned parties tried to document what was going on and rally support. yes, South africa has been in the grips of a drought, but even so, the nature of the photos made you wonder out loud what is WRONG with the world. as I stared in open-mouthed horror at the starvation, neglect and wide-eyed terror – or worse, the hollow-eyed indifference - I repeated those words, followed by ‘somebody should do something’. as it turned out, somebody did.

SomebodyThey say there are leaders and there are followers. If you are

confused about where you fit in, get out the way. Enter Johnno Sherwin. Before he achieved his current notoriety, Johnno was

k a r O O d O n k e y s a n c t u a r y

Silence Of The Donkeysa fairly normal guy with a fairly normal job. approximately 4 years ago, Johnno and his partner purchased a 20 ha slice of paradise just outside Prince albert as a retreat from their 9-5 lives.

The ‘donkey thing’ began when the Karoo animal Protection Society received a welfare case including 50 donkeys and Johnno and his partner adopted four. “We realised how special and sentient they are. They are such special creatures we just fell in love with them,” he says. Johnno progressed to serving on the board for the cart horse Protection association which focuses on cape Town’s working equids and confiscated donkeys start-ed finding their way to Prince albert. Johnno soon had a permanent herd of 22 and it was becoming more than they could cope with on their own, so in July 2016 they made it offi-cial, registering the Karoo donkey Sanctuary (KdS) as an NPO to enable them to formally

go to the market for crowd funding, virtual adoption, etc.

Hartswater“Facebook followers alerted me to the hartswater auction,

which was one of the largest auctions of horses and donkeys ever seen,” explains Johnno. “We all went up the day before to see what was going on. I expected a dire situation, but the reality was 100 times worse.” a wide variety of animals arrived in unsuitable, unsafe transport, often bound for the journey. The ones that arrived uninjured didn’t stay that way for long as the crowded conditions and rough handling meant many animals were hurt after arrival.

Johnno continues,”On auction day, it was clear it was all about weight and meat. as each animal came into the ring, it was put on a scale and its weight displayed on a big screen along with its meat price of approx. R15/kg.” Perhaps most upsetting, mares and foals were separated in order to be sold as individual lots and the air was filled with the calls of distressed animals.

operation Donkey RescueThanks to crowd funding, Johnno had of a reserve to purchase

around 50 donkeys. however, the auction started with a job lot of donkey foals and he decided he simply had to have them. “I fig-ured it would be a huge initiative, it would get people to the farm and I decided ‘let’s do it’. a few stock lots later, there was a group of 50 mares, some of which Johnno recognized as the moms of the foals he’d bought, so he purchased them with the hopes of reuniting some of the families. Thanks to a generous donation re-ceived during the auction, Johnno was able to expand his efforts. With 136 donkeys secured, they bought a mixed group of horses,

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SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 14

s i l e n c e O F t H e d O n k e y s

including an emaciated old dun mare, later christened hope and Glory, who adorned some of the worst of the auction photos.

Johnno and his team procured 136 donkeys and 28 hors-es. With the sale of an additional job lot of 100 donkeys falling through a few days later, KdS took them too and in all 264 souls made their way to Prince albert. however, numbers are still swelling as the majority of the donkey mares are pregnant, so KdS has turned into something of a nursery over the past few weeks.

Team effort I like to remind people that horses – and donkeys as it turns

out – are not something you do on your own. They need vets and farriers and dentists and transporters and paddock and stable builders and grooms and an entire complement of staff just to keep them contained and fed and looked after. Then there are friends and family and in this case, fellow fundraisers and pretty soon, things are looking festive. When you are talking 260 souls, you’re taking things to a whole new level!

People have volunteered time and much needed equipment (feeding 260 mouths requires a lot of buckets and a lot of people to carry them) and along with the hoards of welfare workers, equestrians and general members of the public, racing rolled up its sleeves and stood shoulder to shoulder to help. as racing gets a regular battering in the press for being dreadful to our horses, I thought it worth reporting that when we put our minds to it, we also do some damn fine work. When it comes to welfare, we’re not particular about spreading the love and helping needy animals – whether they have ever set foot on a track or not.

Peter choice of choice carriers was roped in to do the trans-port. despite being fully booked, when he heard of the plight of

the animals, he rearranged their schedule to help and got everyone safely moved as well as helping deliver the donations of food and medical supplies have been streaming in from across the country. The wonderful team from cape Vet (often

seen on duty at local race meetings) volunteered their services, holding a massive clinic to assess every single animal and admin-ister treatment for everything from colic to mange, burn wounds, emaciation, ulcers, expectant moms and undernourished foals.

The african Betting clan grouped together to hold an auction and collect donations and with the help of World Sports Betting, spirited bidding and generous donations, proudly delivered a cheque for R20k last weekend.

There is even a group down at the cape yacht club who have taken up the cause. Viqui Stevenson explains, “Being a race-horse owner I get very upset about any sort of cruelty. We do a lot of fundraising through the yacht club and decided it was the donkeys for us!” They’ve had KdS decals made for their boat and any and all monies raised at the club’s regular events are going towards the donkey sanctuary. “unfortunately the work doesn’t stop just because the animals have been saved. Now they need rehabilitating and rehoming. There is always something one can do to help raise funds and hopefully the racing industry can

put its thinking cap on. maybe one or two yards or studs need companion donkeys? I think Joey Ramsden should have one to go with his sheep and ducks,” she says mischievously. “But seriously, what everyone has done has been amazing. They really deserve credit for their hard work. all the positives need to be reinforced and there needs to be more encouragement.”

Where to now?Now that the dust has settled and reality is starting to sink in,

Johnno admits, “It has been incredible, but I’m tired. I’m trying to multi-task and juggle my day job with fund-raising, updating social media and trying to run the farm by remote control. The Sanc-

tuary is taking up a lot of time, but it’s also becoming a political issue. The main reason for doing the rescue was to raise awareness and open the Sa public’s eyes to what is going on in terms of donkey slaughter and

the trafficking of skins in this country. Now the Government has issued a statement that it intends to support this trade and with all the interest and attention we’ve generated, people are starting to say I need to lobby Government on the issue.”

however, the immediate focus is to get all the animals back to full health. Once they have had the relevant vaccinations and served their quarantine, they will be available for adoption. John-no says, “We’ve already had 50 individuals put their names for-ward to adopt – stud farms, game farms, wine farms – you name it. We will have to vet all the homes – our two main prerequisites are that the animals may not be worked or ridden, so we’re look-ing for retirement and companion homes only.”

however, asked what he would like if there was a magic wand and he could have anything he wished for, Johnno dreams big. “In terms of our immediate needs, I would love to build a barn as we don’t have stabling and with winter coming, that’s something we’d really like. however, I would ultimately like us to become the Karoo horse and donkey Sanctuary. We’re already a registered NPO, but In order to do accommodate horses, we would need to acquire the neighbouring farm – they have the land we need as well as tremendous water reserves. So that’s the dream.” With welfare and racing aftercare an increasingly important conversa-tion, perhaps it’s not as much of a pipe dream as he thinks.

