Brett Crawford Yard Back On A Bull Trend
Is He The First SA Trainer To Land A Jackpot Of Wins?
The Brett Crawford yard achieved the rare feat of a Jackpot of wins at Hollywoodbets Durbanville’s midweek meeting last Tuesday and as a whole the yard look to be on an upward cycle as they have some promising youngsters.
A jackpot of wins is achieved every now and then by jockeys, but it is hard to recall a trainer ever doing it.
Crawford said, “I have won four races at a meeting twice before, but can’t remember having won four consecutive races. It was cool to do it.”
Even when Justin Snaith won a reported world record eight races in a day on Met day in 2016, including the first six of the meeting, he did not do the Jackpot.
Crawford might have achieved a South African first.
The stalwart Cape trainer went last season without a Grade 1 win.
It was the first time the yard had not won at the highest level since the 2010/2011 season.
A sequence of ten successive seasons with a Grade 1 win, most of which contained multiple Grade 1 wins, was thus broken.
However, the youngsters in the yard have been putting up their hands and can get the trend chart going upward again.
On Saturday at Durbanville in a maiden over 1250m, Crawford introduced the Klawervlei Stud-bred Twice Over colt Champion Warrior.
This big colt has plenty of substance coupled with a good action and won with consummate ease despite being noticeably green throughout. He was only half-a-length clear at the line, but after showing a good turn of foot in the straight he was ridden hands and heels by Luyolo Mxothwa and was being eased at the line.
He is owned by a member of Mauritius’ most famous racing dynasty, the Gujadhur family.
Mr A Gujadhur chose him at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale and bought him for a mere R85,000 before sending him to Crawford.
The yard thought highly of the horse before this debut, although assistant trainer Barry Donnelly was concerned about the track. Durbanville is a fast and relatively tight track and Champion Warrior is a big, classy galloper.
Barry represented the yard on Saturday and said, “But the way he did it was mind-blowing, it has confirmed what we had thought about the horse.”
Twice Over continues to be a stallion of tremendous value. with his cover fee for 2021 having been just “R10,000 with no nom and R10,000 live foal fee”.
The horse who clinched the Jackpot for Crawford last week, the Varsfontein Stud-bred Querari colt At My Command, is also an exciting prospect.
He powered clear in his first handicap, over 1400m, to win by 2,25 lengths, despite facing older horses off a 98 merit rating.
“He won a very good race,” said Crawford.
That brings Klawervlei Stud-bred Gimmethegreenlight gelding Port Louis into the equation, because this Khaya Stables-owned gelding was beaten a head by At My Command over 1400m as a two-year-old and later beat At My Command when running second in the Grade 3 WSB Langerman over 1500m.
Another of Crawford’s jackpot winners last week, the Futura colt Le Morne, remained unbeaten in two starts when winning a Classified Stakes race over 1400m fluently in the famous Gujadhur light blue with a red chevron and cap colours. He is owned by Mr. T Gujadhur and JM Lim Fat.
Up in Johannesburg the AC Dickerson-bred Querari colt I Am Giant is a classy individual who was beaten by the tightness of the Turffontein Inside track over 1200m second time out. He was caught on the rail a bit far back and by the time his giant stride had been wound up to its full capacity the bird had flown. He was closing in for a 1,50 length second, a fine effort under any circumstance running off a 90 merit rating in just his second career start. More will be heard of this Laurence Wernars-owned colt, who won by a commanding three lengths on debut over 1200m.
The Drakenstein homebred filly Future Girl (Futura) won easily second time out over 1200m at the end of last season.
The Ridgemont Highlands-bred Alpine Challenge (What A Winter) won easily on debut as a young juvenile and, although a touch disappointing since then, this 90-rated sprinter could still improve.
Meanwhile, Zapatillas (Master Of My Fate) has recovered from the fetlock injury which saw him scratched from the Hollywoodbets Durban July and Crawford hopes to see him in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate and WSB Met. He is back in Cape Town.
