John Motaung, Humberto Garcia-Olivera, and Marcel Pillay of Sequel Bloodstock (Picture: Paulick Report)

John Motaung Formerly Of Summerhill Stud Broke In The Kentucky Derby Winner

He Also Broke In Equus Horse Of The Year Igugu

Kabelo Nkoane tweeted, “A nice story is that a guy who broke-in Mage is the same guy who broke in Igugu. His name is John Motaung from Pinetown (Durban). He is my friend working at Sequel stud in Florida. He was working at Summerhill. We were on the same class at School of Excellence.”

John and former South African apprentice jockey and assistant trainer Marcel Pillay were in the news last year when a Sequel colt fetched a record price at a sale.

The below article about that occasion gives a good picture of what this pair of Summerhill Stud School of Excellence graduates have been up to.

‘I’m Over The Moon’: The Hands Behind Sequel Bloodstock’s Record-Setting Colt At Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale

by Joe Nevills|05.24.2022|5:59pm (Paulick Report)

From the moment he crossed the Maryland State Fairgrounds finish line and the timer blinked “:9.4” during the under-tack show, the focus of this year’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale had been the future of Hip 385, the Bernardini colt that set the blazing time.

That future became much clearer on Tuesday, when the colt hammered to Zedan Racing for $3.55 million, almost twice as much as anyone ever paid for a horse in the auction’s history. It was a crowning moment for the Sequel Bloodstock team, the consignment responsible for the colt’s past and present, on behalf of breeders and longtime clients Chester and Mary Broman.

“I can’t even explain it,” said John Motaung, co-manager and rider at Sequel’s training base at Winding Oaks Farm in Ocala, Fla. “This is my first time doing this kind of sale for such a nice horse like him. I’m over the moon.”

The colt, named Berning Remarks, arrived at Winding Oaks as a yearling in August 2021 to begin his under-saddle training after growing up in New York.

Marcel Pillay, a rider with Sequel, was tasked with getting the colt started under tack, and he said it took some time for him to zero in on his new job.

“It wasn’t easy at the start,” he said. “He wasn’t good to break in, but he learned quick, and from there, it was easy.

“He was straightforward, but also very fresh,” Pillay continued. “He was a very happy horse. You just have to relax when you’re on them, and they come back to you.”

Pillay brought with him a deep well of global experience to get Berning Remarks acclimated to his new job. A native of South Africa, Pillay started out as an apprentice jockey in his home country before moving his tack to Australia for a year. He returned to South Africa to enroll in Summerhill Stud’s School of Equine Management Excellence and work as an assistant trainer before being recruited by Sequel to move stateside.

The South African connection with Berning Remarks continued with Motaung, who started working with horses at 18 as a groom at Summerhill Stud, where the horses with his fingerprints included South African Horse of the Year Igugu.

That led him to a stint at Godolphin’s Gainsborough Farm in Kentucky which later, between trips home, led him to first work with Becky Thomas of Sequel Bloodstock for five months in 2008. He took courses at Summerhill’s School of Equine Management Excellence and the English National Stud – the latter of which he graduated as the top practical student – and he served as riding master of the South African Jockey Academy.

Motaung said the colt started showing flashes of his potential in January, when he put together the physical and mental aspects of his job.

“The babies sometimes don’t tell you exactly what they’re going to be like,” he said. “Sometimes, they can surprise you. He was one of those horses that was sometimes a little bit fresh, but once you put him on the track, he straightened out. Through all the pre-training on him, he was a lovely horse to work with. I can’t find any fault with what he did ahead of the sale.”

Neither rider was in the saddle when Berning Remarks set the track ablaze over an eighth of a mile in :9 4/5 seconds during the under-tack show. They knew they had a fast horse, but having one fast enough to clock the sale’s fastest time at the distance was a surprise, even to them.

“It just looked like wind was passing,” Pillay said. “We felt the breeze on the other side.”

After the breeze show, the attention of every buyer with a serious bankroll snapped their attention to Sequel’s consignment in Barns G and H. That’s when Sequel’s sales and yearling prep manager Humberto Garcia-Olivera got busy.

Garcia-Olivera was on the end of the shank every time Berning Remarks came out of the barn, which by his count was over 100 times. For a horse with that many potential dollars riding on him, he was the full-time showman.