Why it’s worth considering Everybody can help change a life. If you can’t adopt - foster. If

you can’t foster - sponsor. If you can’t sponsor - volunteer. If you can’t volunteer - donate, or transport an animal to safety. If you can’t donate - educate, network, and cross post. massive thanks to everybody who has helped so far. as much as negative press affects and diminishes all of us, so positive stories like this build us up.

There is a special place in heaven for people like Johnno and his team. If anyone is interested in adopting, supporting or finding out more, please visit the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary website.

a little love goes an awfully long way.

i expected a dire situation, but the reality was 100 times worse.

in all 264 souls made their way to Prince Albert.

can be purchased here

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 15

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 16

b r e e d i n G

The influence of Danehill was truly felt in last week’s Gr1 Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield. The champion sire can be found in the pedigrees of 12 of the 14 runners in the race. To boot, just one runner (As-pect) had a pedigree free of Danehill’s sire Danzig.

The first three home in the Blue diamond, one of the world’s richest races for 2yos, are all by sons of danehill, with the fourth out of a mare by danehill’s son Rock Of Gibraltar. Not that this should surprise in any way. danehill appears in nine of the last ten Blue diamond Stakes winners, a race in which his son Redoute’s choice has enjoyed particular success. The triple australian champion sire won the race himself in 1999 and is sire of winners undoubtedly and Nadeem, while his son Not a Single doubt also got a pair of winners with miracles Of Life and Extreme choice.

The 2017 G1 Blue diamond winner catchy (the 27th Gr1 winner for champi-on sire Fastnet Rock) is one of a growing number of Gr1 winners inbred to danzig. They include Kentucky derby winner I’ll have another (Flower alley), and Fastnet Rock’s high class stakes winners albany Re-union (Gr1 Easter handicap), atlante (Gr1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas), and Valentia. catchy and albany Reunion are both out of mares by Fusaichi Pegasus, who also is damsire of Golden Slipper winner capitalist and closer to home of Sa Gr1 winning half sisters cloth Of cloud and Silver mountain.

Inbreeding to danzig in South africa is also found in dual Gr1 winner Buy and Sell, Tony Ruffel Stakes winner Belong To me, and the smart filly Jackodore. Equus champions Entisaar and harry’s Son (both australian-bred) are also inbred to danzig.

danehill’s Gr1 success was not limited to the Blue diamond this weekend, with sons Blackfriars and holy Roman Emperor responsible for Gr1 Futurity Stakes winner Black hart Bart and Gr1 Oakleigh Plate winner Sheidel (the first three home in the Oakleigh Plate have danehill close up).

With a number of promising sires (nota-bly Frankel) out of mares by danehill, one can but speculate about how dominant this sire line could yet be. currently three of the top five sires (Snitzel, Fastnet Rock and Not a Single doubt) in australia are danehill line descendants.

Winx Gets The NodWhen champion australian mare, Winx

(Street cry), landed Saturday’s chipping Norton Stakes, it was the 10th Gr1 win for the mare. To give a little perspective, since 1970 miesque (Nureyev) and Goldikova (anabaa) stand as the sole European trained horses to win more than 10 Gr1 races. un-defeated champion Frankel won exactly 10 G1 races during his career.

Interestingly, Street cry’s other champion daughter Zenyatta, won 13 Gr1 races. Other horses this century to have picked up 10 or more Gr1 victories include undefeated Black caviar (15), azeri (11), Lonhro (11), Sunline (13) and Wise dan (10). By comparison, uS Triple crown winner american Pharoah (Pi-oneerof The Nile) won eight and champion Sea The Stars (cape cross) picked up six.

Broodmare of the Year ProspectsEven though the 2016/17 racing season is

only halfway, already a case can be made for a few champion broodmare candidates.

One of those is Pagan Princess (Fort Wood), dam of 2016 Gr1 winners Real Prin-cess (Trippi) and William Longsword (captain al). The mare continues the great run of success of Fort Wood mares at stud – their offspring now includes three of the past five cape Guineas winners (capetown Noir and Noah From Goa the other two).

While she is yet to produce a Gr1 winner, the mare So Royal (Kahir almaydan) got her fourth individual stakes winner when Royal Badge (Go deputy) won the cape Summer Stayers handicap. all of her black type winners are by different stallions.

helleborus Blue (cee’s Tizzy) looks a shoe-in to add to her Gr1 winner The hangman (Jallad) with another son, Trip To heaven (Trippi), who is the highest rated sprinter this season.

Gypsy Queen (Royal chalice) made it graded winner number three when Rom-any Prince (Kahal) won the Gr3 London News Stakes. he follows uS Gr1 winner Gypsy’s Warning (mogok) and Gr2 camellia Stakes winner Surabi (Wolfhound), who has outperformed her Oaks winning sisters Noble destiny and Royal Prophecy at stud.

Time will tell.

how horses performed in South africa’s black type races, expressed in points based on the kind of races and how far behind the winner they finished.

a full explanation of the point system and the complete list of point earners is on the Sporting Post website.

TOP EARNERS for 2016/2017(to 26 February 2017)

horse age sex points racesLegal Eagle 5 c 185 3Whisky Baron 4 c 150 2carry On alice 5 f 118 3master Sabina 7 c 100 1Trip To heaven 5 c 97 2captain america 6 c 84 3Nightingale 4 f 84 2Gold Standard 3 c 82 3Edict Of Nantes 3 c 81 2Kangaroo Jack 4 c 75 2Just Sensual 3 f 70 1Bela-Bela 4 f 70 1William Longsword 3 c 70 1Jo's Bond 4 f 68 2Safe harbour 3 f 63 2New Predator 4 c 53 2Bezanova 6 c 50 1Search Party 4 c 50 1Icy Trail 4 c 50 1marinaresco 4 c 48 3Red Ray 6 c 46 1Star Express 4 f 42 2The conglomerate 5 c 37 1Silver mountain 4 f 34 2master Switch 5 c 34 1Tevez 7 c 31 1Ektifaa 3 f 30 1Intergalactic 4 f 30 1Live Life 3 f 30 1mella maria 4 f 30 1Singapore Sling 3 c 30 1Goodtime Gal 4 f 28 1Bold Rex 3 c 28 2Nebula 4 c 25 1Rikitikitana 4 c 25 1captain's Flame 4 f 25 1Fortissima 4 f 25 1Romany Prince 4 c 25 1Green Pepper 3 f 25 1Royal Badge 4 c 25 1Rivarine 3 c 25 1Wrecking Ball 3 f 25 1Banner hill 4 c 25 1Silicone Valley 6 c 24 2Krambambuli 5 c 22 1Liege 4 c 21 2Sail South 6 c 20 1Final Judgement 3 f 20 2Saratoga dancer 5 c 19 1Zodiac Ruler 3 c 18 1deo Juvente 5 c 17 1Prince Of Wales 4 c 15 1Bella Sonata 4 f 13 1Polyphonic 4 f 11 1captain Gambler 3 f 10 1Tahini 4 f 10 1Newlands 3 c 9 1Visuality 3 f 8 1Sail 3 f 8 1Scandal 4 f 6 1milton 5 c 5 1Will Pays 5 c 5 1Beach Goddess 5 f 4 1heavenly Blue 3 c 4 1It's my Turn 4 c 1 1