Older horses who could earn more black type are Walk Of Fame (Dynasty) and Winchester Mansion (Trippi), among others.
4Racing Sectional Timing System Close To Delivery
Sectional timing should be functional at 4Racing jurisdiction’s soon.
The team who have been testing it only have one issue they are not happy with and that is the “latency”.
This means the data being received from the course is not reaching “the cloud” quickly enough and the time delay means the live graphic display of the horses’ race positions is a bit behind.
However, the devices being used are sitting in a Telkom lab being worked on and the interested parties are also doing what they can to solve it.
4Racing’s Stephen Watson is confident the issue will be sorted out and said once they had got over that hurdle the system should be up and running quickly.
He said they were happy with the integrity of the data which is being produced.
The public and the National Horseracing Authority (handicappers) will be provided with the data once the system is up and running.
Each horse has a saddle unit, so every horses’ time is recorded per section and there will also be data provided such as average speed and distance covered etc.
It will be up to the handicappers and form studiers to build patterns per distance from the data provided.
Those few in the country who take time to understand the merit rating system and the accompany handicapping have eked out an edge for themselves.
The sectional timing data has the potential to provide a further edge.
Galactic Path Gaining A Fan Club
The Piet Botha-trained Galactic Path provided a good case study second time out of what represents a good value bet.
Galactic Path on paper fitted the bill of a battler who had finally managed to exit the maidens.
However, a closer look showed him to be a giant of a horse who had filled out into his frame and was coming into his own.
He has duly reeled off a hattrick.
He relaxed well in midfield in the running in Saturday’s 2000m MR 74 Handicap event.
The four-year-old gelding was carrying 59kg off his 74 merit rating.
He went for a run down the inside in the straight.
His stride does not go at a great tempo and yet he overtook a few others and then drew away from his chief protagonist before holding on from a fast-finishing Nothingelsematters to win by 0,30 lengths.
That tells of a stride that is very long.
This Millstream Farm-bred Pathfork gelding is a half-brother to the three-year-old Corrie Lensley-trained filly Orarari Gold, who finished a 1,70 length fifth in the Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes before beating a classy field last time out over 1200m in a Graduation Plate at Turffontein Inside.
The good news for the connections of Galactic Path is that the WSB Cape Winter series next year is open to all ages.
He should continue to progress and being such a big horse will enjoy the more forgiving winter going in Cape Town.
Big Turnout Expected At Sean Tarry ‘Fast Track’ Sale
Former champion trainer is putting 60 horses up for sale in Randjesfontein
David Mollett
A large number of owners, trainers and bloodstock consultants are expected to converge on Randjesfontein training centre in Midrand on Friday for the Sean Tarry “Fast Track” Sale.‘’
A total of 60 horses are being offered by the former champion trainer with the sale commencing at 1pm.
With the new season only seven weeks old, owners and trainers will be trying to purchase well-bred three- and two-year-olds to represent them in the current campaign.
It seemed a good idea to ask Tarry if he could select six of the 60 horses which he expects to prove popular with buyers. Here — in lot order — are his choices:
Lot 7: Ecstatic Green: “This five-year-old mare is a four-time winner and should appeal to breeders,” said Tarry. She boasts a grade 2 win in the Debutante Stakes.
Lot 27: Victoria Paige: “Another well-performed mare breeders will be looking at. She’s done well for the stable with four wins and eight placings.”
Lot 30: Celtic Rumours: An unraced daughter of Vercingetorix whose progeny averaged R617,000 at the National Sales in April. This three-year-old is a half-sister to the six-time winner Sarah.
Lot 35: Green Sceptre: This three-year-old is a once-raced son of Gimmethegreenlight (National Sales average R703,000) and is bred in the purple being out of the five-time winning Captain Al mare, Fragrant Al.
Lot 37: Kambulu: An unraced three-year-old colt by Querari out of the Jet Master mare, Tigress. The German-bred sire has produced the grade 1 winners Rio Querari and Querari Falcon.
