Charity Mile – After The Rain Will Be Thrown In
After The Rain is fast becoming KZN’s most popular horse, such is his eyecatching white coat and obvious zest for racing, and trainer Gareth van Zyl also revealed he was a gentle giant and “as kind as a lamb”.
Last Saturday he showed how good he is when only just failing to reel in the classy William Robertson in the Grade 2 Topbet Mike O’Connor Jo’burg Spring Challenge over 1450m at Turffontein, despite having faced him on weight for age terms.
That meant he was a whopping 10,5kg under sufferance with William Robertson according to official merit ratings.
However, the specific conditions of that race do not permit any increase to the rating of any horse other than the winner.
After The Rain thus remains on 104 and will be potentially well in when next running in a handicap.
That handicap might well be the Grade 2 Allied Steelrode – Onamission Charity Mile.
That race has a benchmark of 106 for 52kg, meaning After The Rain will come in officially 1kg under sufferance, but on his Spring Challenge run he could arguably be 9kg well in.
He travelled back to Summerveld after the Spring Challenge and Van Zyl said, “The Charity Mile is the logical choice, although travelling up there twice in a month is not ideal.”
Van Zyl revealed, “He is the most competitive horse I have seen. He changes completely in a race as he just loves to compete.”
He added, “He has not been straight forward to train as he does not have an economical action. However, he has not had issues for quite a while, although knowing him helps a lot. He pounds the ground hard on his off fore but the bones on the fetlock have now been remodelled (the bones form a structure to compensate for the repetitive pounding).”
He continued, “He is only shod for his races, he trains without shoes. This is because he hits himself quite hard in various places. he actually works with five boots on, (the one leg has two), otherwise he interferes with himself quite drastically. This happens worse when working on heavy sand than when going full speed in a race, although I did bandage all four legs in his last race.”
He added, “He pushes well from behind and has a big stride, I wouldn’t say it is an exceptionally long stride, but he is comfortable to be on and every jockey who has ridden him has said he has enjoyed riding him, he leaves an impression.”
His grey coat is so faded he is now white and he is a joy to watch.
That difficult to describe strid, in which his hooves are lifted unusually high, tells the story of a horse who is going about his task with great enthusiasm.
Van Zyl said, “He is not going as hard in the running as he had done previously. In the Queen’s Plate Muzi was unable to hold him and you can’t sprint for a mile, you have to save something for the finish. He has improved in that way and ridden with a little bit of restraint is finishing better.”
Being such a big, strong horse the rider would not be able to hold him if he was not responsive.
So he clearly was responsive on Saturday, because after going straight to the lead, as usual, and then being overtaken in the straight by the impressive acceleration of William Robertson, who went two lengths clear, he fought back and only just failed, losing by a quarter of a length.
The average horse weighs about 470kg, a big horse weight 500kg and After The Rain weighs 570kg.
“I train him lean so do not overfeed him,” said Van Zyl. “Otherwise he will be too heavy on his legs.”
With his kind nature nothing would suggest After the Rain was still an entire.
Owners Graeme and VJ Palmer have not had him gelded as they would like to race some of his offspring, although they are not considering standing him commercially.
There have in fact been one or two offers to stand him as a stallion, both for thoroughbred and warmblood purposes.
However, the Palmers already have a filly lined up for him and, interestingly, she is also a grey.
Meanwhile, Gareth is planning to send eleven horses down to Cape Town.
He will be hoping to qualify Captainofthegreen (Gimmethegreenlight) for the Cape Racing Ready To Run.
He is also hoping some of the three-year-olds will progress into feature contenders.
However, he said with the incentives put in place by Cape Racing there was nothing to lose and they would otherwise run in lower division handicaps.
Gareth is the current KZN Champon trainer and he said, “I would not have been able to do it without the support of my faithful clients or without my family, my wife Kirsten and son and daughter Dallin and Gracie-Lee.”
He has had ten winners this season in KZN and is three off the pace being set by form champion Garth Puller in his bid to retain his title.
Futura Colts Impress At Hollywoodbets Durbanville
Brett Crawford trained Futura to the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate/Met double before Justin Snaith got one more Grade 1 out of him, so it was fitting those two respective trainers each sent out a Futura colt to win in impressive fashion at Hollywoodbets Durbanville today.