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 17

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 18

b l a c k t y p e r e s u l t s

Gr3 Prix Du Cap R250,000

oh So Sensualcape Fillies Guineas winner Just Sensual

confirmed her status in the upper eche-lon of her generation with an emphatic victory. The filly showed her last run from

a wide draw in the false run cTS mile to be all wrong. Beautifully positioned from her one draw a few lengths off the pace, the 8-10 favourite came forward powerfully halfway up the straight to overhaul pace-setter captain’s Flame. Gimme Six and recent Fairview feature winner a Time To dream came from the clouds to grab third and fourth respectively. The anticipated battle of the past cape Fillies Guineas win-ners failed to materialise as Silver moun-tain again disappointed.

The Klawervlei Stud-bred Just Sensual, who cost R2 million on the cape Premier yearling Sale Book 1, is by dynasty out of champion 2yo filly consensual (by cam-den Park). She has won 4 races, with 1 place, from 6 starts for stakes of R883.750.

kENiLwortH saturday, 25 February

Course Variant: 1.35s slow (bend) As has been the norm for most of the summer season, the southerly headwind was a major

influence on the times.

Cape Mile R150,000

Victorious JayThe non black-type feature hosted a field of ten, with regular pacesetter milton scooting off to a three length lead from the jump, while moonlight ‘n Roses refused to jump with her field and stayed in the stalls. milton led Eighth Wonder and Victorious Jay into the home run,

Gr3 Prix Du Cap (F&M) 1400mWinner Just Sensual (top speed rated) raced third; was visibly cruising throughout before taking up the running 150m from home; just did the necessary to win. Runner-up Captain’s Flame was fractious and reared in the stalls; set the pace, a few lengths clear; found extra when headed; hanging out in the latter stages; no chance with winner. Third Gimme Six was positioned 8th coming off the bend; ran on strongly final 400m. Time: Although this was the faster of the two 1400m races, and the second fastest of the five races around the turn, it was only run marginally faster than the maiden plate over 1400m until they came off the false rail 600m out. We gave the runner up (prev 7/97/94/84/94) 99, which makes the winner (prev 67/ 78/84/ 99 /82) 101, and the third 83/85/85/71/87) 90. The winner seems likely to be able to improve on her rating on this showing.

101 1 0.00 Just sensual (1) 56.5 A Marcus 1/1 3 b f Dynasty - Consensual (Camden Park)

By DYnastY99 2 0.40 Captain’s Flame (4) 58.0 M Yeni 18/1 4 b f Captain Al - Kindling (Fort Wood)

Bloodstock SA Nat - R1.2m90 3 1.65 Gimme six (3) 54.0 M Byleveld 15/1 3 b f Gimmethegreenlight - District Six(IRE) (Mujadil)

Cape Throughbred Sales91 4 2.40 A Time To Dream (14) 57.0 D Dillon 28/1 93 5 3.90 Silver Mountain (8) 60.0 A Domeyer 3/1 87 6 4.20 Goodtime Gal (13) 58.0 R Fourie 6/1 80 7 4.70 Whose That Girl (11) 53.5 R Khathi 18/1 83 8 4.80 Miss Marker (9) 57.0 B May 40/1 80 9 4.85 Nutbush Citilimits (2) 53.5 O Noach 100/1 83 10 4.90 Can Cope (7) 57.0 G Behr 100/1 82 11 5.40 Anglet (12) 57.0 H vd Hoven 100/1 81 12 5.60 Come Fly With Me (6) 57.0 A Andrews 100/1 81 13 7.10 Alexis (5) 59.0 C Orffer 22/1 78 14 7.50 Beach Goddess (10) 58.0 S Cele 35/1 time: 87.44s (62.46s avg/1000m, or 58km/h) sP total %: 123%1st t:J Ramsden O:Mayfair Speculators (Pty) Ltd (Nom: Mr D L Brugman) B:Klawervlei Stud

Kenilworth Splits • 25 February1400m start to bend to false rail to finish bend f-rail to finish Prix du cap 12.84 51.36 87.30 38.52 35.94maiden Plate 12.96 51.43 88.94 38.47 37.511600m maiden Plate 24.99 65.55 102.43 40.56 36.88 cape mile 24.14 61.36 99.09 37.22 37.73

true RunThe Gr3 Prix du cap and cape mile at Kenilworth were true run races, judging

by the split times. The cape mile was marred by scrimmaging and a fallen horse in the last 200m, which affected the final time somewhat.

In contrast, the 1600m maiden race was a doddle, decided in a sprint home. The 9/1 winner Platinum Prince, racing handy, beat 15/10 favourite Zanzibarian who came from behind. Not quite a result to rely on.

and headed for the outside running rail. aldo domeyer brought Victorious Jay up milton’s inside, with Greg cheyne trying to get Nebula through a gap on the rail. Nebula appeared to clip milton’s heels at around the 250m marker and dislodged cheyne. milton was forced to check briefly, as was Eighth Street, who was just behind the pair.By this time Victorious Jay had escaped and comfortably held the late challenge of the favourite Silicone Valley to give sire Jay Peg a 1-2.Victorious Jay, a R175k cape Premier yearling Sale Book 1 graduate, was bred by hemel ‘n aarde Stud. he’s by Jay Peg out of the three-time winning Jallad mare Rub a dub dub, and has now won 4 races with 8 places from 16 starts, for stakes of R599.650.

Cape Mile (non-black type) 1600mWinner Victorious Jay raced 3rd; hanging out in the straight; led 200m, ran on. Runner-up Silicone Valley raced 7th of the ten; ran on very well, and was gaining rapid-ly at the finish.Third finisher Milton made the running; quickened rounding the turn to lead by over 3 lengths at the top of the straight; was outrun in final 200m. Time: This was comfortably the fastest of the five races around the turn, and most no-tably particularly fast on the bend. We gave the runner-up (prev 95/96/103/104/106) 104, which makes the winner (prev 85/72/101/91/94) 105, and the third (prev 98/92/94/98/97) 98.