Lot 47: Time Fo Orchids: Sure to be huge interest in this three-year-old daughter of Time Thief because she tops the log for the R7.5m Gold Rush at Kenilworth on January 28. Her latest run was a seventh place finish behind Canadian Summer in the Thekilini Stakes at Hollywoodbets Greyville at the end of July, having earlier finished a one length third to Ameena in the Grade 2 Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper over 1400m.
Tarry also mentioned Fully Loaded, lot 34, an unraced three-year-old colt by Pomodoro out of the Dynasty mare Swift Sarah. “He cost R350,000 as a yearling and I see a lot of Dynasty in him — he looks progressive,” said Tarry.
Lot 14 is six-year-old Immeasurable. The gelding is ready to fire for a new owner as he finished a close second behind Boundless Bash in a race at HollywoodbetsGreyville on September 12.
Among the two-year-olds — many of whom have Gold Rush entries — a couple who catch the eye on pedigree are two of Pomodoro’s progeny, Lots 51 and 55.
Lot 51 is a colt who is the fourth produce of the five-time winning mare Eva Tibbs. The youngster is a half-brother to three-time winner Paisley Park.
Lot 55 is an early foal daughter of Pomodoro and the first produce of Safe Harbour who was placed a number of times in grade 1 races. The filly qualifies for Gold Rush 2.
Chennai Babe is another filly who enjoyed a successful career and Lot 50 is her second produce which is a colt by Pomodoro.
The progeny of William Longsword are proving popular at bloodstock sales and lot 52 is a two-year-old filly out of the grade 1 Golden Slipper winner, For The Lads.
The auctioneer will be Graeme Hawkins.
Belmont Winner Mo Donegal Retired to Spendthrift
Mo Donegal retires with four wins from seven starts and $1,511,800 in earnings.
By Eric Mitchell
Donegal Racing’s and Repole Stable’s Mo Donegal , the grade 1-winning millionaire by Uncle Mo, who captured the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) in June, has been retired from racing and will stand stud next year at Spendthrift Farm. His fee will be $20,000.
“It’s always exciting when you can acquire a stallion prospect of the caliber of Mo Donegal, and we are thankful to Jerry Crawford, Mike Repole, and the Donegal Racing partners for the opportunity,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift’s general manager. “It’s not often you can offer breeders a classic winner by an emerging sire of sires, which Uncle Mo appears to be. On top of that, Mo Donegal is very good-looking, comes from a brilliant and active family, was a 2-year-old graded stakes winner, and defeated some of the best from a pretty good crop of 3-year-olds this year. We expect him to be extremely popular, and we invite breeders to come out and see him.”
Mo Donegal exited his victory in the final leg of the Triple Crown with some bone bruising, and it was ultimately determined that the three-time graded stakes winner would be retired.
“The Donegal Racing partners and I could not be more proud of Mo Donegal and the special places he took us the last two seasons,” said Crawford, CEO of Donegal Racing. “The timing of the bone bruising was unfortunate and not going to allow us to make any of our target races for the remainder of the year. We felt the best decision was to retire him, and we are excited that he’ll get a wonderful opportunity to make a great stallion at a place like Spendthrift.”
Repole, who acquired an ownership stake in the son of his former stable star Uncle Mo earlier this year, said: “I was following Mo Donegal as a 2-year-old last year at Saratoga, because Todd (Pletcher) trained and liked him and, obviously, he’s a son of Uncle Mo. I was very impressed, and I got to watch him win the Remsen. He was a horse that had already got the mile-and-an-eighth as a 2-year-old, and I knew he would get better. He went on to win the Wood, which was amazing, and then he gave me the biggest thrill of my life, winning the Belmont Stakes. Mo Donegal is a beautiful son of Uncle Mo, and he beat some of the best—Zandon , my filly Nest , Early Voting . Just very impressive all around.”
Mo Donegal broke his maiden last year at Belmont before winning his first stakes in the Remsen Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct Racetrack in his next start, defeating eventual grade 1 winner Zandon.