Crawford could have a classic colt on his hands with Le Morne, who is now unbeaten in three starts.
Today he ran off an 88 merit rating carrying 60kg in a MR 74 Handicap over 1400m and he won cosily.
He was only 0,4 lengths in front of dogged four-year-old Tizona (William Longsword) at the line, but Louis Mxothwa had already eased him.
Le Morne runs in Mauritius racing’s most famous colours, the light blue, red chevron and cap of the Gujadhur family.
He is owned by T Gujadhur and JM Lim Fat and was bred by Maine Chance Farms.
It would be no surprise to him lining up in the Grade 3 Cape Classic on October 22
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE REPLAY OF HIS WIN TODAY
Earlier the Snaith-trained Future Swing came from a handy position to annihilate a maiden field over 1600m by 3,25 lengths under Richard Fourie.
Future Swing cruises to an easy victory today (Wayne Marks).
He had already earned a merit rating of 85 by finishing close up in his first three starts.
He races in the French grey with violet cap colours of Ravi Naidoo, who owns him in partnership with his breeders Drakenstein Stud and Mrs PA Isdell.
He could also be Cape Classic bound, although he proved today he prefers further than 1400m.
Godolphin Make Frankel Colt The Year’s Most Expensive Yearling At 2,800,000gns
Sales correspondent James Thomas reports from Book 1 at Tattersalls (Racing Post)
Watership Down Stud’s Frankel colt out of So Mi Dar bore more than a passing resemblance to his sire and marched into the Park Paddocks ring with an accordingly sizeable reputation on day two of Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale.
The blue-blooded youngster lived up to his star-billing by drawing a bid of 2,800,000gns from Godolphin, a price that makes him the most expensive yearling sold anywhere in the world this year.
Godolphin had rather had the run of things at the head of the market during the opening session, with a 6,025,000gns spend including a hat-trick of seven-figure lots. However, Lane’s End Farm’s Bill Farish was determined not to let Sheikh Mohammed’s operation have everything their own way as some strong bidding tactics were deployed from the right of Edmond Mahony’s rostrum.
A series of 100,000gns increases were delivered with sharp nods of the head and each time Godolphin responded Farish fired back almost immediately. But when a bid of 2,800,000gns was signalled by the spotter next to the parade ring, Farish took a long, despondent look at the bid board over his left shoulder. After a brief exchange with bloodstock agent David Ingordo there was a clear shake of the head and the hammer came down.
“Obviously he’s got a stallion’s pedigree as he’s by Frankel out of a very good Dubawi mare,” said Anthony Stroud after signing for Godolphin’s fourth seven-figure purchase of the sale. “This is one of Watership Down’s best families so he was the jewel in the crown. Needless to say, he’s an extremely nice horse.
“The price was more than I anticipated but Watership Down do a great job and David Ingordo and Bill Farish are strong opposition. He’s an outstanding horse and he’s very valuable if he’s a good racehorse.”
The transaction represented something of a reversal of fortunes for Farish, whose Woodford Racing outfit secured So Mi Dar’s Sea The Stars colt for 1,200,000gns through Charlie Gordon-Watson at last year’s renewal of Book 1.
So Mi Dar won the Group 3 Musidora Stakes during her time in training and also ran third to Speedy Boarding in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera. She is not only by Dubawi but out of dual Group 1 heroine Dar Re Mi, meaning she is a sister to champion two- and three-year-old Too Darn Hot and Lah Ti Dar, winner of the Middleton Stakes and dam of the 880,000gns Siyouni filly bought by Shadwell on Tuesday.
The Frankel colt out of So Mi Dar in the Park Paddocks ring on Wednesday (Laura Green)Godolphin have been involved with the family before as not only does Too Darn Hot now stand at Dalham Hall Stud but Dar Re Mi is out of Watership Down’s foundation mare Darara, making her a half-sister to the star-crossed Rewilding, who won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and Dubai Sheema Classic for Sheikh Mohammed.
Darara, a Prix Vermeille-winning half-sister to Darshaan, joined the Lloyd Webber’s broodmare band at a cost of IR470,000gns in 1994.