105 1 0.00 VictOriOus Jay (2) 60.0 A Domeyer 7/1 4 b g Jay Peg - Rub A Dub Dub (Jallad) 104 2 0.75 SILICoNE VALLEy (6) 60.0 H vd Hoven 28/10 6 b g Jay Peg - Prize Collection (Model Man) 98 3 3.25 MILToN (3) 60.0 M Byleveld 9/2 5 ch g Lateral - Missing No More(USA) (Unaccounted For) 78 4 3.65 Waiting For Rain (4) 51.0 S Cele 28/1 84 5 3.85 overshadow (1) 54.0 R Fourie 7/1 80 6 5.60 La Favourari (5) 54.0 M Yeni 15/1 79 7 5.80 Brilliant Crimson (10) 54.0 R Khathi 18/1 71 8 7.05 Eighth Wonder (7) 51.5 O Noach 13/1 0 9 99.98 Nebula (9) 54.0 G Cheyne 33/10 0 10 99.94 Moonlight ‘n Roses (8) 54.5 C Orffer 28/1 time: 99.23s (62.02s avg/1000m, or 58km/h) sP total %: 118%1st t:VH Marshall O:Mr V Ragoonath & Ms Joelle Ng B:Hemel ‘n Aarde Stud

How Good Is Your Horse?75% of all 2yo Gr1 winners have ability ratings (AR) of

more than 95

97% of all Gr1 winners age 3yo & up

have ability ratings (AR) of more than 95

Sporting Post ability ratings (AR) put every horse in its place

Just Sensual | Wayne Marks

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 19

Lady’s Pendant (Listed) R150,000

Sailing HomeThere are those of the opinion that 2007 Equus champion 2yo argonaut was discarded to the stallion scrapheap pre-maturely. That debate crops up when he has a decent winner – like the 6yo clear Sailing, who annihilated her opposition to win the R150k feature. Slightly slow away in the 1200m turf contest, Greg cheyne had clear Sailing tucked away near the rear of the fourteen strong field down the outside, as Summer cruise and Firstimesacharm led the charge. The mare showed no signs of her expected race fitness doubts after a 4 month break as she made up the leeway, hitting the front at the 400m. Full of running, clear Sailing galloped on relentlessly to register her third Listed victory.clear Sailing was purchased for R350k on the cape Premier yearling Sale Book 1. Bred at Sandown Stud, clear Sailing is out of the five-time winning Goldkeeper mare clear up. She has now won 8 races with 9 places from 23 starts, for stakes of R655.500.

Lady’s Pendant (L) 1200mWinner Clear Sailing (2nd best handi-capped) raced ninth of the fourteen, but only 3 lengths off the pace; took the lead at 400m, quickly went clear to win well. Runner-up Felicity Flyer raced 8th; baulked for a run 400m-200m; managed very late to snatch second. Third Champery (2/1 favourite) raced a handy 6th and held every chance. Time: This was the only race over 1200m. The field was very tightly bunched with just four lengths covering all going through the 700m. The time wasn’t a slow one, but in comparison to the best of the 1000m races, it could have been run faster. We gave the third (prev 93/57/91/80/92) 90, which makes the winner (prev 90/90/94/87/97) 105, and the runner-up (prev 86/73/38/85/89) 87.

105 1 0.00 clear sailing (12) 60.0 G Cheyne 11/2 6 ch m Argonaut - Clear Up (Goldkeeper) 87 2 3.50 FeliCity Flyer (6) 56.0 R Khathi 7/2 3 ch f Noordhoek Flyer - The Zone (Restructure)

Bloodstock SA Val de Vie 160k90 3 3.55 Champery (13) 59.0 G Lerena 2/1 4 b f Querari - Celigny(USA) (Mr Greeley) 82 4 4.80 Anneline (7) 56.0 L Mxothwa 20/1 84 5 5.30 our Destiny (10) 59.0 R Danielson 5/2 80 6 6.55 Peonie Rock (9) 59.0 JP vd Merwe 20/1 75 7 7.80 Firstimesacharm (14) 59.0 R Munger 100/1 74 8 8.05 Easy Street (5) 59.0 S Khathi 66/1 76 9 8.10 Victoria Lavelle (1) 60.0 C Murray 14/1 74 10 8.15 Silvan Jazz (8) 59.0 M Thackeray 25/1 72 11 8.65 Natural Tan (2) 59.0 T Gould 40/1 62 12 10.40 Lady Willow (3) 56.0 C Maujean 100/1 63 13 11.15 Night In Tahiti (4) 59.0 K Zechner 33/1 42 14 16.90 Summer Cruise (11) 59.0 X Ndlovu 50/1 time: 68.12s (56.77s avg/1000m, or 63km/h) sP total %: 130%1st t:AC Greeff O:Dr G Baitz & Mr C Baitz B:GJ Armitage

FAirViEw (turf) Friday, 24 February

Course Variant: 1.05s fast (straight course)There was a 23km/h tail wind blowing on Friday,

and with the going good off a penetrometer reading of 21, the course was running fast.

sCottsViLLE (inside) sunday, 26 February

Course Variant: 4.49s slow (bend)With 64mm of rain and 8mm of irrigation during the previous seven days, the going was posted as soft off a penetrometer reading of 31. With the false rail being out 9m, the times were predictably very slow.

Fever Tree Stakes R120,000

No Chinks Tristan Godden registered the fourth win-ner of his career as a fully fledged jockey when riding a finely judged race to get Royal armour home for Lezeanne Forbes. The non-black type feature hosted just eight runners on the soft going.With the jockeys leaving a gap on the inside rail, Sylvester The cat made the run-ning as he enjoys to do, with Royal armour tucked away two lengths off. Royal armour took the lead at the 250m, looked to be going the better and held his advantage to the line to win by a head, Sylvester The cat holding on gamely for second. Race fa-vourite monte christo made his run down the seemingly worse going on the inside and faded to finish last.Bred by Waterford Stud, Royal armour is by Jay Peg out of three-time winning Fort Wood mare Royal Palm. a R60k Nation-al yearling Sale purchase, he took his earnings to R431.000 from 7 wins, with 3 places from 22 starts.

Fever Tree Stakes (non-black type) 1400mWinner Royal Armour raced 3rd; rider acci-dentally dropped the rein 300m out which he regained shortly after; got to a narrow 100m out; won by short head. Runner-up Sylvester The Cat (best handi-capped) set the pace; rallied gamely when headed 100m out. Third Amazon King raced fifth; ran on, but never a real threat. Time: The pace was a good one given the conditions, and this was comfortably the fastest of the four races around the turn. We gave the runner up (prev 79/73/85/88/96) 96, which makes the winner (prev 77/87/47/88/88) 90, and the third (prev 68/83/83/75/89) 90.