“Always,” Motaung said with a laugh.

A native of Mexico, Garcia-Olivera got his start in the industry in 2005, working in Kentucky with WinStar Farm and Castleton Lyons before turning his focus to the sales. He’s worked under the Sequel banner for five years.

Garcia-Olivera praised the colt for his mind from the first times they started working together last year. For any “it” horse at a sale, though, the task of keeping them fresh and focused on their task through show after show requires a steady, patient hand on the shank leather.

“The horse is quick, and if you’re loose with the shank, he’s going [to move], so we try to make him relax,” he said. “You talk to the horses. If you settle down, the horse will settle down.”

Garcia-Olivera’s smile was infectious after the colt hammered for a record total. When the Sequel team gathered around the Berning Remarks for a group picture in the aftermath, Garcia-Olivera’s arm was wrapped around the colt’s neck, and his head was tucked between the horse’s cheek and his neck, his grin still beaming as much as it did when the horse left the ring.

“I’ve worked with many consignors, but never sold a horse for that much, so it’s very exciting for me,” he said.

The expectations are going to be sky-high for Berning Remarks when he hits the racetrack, between the ability he showed on the track and the historic price he commanded in the ring. After nine months together, the Sequel team was confident he could live up to it.

“I just wish him to do well in the future,” Motaung said. “I want to see him doing well on the racetrack. I know he’s going to do well, because he ‘s a nice, quiet horse. It’s nice to work with him, so I’m not scared to say that.”

Winchester Mansion won the Grade 3 WSB Pocket Power Stakes over 2400m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth last season. (Picture Wayne Marks)

Winchester Mansion An Interesting WSB 1900 Runner

The Brett Crawford-trained Trippi four-year-old Winchester Mansion will have his first run after a four month layoff and gelding in the Grade 2 WSB 1900.

He has been training for this race at Randjesfontein under James Crawford’s care.

Brett said Winchester Mansion had been working well and had improved with gelding.

That makes him a most interesting runner for the WSB 1900 because on his last run in the Grade 2 Anthonij Rupert Wyne Premier Trophy over 1800m he is a whopping 9,5kg better off with Rascallion for a 2,35 length beating.

Furthermore, he has landed a plum draw of two.

He will be ridden by Kabelo Matsunyane.

Pacaya is another interesting runner as the best has likely not been seen of this four-year-old, who is also a gelding by Trippi.

Interestingly, he has never been this far despite being out of Grade 1 SA Oaks winner Ash Cloud.

He flew up to beat Quasiforsure over 1600m last time out on Splashout Cape Derby day, although the latter was eased before the line which cost him the race.

However, that race showed Pacaya is on the up and ready to show his potential.

He also has a good draw of four.

Rascallion, Aragosta and Litigation make appeal as others who will make a bold bid.

The field for Saturday’s Grade 2 WSB 1900 at Hollywoodbets Greyville:

1	1	Raiseahallelujah	52	100	A	Athandiwe Mgudlwa	Candice Dawson
2	2	Winchester Mansion	52	99	CA	Kabelo Matsunyane	Brett Crawford
3	3	Rascallion	62	122	A	Corne Orffer	Vaughan Marshall
4	4	Pacaya	54	104	A	Richard Fourie	Justin Snaith
5	5	Aragosta	58	116	A	Craig Zackey	Mike de Kock
6	6	Electric Gold	52	104	A	Muzi Yeni	Tony Peter
7	7	Litigation	58	112	T A	Gavin Lerena	Sean Tarry
8	8	Indlamu	52	99	A	Keagan de Melo +0.5	Sean Tarry
9	9	Quasiforsure	56	110	A	Tristan Godden	Peter Muscutt
10	10	Cape Eagle	52	99	A	Sean Veale	Andre Nel
11	11	One Way Traffic	56	110	A	Grant van Niekerk	Justin Snaith
12	12	Flying Bull	54	103	A	S’manga Khumalo	Glen Kotzen
Same Trainer
(4,11) (7,8)

Betting with the sponsor:

Pacaya 3/1, Quasiforsure 3/1, Rascallion 11/2, Cape Eagle 8/1, One Way Traffic 8/1, Aragosta 9/1, Winchester Mansion 12/1, Flying Bull 16/1, Litigation 22/1, Electric Gold 28/1, Indlamu 30/1, Raiseahallelujah 35/1

One of South Africa’s biggest buyers at thoroughbred sales, Suzette Viljoen, confers with Chris Snaith.