“It’s an extraordinary thing when you have a horse like that and he fulfils everything you want from him,” said Simon Marsh, general manager of Watership Down. “He’s been an exceptional individual all his life, but these things don’t happen by accident.
“There are an enormous amount of people involved in getting him here, from Terry [Doherty, stud manager], who’s been with us for 30 years, to Conor [Chapman, assistant stud manager], who led the horse up, and Donna [Vowles], who is our manager in Ireland, and all the feed people and the farriers.
“All these people have to come together to be able to get the horse here today. For him to do what he’s done is amazing and we’re all absolutely delighted. It’s an incredible family and we’ve been incredibly lucky.”
Expanding on what’s in store for the family, Marsh added: “Frankel is the one and So Mi Dar’s got a lovely filly foal by him. She’s back in foal to Frankel, Lah Ti Dar is in foal to Frankel, there’s another mare in the family and she’s called Darlectable You and she’s in foal to Frankel too.
“There’s a lot going on in the family. It’s amazing when you get involved in these families and they just keep going. We’re actually going to send Darlectable You to Gun Runner in America, which will be an interesting way to get some new blood into the family.”
Coolmore clean up with Broome sibling
It took 2,400,000gns for Coolmore to outmuscle Godolphin a few lots later when Croom House Stud offered the three-parts sibling to Broome and Point Lonsdale.
Another by Frankel, the colt is out of Denis Brosnan’s superb producer Sweepstake, whose five winners are headed by Broome, who struck in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, and Group 2 Futurity Stakes winner Point Lonsdale, both of whom are by Australia.
MV Magnier, who signed alongside Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm, said: “Denis Brosnan is a very good breeder and we’ve had a lot of luck buying horses off him in the past. Everybody knows how well Frankel is doing at the moment and we’ve had the two brothers before and they’re two very good horses, so let’s hope this lad is as good.
“To be fair to Sweepstake she’s always bred very good-looking horses and the three of them are all pretty flashy animals and they’re all fairly similar types. With those sons of Galileo it’s not just Frankel, Churchill has gone to a new level as well, Australia is flying and Gleneagles too.”
Lot 238: the Frankel colt out of Sweepstake sells for 2,400,000gns (Laura Green)Sweepstake won two races during her time on the track with Richard Hannon, most notably the Listed National Stakes, before she made the switch to America. She joined the broodmare band of Brosnan’s Epona Bloodstock in 2011, when she was sourced at the Keeneland November Sale at a cost of $280,000. Her yearlings have now brought 4,250,000gns in Tattersalls yearling receipts.
The daughter of Acclamation’s pedigree goes back to Galaxie Dust, ancestress of Tyranny, who in turn produced the Epona Bloodstock-bred Zoffany and Rostropovich.
“Sweepstake has been very good to us,” said Brosnan. “She was originally bought by Peter Doyle and trained by Richard Hannon before she was sold to America, where we went and bought her. The reason we bought her was because we had all these names [Tyranny and her offspring] breeding.
“There were an awful lot of bidders on this colt up to to two million. We’ve sold a mare here before for 2,400,000gns, Sumora, in 2011. It’s nice to walk away from the ring with that price again.”
Another for Knight
The Lope De Vega half-sister to Battaash became the latest seven-figure acquisition made by Richard Knight as the agent went to 1,800,000gns for the Ballyphilip Stud-bred youngster. Celebrity chef Bobby Flay filled the role of underbidder, with Joseph Burke and Kia Joorabchian of Amo Racing among those involved earlier on.
“I thought she was probably the pick of the fillies in the sale,” said Knight. “She’s very racy and obviously she’s by a top stallion and a half-sister to Battaash, she just ticked so many boxes.
“She’s a gorgeous physical, she’s very athletic and I’m just delighted to get her. She’ll stay in Britain and a trainer will be decided at a later stage. She’s for an undisclosed client.”
Although the identity of Knight’s high-rolling client remains a mystery, the agent confirmed his recent headline-grabbing purchases have all been made on behalf of the same owner. His haul includes the €2.6m sister to Blackbeard who topped the Goffs Orby Sale and six purchases at Keeneland totalling $4.875m.
Expanding on his recent activities, Knight said: “It’s been fantastic. When we go into most sales we have a smaller budget and one or two horses might drop onto the list and they’re the ones we buy. In the last few weeks it’s been a fantastic opportunity to go and buy the ones we really want to buy.