90 1 0.00 royal armour (2) 57.0 T Godden 12/1 4 b g Jay Peg - Royal Palm (Fort Wood)

Bloodstock SA Nat - 60k96 2 0.05 Sylvester The Cat (8) 60.0 J Samuel 13/2 4 b g Black Minnaloushe - ondina (Caesour) Bloodstock SA Nat - 450k90 3 1.30 Amazon King (1) 57.0 K De Melo 33/10 3 b g Kahal - Miss Andrea (Restructure)

Bloodstock SA Nat - 375k92 4 1.40 Sea Fever (4) 60.0 S Veale 13/2 87 5 1.90 Rikitikitana (5) 58.5 A Delpech 3/1 84 6 3.15 Cutting Edge (7) 58.5 S Brown 12/1 77 7 3.20 Roy’s Strike Force (6) 55.5 D De Gouveia 33/1 77 8 4.20 Monte Christo (3) 57.0 A Marcus 5/2 time: 86.55s (61.82s avg/1000m, or 58km/h) sP total %: 122%1st t:L Forbes O:Mr S P & Mrs A M Pienaar B:Waterford Stud

b l a c k t y p e r e s u l t s

d i G e s t d i a r y

Features To ComeFri 3 mar (L) Ibhayi Stakes (3yo’s) 1400m Fairview (Turf)

Sat 4 mar Gr2 Betting World Gauteng Guineas (3yo’s) 1600m Turffontein (S)

Gr2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas (3yo’s Fillies) 1600m Turffontein (S)

Gr2 Hawaii Stakes 1400m Turffontein (S)

Gr3 Acacia Hcp (F&m) 1600m Turffontein (S)

(L) Aquanaut Handicap 2450m Turffontein (S)

Fri 10 mar (L) Breeders Guineas (3yo F) 1600m Fairview

Sat 11 mar (L) Bauhinia Hcp (F&m) 1000m Turffontein (S)

(L) Storm Bird Stakes (2yo’s) 1000m Turffontein (S)

(L) Ruffian Stakes (2yo F) 1000m Turffontein (S)

Fri 17 mar (L) East Cape Sprint Cup 1200m Fairview (Turf)

Sat 18 mar (L) Drum Star Handicap 1800m Turffontein Inner

Fri 24 mar East Cape Fillies Nursery (2yo Fillies) 1200m Fairview (Turf)

Sat 25 mar Gr2 Senor Santa Stakes 1200m Turffontein (S)

Gr2 Colorado King Stakes 2000m Turffontein (S)

Gr3 Sycamore Sprint (F&m) 1200m Turffontein (S)

(L) Derby Trial (3yo’s) 2000m Turffontein (S)

(L) Oaks Trial (3yo Fillies) 2000m Turffontein (S)

Next Auction SalesThurs BSA Cape yearling Sale 16 mar mistico Equestrian centre

Sat/Sun CTS March yearling Sale 18/19 mar durbanville

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 20

MISSED RECENT RESuLTS? Click here for a quick link to the Sporting Post website

1st & 2nd season sires – 2yo’sAWAIT THE DAWN (Giant's Causeway)Perfect dawn 2f (Tropical Snow by Elliodor)

Turffontein 3 Maiden Juvenile Plate (Fillies) 1400m (04/03)

BOLD SILVANO (Silvano)Lawdy miss clawdy 2f (Olympic Special by Special Preview)

Fairview 1 Juvenile Plate (Fillies)(Turf) 1000m (03/03)albertina 2f (Quarter moon by mullins Bay)

Fairview 1 Juvenile Plate (Fillies)(Turf) 1000m (03/03)Star Profile 2f (West Wacker by Western Winter)

Turffontein 3 Maiden Juvenile Plate (Fillies) 1400m (04/03)BYWORD (Peintre Celebre)No more Words 2f (adella by Toreador)

Turffontein 1 Maiden Juvenile Plate (Fillies) 1000m (04/03)

CRUSADE (Johannesburg)Jaunita 2f (Perakeen by Rakeen)

Turffontein 1 Maiden Juvenile Plate (Fillies) 1000m (04/03)cantata mundi 2f (Onda Punk by Punk)

Turffontein 1 Maiden Juvenile Plate (Fillies) 1000m (04/03)DAN DE LAGO (Encosta de Lago)Why Wouldn't yew 2c (yew Wood by Fort Wood)

Kenilworth 1 Maiden Juvenile Plate 1200m (04/03)EIGHTFOLD PATH (Giant's Causeway)Eight cities 2c (Blue Eyed Queen by Thunder Gulch)

Turffontein 2 Maiden Juvenile Plate 1400m (04/03)GIMMETHEGREENLIGHT (More Than Ready)masgegede 2f (dear Sissy by unknown)

Fairview 1 Juvenile Plate (Fillies)(Turf) 1000m (03/03)Friday On my mind 2c (Fireinthewoods by al mufti)

Kenilworth 1 Maiden Juvenile Plate 1200m (04/03)La Bella mia 2f (mysterious Jet by Jet master)

Turffontein 1 Maiden Juvenile Plate (Fillies) 1000m (04/03)GITANO HERNANDO (Hernando)christiano 2c (Pure class by Jet master)

Kenilworth 1 Maiden Juvenile Plate 1200m (04/03)

GOLDEN SWORD (High Chaparral)Sussex 2f (angora by Tamburlaine)

Turffontein 1 Maiden Juvenile Plate (Fillies) 1000m (04/03)

ORATORIO (Danehill)Nordic chant 2c (Nordic Spring by Fort Wood)

Kenilworth 1 Maiden Juvenile Plate 1200m (04/03)hadarat 2c (muhtaram by al mufti)

Kenilworth 1 Maiden Juvenile Plate 1200m (04/03)TWICE OVER (Observatory)Rock my Soul 2c (Rockie Bright by Rock of Gibraltar)

Kenilworth 1 Maiden Juvenile Plate 1200m (04/03)

2nd season sires – 3yo’sBOLD SILVANO (Silvano)Kungfoofighting 3f (Olympic Special by Special Preview)

Fairview 7 MR 60 Handicap (F&M)(Turf) 1200m (03/03)Keep The Faith 3f (menorah by Var)

Kenilworth 5 MR 68 Handicap (F&M) 2000m (04/03)CURVED BALL (Fastnet Rock)Je Suis Silver 3f (Share The Silver by announce)

Greyville 7 MR 66 Handicap (F&M)(Polytrack) 1000m (05/03)DAN DE LAGO (Encosta de Lago)yourmyworld 3f (cozy corner by Rambo dancer)