High-profile Yearlings And Broodmares At Cape Winter Sale

The catalogue for the Cape Racing Mixed Winter Sale, scheduled for 16 June at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth, has been published online. The Sale incorporates the Mare & Weanling Sale (originally planned for 12 June) and the Cape Winter Yearling Sale into a varietal, prioritised one-day auction.

A number of high-profile stud farms are represented at the Winter Sale, including the National Top 6 Drakenstein Stud, Wilgerbosdrift, Klawervlei, Ridgemont Highlands, Maine Chance and Varsfontein, and most will present lots at both the yearling and broodmare auctions.

It follows that selected progeny of South Africa’s six leading sires will come under the hammer on the yearling side – the names of Gimmethegreenlight (2 lots), What A Winter (7), Vercingetorix (2), Master Of My Fate (6), Querari and Trippi (1 apiece) all appear in the catalogue, alongside the leading freshmen Fire Away (4) and Lancaster Bomber (1), new stallion One World (7) and the established Rafeef (2), Flower Alley (4) and William Longsword (8).

On the broodmare sale, there are daughters of the current log-leaders Captain Al (4), Jet Master (3), Silvano (3), Western Winter and Trippi (5 apiece) and VAR (2). All were covered during the latter part of 2022 and will pass through the ring alongside a number of beautifully-bred others, including Louvre (Doowaley), the dam of recent G1 Horse Chestnut And G2 Drill Hall Stakes winner Trip To Fortune, and covered by What A Winter. A notable among recently raced fillies and mares is the speedy Alula’s Star (Red Ray), a G3 winner, not yet covered.

The sale will commence at 11:00 am and is comprised of 175 lots to be sold in the following order: yearlings, followed by mares, and then weanlings.

Justin Vermaak, Cape Racing’s Racing Operations and Bloodstock Executive, commented: “Combining the sales dates into a one-day auction makes more sense than dragging it all out over the week. We will auction off the yearlings first, allowing breeders to evaluate their sales, before going into the breeding stock section of the auction. We have entries of particularly high standard and representation from some of the country’s top breeders.”

CLICK HERE or go to www.caperacingsales.co.za/sale/2023-mws/ to view the catalogue.

For sale related queries, please contact:

Justin Vermaak (justin@caperacing.co.za)

or Robyn Collyer (robyn@caperacing.co.za)

ENDS.

Make It Snappy is unlikely to run again this season (Picture: Wayne Marks).

Make It Snappy In Limbo

Brett Crawford has dual Grade 1 winner Make It Snappy in light work at present but is not quite sure what her immediate future is.

He believes the connections might be waiting to see whether the export protocols will change after the recent audit was done by the European Union.

Devin Heffer of the Hollywood Syndicate, who lease Make It Snappy, said, “If the Breeders Cup is a possibility we will definitely go.”

The hope is that the completed audit will be given a positive assessment and lead to easier travel.

The Dynasty filly looks unlikely to run again this season and if not heading for the Breeders Cup will likely be saved for next season’s Cape Racing’s Summer Festival Of Racing.

Canadian Summer is being given time off at present to recover from a small injury (Picture: Candiese Lenferna).

Canadian Summer Being Given Time To Recover From Small Injury

Summerveld trainer Darryl Moore is giving his Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes winner Canadian Summer some time off.

He said, “She picked up a small injury and was we are just staying on the conservative side by giving her some time.”

He said he did not think she would be ready in time for the Grade 1 Woolavington 2000 on May 27.

The Oratorio filly has never gone further than 1600m before.

However, she has won both of her starts over 1600m and her dam won twice over 1600m. Her dam is by stamina influence Silvano, so she might get further, but the mostg obvious target for her is the Grade 1 Garden Province Stakes over 1600m on Hollywoodbets Durban July day, July 1.

A stepping stone race into the Garden Province could be the Grade 2 Tibouchina Stakes over 1400m on June 10, presuming she will be able to get ready in time.