This year at 3, he won the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2) over eventual Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Early Voting and graded winner Skippylongstocking , running 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.96—the fastest time recorded in the storied Kentucky Derby prep race since Bellamy Road’s 1:47.16 in 2005. Following a troubled fifth from the one-hole in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), Mo Donegal returned to New York to decisively win the Belmont by three lengths over three-time grade 1 winner Nest and three other graded winners, including Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike .
“The classic winners that come through our program will always be special to me, and Mo Donegal showed in his Belmont Stakes win what we have always thought of him,” said Pletcher. “We went into the (Kentucky) Derby this year with a lot of confidence, but the one-hole was just too much to overcome. Obviously, having trained Uncle Mo, it was nice for us to be able to campaign one of his best sons. Mo Donegal showed immense talent from the first time we breezed him at 2, and he’s always been a very classy, good-minded, good-looking colt. I’d have to imagine breeders will love him.”
Mo Donegal retires with earnings of $1,511,800, joining Darley’s Nyquist as Uncle Mo’s millionaire classic winners at stud. He is out of the Pulpit mare Callingmissbrown , a daughter of grade 1 winner and multiple stakes producer Island Sand . The immediate family also produced Queen’s Plate winner Niigon , who was the second-leading sire in Canada in 2012 and among the top 10 for multiple years.
Callingmissbrown has produced three winners from as many to race, including Mo Donegal’s half sister Prank (Into Mischief ) who won her racing debut July 31 at Saratoga Race Course by 9 3/4 lengths for Pletcher and the ownership group of StarLadies Racing, LNJ Foxwoods, and Gainesway Stable.
Another of Uncle Mo’s sons, Royal Mo, a Group 3 winner as a two-year-old, has made a promising start to his stud career at Klawervlei.
Captain Peg Tops RTR Log, Time Fo Orchids Still Gold Rush Topper
The Stuart Pettigrew-trained filly Captain Peg is now unbeaten in three starts after her cosy win in a handicap over 1450m at Turffontein Inside last week and she has gone to the top of the Cape Racing Sales Ready To Run log.
Time Fo Orchids stays on top of the Cape Racing Sales Gold Rush log.
Cape Racing Sales Ready To Run log:
Cape Racing Sales Gold Rush Log:
Baaeed In Fine Fettle Ahead Of October 15 Swansong
Multiple award winning photographer Edward Whittaker of the Racing Post took this superb shot of Baaeed working at Newmarket last Wednesday. The unbeaten superstar will have his 12th and final start in the Qipco Champion Stakes at Ascot on October 15.
Doubles For Bosch/Yeni And Double For Moodley
Dennis Bosch and Muzi Yeni combined for a double on the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly today.
Serino Moodley also rode a double.
Bosch has had eight winners this season at a strike rate of 18.60%.
Yeni goes to 35 winners for the season at a strike rate of 19.77% and he is just three winners of the pace being set by Keagan de Melo.
Moodley has had 12 winners at 16%.
Today’s Question
Gelding are not allowed to run in the Epsom Derby, which was at one-time known as the world’s most important stallion-producing race.
A recent Epsom hero became the first Derby winner to be gelded since the 1816 Derby winner Prince Leopold (picture above – wikipedia).
Who was he?
Hollywoodbets Durbanville Fields
Today’s Question Answer
The Aidan O’Brien-trained 2020 Derby winner Serpentine became the first Derby winner for more than 200 years to be gelded.
Melbourne Cup-mad owner Lloyd Williams acquired Serpentine from owner/breeders Coolmore last September and the horse was stabled with his dual Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Joseph O’Brien prior to travelling out to Macedon Lodge in Australia, where he is being trained by Robert Hickmott.
“One of the things we had to do when we got him, on veterinary advice, is he had to be gelded, which was unfortunate, but that’s the way it goes,” Nick Williams (Lloyd’s son) told Racing.com in March.
“A Derby winner, your first preference would be to leave him a colt, but it will certainly improve him as a racehorse, being a gelding, so we did that.”
Lloyd Williams has won the Melbourne Cup seven times.
His first win of Australia’s most famous race was back in 1981.