Kenilworth 2 Maiden Plate (F&M) 1400m (04/03)GIMMETHEGREENLIGHT (More Than Ready)Gimme The Stars 3c (cosmic Jet by Jet master)

Fairview 8 Ibhayi Stakes (3yo's)(Listed)(Turf) 1400m (03/03)Green Lantern 3c (Over The anvil by Fort Wood)

Fairview 8 Ibhayi Stakes (3yo's)(Listed)(Turf) 1400m (03/03)cossack Guard 3c (cossack Star by complete Warrior)

Kenilworth 3 Maiden Plate 1200m (04/03)Searchinforsugaman 3c (Rollicking Romp by Qui danzig)

Kenilworth 3 Maiden Plate 1200m (04/03)Loadshedder 3c (Orange dancer by danehill dancer)

Kenilworth 7 MR 72 Handicap 1600m (04/03)hallowed Spring 3f (Sublime Spring by Rakeen)

Greyville 2 MR 74 Handicap (F&M)(Polytrack) 2000m (05/03)GITANO HERNANDO (Hernando)Villanelle 3f (Vogue award by model man)

Fairview 9 MR 68 Handicap (F&M)(Turf) 1400m (03/03)desert Lark 3c (musical Lark by Goldkeeper)

Kenilworth 3 Maiden Plate 1200m (04/03)Prix du cap 3c (Parfait by National Emblem)

Kenilworth 8 Maiden Plate 1600m (04/03)manouche 3c (Paris at Night by In The Wings)

Greyville 4 MR 62 Handicap (Polytrack) 1600m (05/03)

GOLDEN SWORD (High Chaparral)Ratso Rizzo 3c (careless mirth by Rambo dancer)

Greyville 2 Maiden Plate (Polytrack) 1400m (03/03)Okatana 3f (Opposition by al mufti)

Fairview 4 Maiden Plate (F&M)(Turf) 1200m (03/03)Perfect Parry 3f (Perfect Lady by muhtafal)

Fairview 4 Maiden Plate (F&M)(Turf) 1200m (03/03)domenico angelo 3c (Lady Red by Russian Revival)

Turffontein 4 Maiden Plate 1160m (04/03)Belle Rose 3f (Vin Fizz by Qui danzig)

Turffontein 8 Gr2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas (3yo's) 1600m (04/03)

MAIN AIM (Oasis Dream)another Night 3f (No more Screws by Strike Smartly)

Fairview 9 MR 68 Handicap (F&M)(Turf) 1400m (03/03)

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 21

PATHFORK (Distorted Humor)direct Route 3f (capitol Steps by National assembly)

Fairview 4 Maiden Plate (F&M)(Turf) 1200m (03/03)Pathfork Poppy 3f (Poppy Law by Fort Wood)

Fairview 4 Maiden Plate (F&M)(Turf) 1200m (03/03)Silken Summer 3f (dancing Summer by mr Greeley)

Fairview 4 Maiden Plate (F&M)(Turf) 1200m (03/03)Zeb 3c (Sostanza by al mufti)

Kenilworth 3 Maiden Plate 1200m (04/03)St Joseph 3c (arabian Lily by al mufti)

Turffontein 4 Maiden Plate 1160m (04/03)Bobby dazzler 3c (Baccarat Babe by El Prado)

Kenilworth 4 MR 72 Handicap 1200m (04/03)my Friend Lee 3f (Sister Sheila by West man)

Turffontein 8 Gr2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas (3yo's) 1600m (04/03)

mungo cherry 3f (colchium by Elnadim)Greyville 7 MR 66 Handicap (F&M)(Polytrack) 1000m (05/03)

PHILANTHROPIST (Kris S)Philosopher 3c (Burmese by National assembly)

Greyville 2 Maiden Plate (Polytrack) 1400m (03/03)Rockefeller 3c (Generous anna by General Nediym)

Greyville 6 MR 66 Handicap (Polytrack) 2000m (03/03)Gates 3c (helenka by West man)

Kenilworth 3 Maiden Plate 1200m (04/03)Bono 3c (demanding damsel by deputy commander)

Turffontein 4 Maiden Plate 1160m (04/03)count Philip 3c (Princess Isabella by Personal hope)

Greyville 3 Maiden Plate (Polytrack) 1600m (05/03)Lee's Pick 3c (Boreal applause by Royal applause)

Greyville 3 Maiden Plate (Polytrack) 1600m (05/03)

TRAFFIC GUARD (More Than Ready)Toa Nui 3c (dash Of dynamite by What a Prospect)

Greyville 3 Maiden Plate (Polytrack) 1600m (05/03)

Notable Maiden WinnersBANKABLE

Rated AR 73 COLD CASH (4f Frost Fairy by Linney head)Maiden Plate (F&M) Turffontein (inner) (1800m) (26/2)

Summerhill bred having shown good improvement in each of her three previous outings, and not pitched in against the strongest of maiden fields here, Gary alexander’s charge was always deep in the red. after racing handy she took command 400m out, and cruised clear in the closing stages of the race to score by ten lengths.

QUERARIRated AR 87 MADE IN HOLLyWOOD (2f Sheer Fantasy by El Prado)

Maiden Juvenile Plate-(F) Kenilworth (1200m) (25/02)Slow out on debut ten days earlier, she did recover well to run a good third. It was a different story this time, as she ran on from a handy position to win easing up by over six lengths. The race time was excellent when compared to other sprints on the day. made In hollywood is out of an unraced Irish mare by El Prado (Sadler’s Wells) from a strong black type female line. She should improve on her rating and ought to make her presence felt in feature races this season.

For the NotebookGLOBAL ONE

Rated AR 79 yELLOW METAL (3f Percussion by Baroon)3yo Fillies Handicap Turffontein (inner) (1200m) (26/2)Now a winner of two from three starts, Sean Tarry’s charge had excuses when finishing well down field last time out. She was always handy here, won with some in hand after striking the front 200m from home, and seems likely to be able to improve on her rating.

Winners Bred AbroadEgo Amigo (auS) 3g Redoute’s choice - Possessed(auS) (Scenic) Turffontein 1200m (23/02)

Professor Brian (auS) 4g Encosta de Lago - Eskaw (NZ) (chief Bearhart) Kenilworth 1200m (25/02)

Is Your Horse one to Follow?check the

notable Maiden Winners & Horses for the notebook on this page

- see how promising the sporting post ability ratings (AR) say they are.

