David Mollett
When Cameron Smith won the Open Championship four weeks ago, the Australian said he couldn’t believe his name would be on the claret jug with such legends as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
When Paul Peter accepts the Trainers Championship trophy at the Equus awards on August 24, he’ll feel in an identical situation.
He’ll be joining SA turf legends such as Terrance Millard, Syd Laird and Mike De Kock.
That’s where the similarity ends as – while I’m sure his bank balance is very healthy – it will not be near that of Smith who banked $2,5 million (R32 million) for his four days graft at St Andrews.
Yes, Paul Peter will get his percentage of the stake money won by his stable this term which looks like being R23 million. One can applaud that achievement as Justin Snaith’s total was R16 million when winning the 2020/21 title.
But the days of Terrence Millard of yesteryear and Paul Peter of today are worlds apart. The difference is mainly with the media.
Back in the 1980’s when Millard ruled the roost, the contact between trainers (and jockeys for that matter) with members of the media was low key because they refused to divulge any worthwhile information.
I know this is a fact as – at that time – I was racing editor of the Rand Daily Mail and it was a struggle to fill two racing pages (yes, two!) and one often had to blow up a minor story into a big one.
I remember a UK racing scribe saying “well, you can’t have it as bad as us – like getting blood out of a stone to get a comment from Carson or Eddery.”
Fast forward to 2022 and the interview “Bonski” had with Paul Peter which was aired on Channel 240.
“Bonski’s” big asset is to get his subject to open up when many give guarded responses.
The best line he extracted from the new champion trainer was this “I love my staff and I love my horses. We all love animals and it’s important to have a happy horse.”
There is proof of this in the fact that the stable doesn’t have many horses who give trouble at the start which results in them being scratched. This isn’t the case with many other thoroughbreds who with their ears flat back, kicking out frantically signal the racetrack is the last place they’d like to be, thank-you very much.
Perhaps the Peter horses are happy because they’re well fed. In an early interview he said “don’t be shy to feed well”.
In “Bonski’s” interview, Paul singled out his son, Tony, for special praise. “He’s the guy who runs the show when I’m away.”
Rather like Cameron Smith beating the hot favourite Rory McIlroy, at the kick-off to the 2021/22 season, Paul wasn’t expected to trouble the big yards of Justin Snaith and Sean Tarry.
“To beat Sean’s total (215) is really something, I had big shoes to fill.”
When Paul was granted his license in 2010, he would probably be the first to say he was a racing fan but with no great knowledge of horses so it was a question of following one of Gary Player’s many notable quotes.
Gary said: “To succeed in life one must have determination and must be prepared to suffer during the process. If one isn’t prepared to suffer during adversities, I don’t really see how he can be successful.”
It’s pretty certain that in those early training days, Peter had his share of adversities but he made a decision which may have been as important as any in his life – he got James Maree to teach him the ropes working as an assistant to the talented horseman.
Paul is on record as saying “James has the best eye for a horse in South Africa.” Hard to argue with that, but my vote would go to Lynton Ryan.
So – now Paul has got his hands on SA racing’s claret jug – will he be able to keep the momentum going and make it back-to-back championships?
The fact one feels this is more a probability than a possibility is that new owners seem to be joining the yard with some regularity.
Justin Snaith’s owners band is arguably the strongest in the country and he’s poised to make a determined challenge to reverse the tables in the new campaign.
He has an easier task than Sean Tarry whose 2021/22 stake earnings were R8 million less than Paul Peter.
If it’s hats off to Paul Peter, we must give the same gesture to Warren Brian Kennedy, champion jockey for the second time following his success in 2019/20.
Last season Lyle Hewitson was champion with 264 winners – 42 year-old Warren finished one behind on 263.
Warren – “I ride the good and the bad, no matter what” – has simply been a credit to his profession.
Much more mildly spoken than many of his colleagues, he has given his best and this best often proves good enough.
It would be interesting to know how many of the 200 plus winners saddled by Paul Peter were ridden by Warren, but the duo couldn’t have written a better script than victory in the Marshalls Gold Cup.
Unfortunately, Shangani snared this writer’s 40-1 tip, Imperial Ruby. With 100m to run, I looked set for the biggest win of my career!
Picture: Paul Peter with his wife Marcel and owner MK “Koos” Nkale