“It’s been thoroughly enjoyable but I’ve found it very strong today. I really liked the Frankel filly from Newsells earlier, but we put a value on everything and if they go over budget we stop.”
The filly was bred by Ballyphilip Stud from Anna Law, an unplaced daughter of Lawman whose siblings include Champagne Stakes winner Etlaala and Bird Key, dam of Tasleet. Anna Law’s two-year-old The Antarctic brought a significant update to the pedigree when the brother to Battaash won the Group 3 Prix de Cabourg.
Despite Anna Law having cost Paul McCartan a scarcely believable 14,000gns back in 2012, her progeny have now generated 3,730,000gns in Tattersalls yearling receipts.
“She’s an absolute beauty,” McCartan said of the Lope De Vega filly. “I think the nicest filly we’ve ever had. I always said Ladies First was, she was very good to me as well, but this one was especially nice. The mare is a beauty as well.
“I wish Richard Knight all the best with her and I hope she’s very lucky for her connections.”
Yahagi chasing Arc dream with 1,600,000gns Dubawi
Leading Japanese trainer Yoshito Yahagi has already plundered one European auction this year having bought the Siyouni brother to Sottsass who topped the Arqana August Sale at €2.1 million, and he was back in action at Tattersalls on Wednesday as he went to 1,600,000gns for the Dubawi colt out of Willow View offered by the Cumanis’ Fittocks Stud.
Bred by Merry Fox Stud, the colt is a sibling to four winners, notably Digital Age, who won the Grade 1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic for Chad Brown, and Acer Alley, who claimed the Group 3 Prix la Rochette in the Merry Fox silks.
“He looked just like Dubawi, he has many of the sire’s best attributes,” Yahagi said through his interpreter. “This is my first Dubawi, he will now come back to Japan.”
When asked what had prompted this year’s European talent search, Yahagi said with a smile: “Because I want to win the Arc!”
Willow View is an unraced Lemon Drop Kid half-sister to Cursory Glance and the further reaches of the pedigree have already worked out in Japan, with Grade 3 Chunichi Sports Hai Musashino Stakes winner Incantation back beneath the fourth dam.
Another Frankel falls to Coolmore
The sibling to Broome was Magnier’s second seven-figure purchase of the session as earlier in the day he had given 1,500,000gns when Newsells Park Stud presented the Frankel filly out of Shambolic.
The likes of Oliver St Lawrence and Richard Knight were among those who drove the price into seven-figure territory, but Juddmonte Farms’ Simon Mockridge eventually filled the runner-up spot.
“She’s a very nice filly and Frankel is doing very well as a sire,” said Magnier. “In fairness to Newsells Park they’ve always been very good breeders and I’d like to wish the new owner, Graham Smith-Bernal, the best of luck.
“They deserved to make a good price when they’ve bred a filly like this as she’s got a lot of quality. It’s a really good result for the co-breeder, Craig Bennett from Merry Fox Stud, too.”
The filly is the first foal out of Shambolic, a winning and Listed-placed daughter of Shamardal whose career-best effort came when runner-up to Maqsad in the Pretty Polly Stakes.
There is bold black type beneath the filly’s second dam as Shambolic is a half-sister to Hong Kong champion Viva Pataca, winner of no fewer than eight Group 1s, and Laughing, who also won a brace of top-level contests.
The result rewarded a bold investment in 2019, when Hadden Bloodstock added Shambolic to the Newsells Park herd at a cost of 800,000gns when she was offered through Highclere.
Torquator Tasso Retired After Third-place Arc Finish
RacingTv.com
Torquator Tasso has been retired to stud following his gallant effort in defence of his Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe crown.
The Marcel Weiss-trained colt was a shock winner of the 2021 renewal at ParisLongchamp, yet from an unpromising draw in stall 18 on Sunday, he got within three-quarters of a length of Alpinista, finishing third under Frankie Dettori.
Though connections had not ruled out a possible crack at the Japan Cup, the decision was made on Tuesday that the five-year-old would be retired to the owners’ stud at Gestut Auenquelle.
Weiss confirmed: “We are grateful that he enjoyed such an outstanding career and that he has come back safe and sound. We always said he would retire if he ran well.”