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 22

FAIRvIEW (FRI)Race 1: (13) Widow’s Lamp 17Race 2: (2) Elusive mist 4Race 3: (2) Kir Royale 4Race 4: (2) Silken Summer 11Race 5: (3) Shadow Ofhis Smile 89Race 6: (4) Oriental Tiger 54Race 7: (10) Winter Breeze 29Race 8: (4) Green Lantern 57Race 9: (15) Juds Express 49

GREyvILLE (FRI)Race 1: (6) Q Behind me 15Race 2: (10) Inyati 24Race 3: (10) arpad 54Race 4: (13) academy Princess 50Race 5: (1) Out my Way 53Race 6: (8) Principate 47Race 7: (12) Lily’s Rush 27

TuRFFONTEIN (SAT)Race 1: (3) celestina 1Race 2: (10) Whorly Whorly 9Race 3: (9) Star Profile 1Race 4: (2) Barbarella Nights 21Race 5: (12) She’s Foxy 18Race 6: (2) Kangaroo Jack 102Race 7: (10) Shaama 84Race 8: (1) Safe harbour 74Race 9: (1) heavenly Blue 64Race 10: (7) The Elmo Effect 81Race 11: (9) Parabola 50Race 12: (12) cuduiari 50

KENILWORTH (SAT)Race 1: (5) Kasimir 34 (NAP**)Race 2: (3) Echo In Eternity 7Race 3: (1) Cossack Guard 22 (nb)Race 4: (2) Winter Trade 42Race 5: (7) Jingle Belle 38Race 6: (5) Galla Placidia 6Race 7: (8) In The Jungle 42Race 8: (12) Two Brothers 12

GREyvILLE (SuN)Race 1: (8) Pomona 5 (nb)Race 2: (6) Kudra 45Race 3: (7) uposeupay 13Race 4: (8) Roy’s Sailor 34Race 5: (5) astroman 35Race 6: (3) Spanish captain 66Race 7: (1) Seatops 28Race 8: (9) A-Rod 11 (NAP*)

Nap bets* Fancied ** Strongly fancied

*** Very strongly fancied

Top speed ratings for this weekend

(Ratings shown have already been adjusted to allocated weights)

last week’s top rated

Speed RatiNgS winners incl.

Kashmira ....................won 9/1

Astroman ....................won 7/1

Post Grad ....................won 4/1

Q The Music ................won 33/10

Love Lyric ...................won 22/10

Mess ...........................won 2/1

Autumn in Seattle .......won 18/10

Cold Cash ....................won 3/10

a review OF tHe week's best speedratinGs

c l O c k w a t c H i n G w i t H s t e v e F u r n i s H

The Signs Were ThereTurffontein 23 February

The going was already soft at Thursday’s in-ner track meeting, and with rain falling quite heavily at times the meeting was abandoned after five races. Two of the five that were staged took place over 1200m and quickest home in these was EGO amIGO when getting off the mark in the maiden plate. Sporting blinkers for the first time, in this his third run after a rest, the 8/1 shot was always handy. he put his head in front shortly after passing the 200m marker and won going away by a length and a half.

They also ran two races over 2600m and in a time almost six seconds faster than that of the maiden plate, the mR78 handicap was the fastest. The improving dETONaTION had been backed into the red prior to the off and on striking the front 350m from home, the dynasty gelding looked to have done everything right. FORTuNE FELLa had struck the front shortly before that though and ral-lying gamely after being headed, he got back up 150m out.

The only other race to be run was a work rider’s maiden plate over 1600m and here the 4yo mISS WaLES won a lot more easily than the official winning margin of 1,9 lengths would suggest. content to sit eighth of the ten for most of the journey, Geoff Woodruff’s charge was visibly cruising throughout. Work rider Goodman dadamasi was already looking around for challengers as they took up the running 200m out, and they went on to score with a ton in hand.

Titbits The newcomer GREEN TOP ran on well from off the pace when winning the opening maiden juvenile plate over 1200m going away.

Sailing ClearFairview 24 February

The easiest victory in Port Elizabeth on Fri-day was undoubtedly that of the aptly named cLEaR SaILING in the feature event, the listed Lady’s Pendant over 1200m. Freely available at 11/2 on the off the joint top weight raced in midfield early on. She put her head in front

going through the 400m, and after quickly going clear she won very easily by three and a half.

Three of the afternoon’s nine races were run over 1400m and stopping the clock in the fastest time amongst these was KING-VOLdT when registering his fifth career victory in the mR100 handicap. Easy to back at 10/1 on the off, the son of Western Winter was always handy. he took up the running shortly after passing the 200m marker and kept on strongly in the closing stages of the race to beat the running on aFRIKaBuRN by a length and a quarter.

Quickest home in the two 1000m races was JuaN TWO ThREE in the mR100 hand-icap. Sent off a strong favourite at 11/10, alan Greeff’s charge led throughout. he ran on strongly at the business end of the race and although his stable companion ThayER tried his best to make a race of it, he did have that one held at the wire.

Titbits The 4yo KASHMIRA didn’t find the clearest of passages en-route from the back-end of midfield when getting up late to win the maiden plate for the girls over 1400m.

Real ValueGreyville 24 February

as has become the norm, they raced on the poly track on Friday evening. Three of the eight races were staged over 1400m and by far the fastest of these was the mR62 handicap won by aSTROmaN. Positioned in the backend of midfield as the eleven runners swung for home, Frank Robinson’s charge ran on best of all in

astroman | (Gold Circle)

off to A Flyer

SPORTING POST • ThuRSday 2 maRch 2017 23

raced close up in second here. he struck the front early in the short home straight and went on to score with authority from SPacE TORNadO.

By far the easiest victory on the card was that of cOLd caSh in the opening maiden plate over 1800m. Ridden to lead coming off the strip, Johan Janse Van Vuuren’s charge cruised clear over the final 400m and won going away by ten and a quarter.

Titbits Drawn wide and slow into stride to boot, KNYSNA ROSE ran on stoutly from the backend of midfield, and gaining quickly at the finish was only beaten a neck.

Lightly raced YELLOW METAL won the MR89 Handicap for 3yo’s over 1200m with some in hand by a length.

c l O c k w a t c H i n G

the straight. he struck the front as they approached the 200m marker, and after fending off a determined challenge from the uneasy favourite, he went on to score comfortably by a length.

The faster of the two 1900m events was a mR70 handicap and here victory went to Sporting Post’s top bet NIGhT cIRcuS. Freely available at 2/1 on the off, the top weighted son of mambo In Seattle was soon positioned close to the speed. he put his head in front early in the straight and kept on strongly late to beat the running on FIRST aPOSTLE by a neck.

Sporting Post was also on the mark with their each way value bet when cLaSS acT put up a very gutsy per-formance to win the mR66 affair over 1000m. Taken straight to the front by apprentice moodley, the 15/1 shot led throughout. She looked like being swamped halfway down the straight, but answering every call she kept finding, and held on by the narrowest of margins.

TitbitsAfter being hampered 300m out, the 35/1

shot ACE PILOT produced a fair turn of foot when getting up late to win the maiden plate over 1200m.

Plenty of MettleTurffontein 26 February

This was the meeting originally sched-uled to take place on Saturday 25th February. The going was good to soft on Sunday where four of the nine races were run over 1450m. comfortably the quickest home amongst these was the 4yo ThE SmELL OF RaIN in the mR85 handicap. always available at around 8/1, Erico Verdonese’s charge sat seventh for most of the journey. She quickened well coming off the strip and won going away by a length and a quarter after striking the front 120m from home.

The faster of the two 1600m apprentice handicaps was the mR70 affair in which the consistent POST GRad gained a de-served fourth career victory. more often than not seen running on stoutly from off the pace, the 5yo announce gelding

(Number of races run in each category shown in brackets) * Times taken by clockwatcher

TuRFFONTEIN (INNER) 23 FEBRuARyPenetrometer 27 Soft course Variant: 1,5s slow1200m (2) Green Top 73,54 1600m (1) miss Wales 101,632600m (2) Fortune Fella 171,83FAIRvIEW (TuRF) 24 FEBRuARyPenetrometer 21 – Going Goodcourse Variant: 1000m (2) Juan Two Three 55,53 1200m (1) clear Sailing 68,12 1400m (3) Kingvoldt 82,851600m (2) Fear Not 96,202400m (1) One away 151,75GREyvILLE (POLy) 24 FEBRuARyGoing Standardcourse Variant: 0,52s slow1000m (1) class act 58,40 1200m (1) ace Pilot 71,60 1400m (3) astroman 84,001600m (1) See The Sea 97,60 1900m (2) Night circus 115,30TuRFFONTEIN (INNER) 26 FEBRuARyPenetrometer 26 – Going G/Softcourse Variant: 2,61s slow1200m (1) yellow metal 74,051450m (4) The Smell Of Rain 90,73 1600m (2) Post Grad 100,741800m (1) cold cash 115,262600m (1) Balalaika 171,00

Horses worth following at their next few starts...

ACE PILOT (a Gordon, KZn)

Debt Collector | (Singapore Turf Club)

I think it’s safe to say that rule number one for pundits in Singapore is don’t tip against dEBT cOLLEcTOR.

The reigning Singapore horse of the year hasn’t been beaten since November 2015 and his winning streak stands at eight. In fact michael Rodd fell off the last time he lost and the aussie hoop hasn’t been beat-en on him when he has remained in the saddle. and if that isn’t impressive enough, his first up win over 1400m under similar conditions to his assignment tonight (race 6), was easy enough to think he is better than anything Singapore has to offer.

The step up to the mile suits as he pre-pares for his first overseas assignment in dubai later in the month and the question should be, who runs second?

But don’t discount a very progressive 3yO in JuPITER GOLd with just 49kg.

The australian-bred rig has stamped himself as a horse to follow in the Three-year-Old series and while he has one hand on the Group 1 Guineas at WFa in may, he could pinch a race like this with the featherweight.

Both horses will be storming late and while it’s impossible to pick against dEBT cOLLEcTOR, JuPITER GOLd will keep this more than interesting.

Friday 3 MarchBest Bets: (dEBT cOLLEcTOR race 6, win),

(RETuRN TO JuSTIcE race 8, win) and (LadRONE race 3, value).

Bankers for Jackpots: Race 6 (1), race 7 (1, 2, 8 and 12), race 8 (1, 3, 4, 9 and 10), race 9 (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10).

Race cards in Singapore and Larry Foley’s synopsis and updates on all

runners go to www.kranjiracing.com

s i n G a p O r e - F r i d a y

taking the Credit

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s p O r t s a n d b e t t i n G

Seeking RevengeLiverpool vs Arsenal | Saturday 4 March | Anfield | 19:30

The biggest match in game week 20 of the Premier League will see Liverpool host arsenal on Saturday in what could well be a high-scoring game, with the Gunners seeking revenge after Jurgen Klopp’s side won

4-3 at the Emirates on the opening day of the season. Their last meeting at Anfield ended in a 3-3 draw with Roberto Firmino and olivier Giroud each scoring twice while aaron Ramsey and Joe allen were also on the scoresheet that day. Liverpool are currently fifth in the Premier League, a point below fourth-placed Arsenal. This clash could be pivotal to Champions League qualification.

To catch up with Chadley Nagel’s previews CLICK HERE

lIVERPoolLiverpool will be hoping to bounce back strongly from their 3-1 defeat against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Monday. Jurgen Klopp’s side - who would have climbed to third with a victory - have lost five of their past seven matches in all competitions. They are now 14 points behind leaders Chelsea in fifth but look as far away from challeng-ing for the title as they did in 2016. The Reds now have a real challenge on their hands if they are to finish in the top four and seal a return to the Champions League next season.

ARSENAlArsenal haven’t managed to win at Anfield since the 2012/13 season when they won 2-0 thanks to goals from Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla. The Gunners are looking to become the first team from the top six to beat Jurgen Klopp’s side this season. With pressure mounting on un-der-fire boss Arsene Wenger, the Frenchman will be hoping to lead his side to victory on Saturday. Arsenal’s last Premier League game saw them collect maximum points against Hull City at the Emirates Stadium thanks to a brace from Alexis Sanchez. But prior to that, they had lost back-to-back matches against Watford and Chelsea, which ultimately ended their hopes of lifting the league trophy.

Probable line-ups:Liverpool: 4-3-3

Mignolet; Clyne, Matip, Lovren, Milner; Lallana, Can, Wijnaldum; Mane, Firmino, Coutinho

Arsenal: 4-2-3-1Cech; Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal; Coquelin, Xhaka; Walcott, Ozil, Iwobi; Sanchez

Liverpool 1/1 Draw 5/2 Arsenal 51/20

Plattner’s new JockGrant van Niekerk has been appointed first jockey to the

powerful Plattner Racing team handled by Andre Nel, writes Michael Clower.

Nel said on Tuesday: “Grant is a natural choice. he is very talented, he can ride all the weights and he has already done well for us. We will have first claim on him.”

Nel has 30 horses to race in cape Town during the coming winter season and, in addition, he is sending ten of his best ones to join his durban string. Van Niekerk will fly up to partner those that run in Group races. The stable also has 26 two-year-olds.

Van Niekerk said: “I am very happy to get the job. andre is a gentleman to ride for and he has some good horses. I went up there to work this morning and I rode a couple of nice ones. I think we will do well together.”

Van Niekerk, 25, replaces his great friend aldo domeyer who took over his job as first jockey to candice Bass-Robinson. he has been sidelined since met day by accumulated suspensions but says he will be back in action on march 11.

ApplicAtions close on 10 March 2017Please email CV’s to Odette Pretorius: odette.pretorius@hpc-office.com

All applications will be treated with the utmost confidentiality.

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