Reflecting on his fast-finishing third in the Arc, Weiss added: “Frankie could not go forward too fast, otherwise Tasso would not have anything left at the end of the race.
“He rode exactly according to plan and did everything right.
“He is the horse of a lifetime and deserves a long and happy career at stud.”
The triple Group One winner, who finished runner-up to Pyledriver in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Ascot earlier this season, won six of his 16 career starts and earned over £3.7million in prize money, making him the highest-earning German horse in history.
Christophe Soumillon Sacked By Major Owner Aga Khan After Pushing Rival Jockey Off Horse
Mirror.co.uk
Aga Khan Studs has ceased their retainer with Christophe Soumillon with immediate effect. The jockey was banned for 60 days for pushing Rossa Ryan off his horse in a race at Saint-Cloud
ByMelissa Jones
Christophe Soumillon has been sacked by the Aga Khan after the jockey pushed a rival out of the saddle.
The top owner made the announcement in a statement on Tuesday morning, four days after the incident at Saint-Cloud.
Soumillon caused widespread discontent in the industry when he elbowed Rossa Ryan in a race and he fell. The rider was fortunate not to be seriously injured – and Soumillon was handed a 60-day ban.
But as it only starts from October 14, the 41-year-old was free to ride at the prestigious Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe over the weekend.
During the meeting in his native France, Soumillon rode one of the Aga Khan’s horses to win the Group 2 Qatar Prix Daniel Wildenstein. Erevann’s success on Saturday was followed by Vadeni’s second for the owner in the big race, the Arc, on the following day.
The statement released by the Aga Khan Studs said: “Following last Friday’s incident at Saint-Cloud, which resulted in the fall of Rossa Ryan, the Aga Khan Studs have taken the decision to cease their retainer with jockey Christophe Soumillon with immediate effect.
“From this week onwards, Soumillon may still ride in the Aga Khan silks on occasion at the discretion of the French trainers and the Aga Khan Studs team.
“At this stage, there is no intention to retain a jockey in France for the foreseeable future.”
Soumillon had apologised for the incident and said he had not intended to make Ryan fall.
The Frenchman was appointed the Aga Khan’s retained rider in 2014, following a previous run in the well-known green silks from 2002 to 2009.
The Aga Khan’s daughter Princess Zahra Aga Khan had previously called the incident “an unconscionable, unthinkable thing to happen.”
She said the team had planned to hold talks with the jockey on Monday,
“It was a very difficult thing to watch and it’s very lucky that nobody got hurt,” she added.
France Galop, the sport’s governing body, pledged to revisit the rules to allow future bans to kick in immediately.
Fourie/Snaith Treble, Crawford Treble, Mxothwa Double, De Melo Double
Richard Fourie rode a treble for Justin Snaith today at Hollywoodbets Durbanville.
Brett Crawford also scored a treble and two of them were ridden by Louis Mxothwa.
Keagan de Melo scored a double to remain well clear in the national jockeys championship.
He has now ridden 57 winners this season at a strike rate of 23.75% and is 12 clear of second-placed Muzi Yeni.
Fourie has ridden 19 winners at a strike rate of 16.96%.
Mxothwa has ridden 27 winners at 19.71%.
Snaith leads the national trainers championship with stakes earnings of R2,070,625.00 and he has also had the most winners, 26 at a strike rate of 11.66%.
Brett Crawford has had 22 winners at 18.18% and is in fifth place in the championship with earnings of R1,297,550.00.
Today’s Question
Who said this in 1996 to the Sporting Life, “The most common reason for horses getting beaten is trainer error, but it is seldom reported, thank God.
He also said, “A happy trainer is a bad trainer; the worse the trainer the happier he is – because he hasn’t noticed what’s going wrong.”
Picture credit: training.arioneo.com
Vaal Classic Fields
Today’s Question Answer
Those two statements were made by Sir Mark Prescott, who won The Arc at the age of 74 on Sunday with five-year-old mare Alpinista.
Sir Prescott demands high standards and champion jockey Seb Sanders revealed he only once arrived late for work in the mornings when jockey to Prescott (he was five minutes late) because the guv’nor’s reaction was unprintable and he only once arrived in the morning with stubble on his chin.