Trip Of Fortune winning the Grade 2 IOS Drill Hall Stakes (Picture: Candiese Lenferna)

Handicapping Ratings Update

Trip Of Fortune Raised To 127

Independent On Saturday Drill Hall Stakes (Grade 2)

TRIP OF FORTUNE has had his rating raised from 125 to 127 after winning the Grade 2 Independent On Saturday Drill Hall Stakes over 1400m on the turf course at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday 6 May. The Handicappers were of the view that 5^th placed BINGWA had at least equaled the mark of 118 he ran to when finishing fifth behind the same winner in the Grade 1 H F Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes at Turffontein in early April and used that as the benchmark when assessing the Drill Hall Stakes. BINGWA himself was given a small drop here and is down from 123 to 122.

Aside from the winner the only other ratings increase was for 2^nd placed GIMME A PRINCE, who is up from 123 to 125.

In addition to BINGWA there were ratings drops for three other horses. AL MUTHANA drops from 133 to 132, SILVER OPERATOR is down from 117 to 116, while BATTLE FORCE drops to 109 from 111.

WSB Fillies Guineas (Grade 2)

PEACH DAIQUIRI has had her rating raised from 98 to 106 after she won the Grade 2 WSB Fillies Guineas over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday. The Handicappers noted that 2^nd placed SAARTJIE and 3^rd finisher HOLD MY HAND replicated their form of their previous meeting in the Listed Cape Oaks at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth in February and used both to assess the Fillies Guineas. Accordingly, they both remain unchanged on 105 and 104, respectively.

Aside from the winner there were no ratings increases out of this race, and no horse was given a rating’s drop.

WSB Guineas (Grade 2)

CHARLES DICKENS remains unchanged on a mark of 132 after he landed the Grade 2 WSB Guineas over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday. Here it was 4^th placed COUSIN CASEY who was used as the line horse, leaving him unchanged on a rating of 122. In assessing the race this way 2^nd finisher SEE IT AGAIN confirmed his Grade 1 Cape Derby assessment of 124 here by beating Cousin Casey by 2 pounds or just under a length (0.9L), effectively making him a line horse as well and leaving him with an unaltered rating too.

The Handicappers observed that CHARLES DICKENS (132), who was rated to beat SEE IT AGAIN (124) by 4 lengths and COUSIN CASEY (122) by 5 lengths had only beaten those rivals by 2 lengths and 2.9 lengths respectively. This would imply that either CHARLES DICKENS had won the WSB Guineas easier than the margin and did not actually need to produce a 132 performance to win or that SEE IT AGAIN and COUSIN CASEY had improved by 4 pounds. The Handicappers opted to go with the former and accordingly CHARLES DICKENS only runs to 128 – which is a 4 pounds better performance than SEE IT AGAIN and 6 pounds better performance than COUSIN CASEY.

There were increases also for 3^rd finisher DAVE THE KING, who goes up from 111 to 122, and for MELECH, who was raised from 97 to 107.

No horses from this race were given a rating’s drop.

WSB Gold Bowl (Grade 3)

FUTURE PEARL has had his rating raised from 100 to 106 after winning the Grade 3 WSB Gold Bowl over 3200m on the standside track at Turffontein on Sunday.

The Handicappers strongly believed that 2^nd placed ARUMUGAM would not have run worse here than when finishing 3^rd in a similar event over 2850m in April and used the 98 he actually achieved on that occasion to rate the Gold Bowl. However, as the specific conditions of both races do not permit for an increase in the rating of any horse other than the winner, ARUMUGAM still remains on a mark of 94 despite now achieving 98 twice in succession.

Likewise, the specific conditions of the Gold Bowl do not allow for a more than a six-pound increase to the winner’s rating so the Handicappers were obliged to cap FUTURE PEARL at 106 even though he actually ran to a mark of 108.

Two horses were given small rating’s drop. 3^rd placed FLYING FIRST CLASS is down from 88 to 87, while 4^th finisher ELECTRIC SURGE is down to 77 from 78.

Silent Miracle and jockey Ryan Munger winning race 6 on May 6, 2023 at Woodbine (Michael Burns Photo)

First impressions Are Great For Ryan Munger

South African Ryan Munger has won his first race in Canada.

He guided Silent Miracle to victory in the sixth race on Saturday at at Woodbine – his new home track.

Bred and owned by RCC Racing Stable, Silent Miracle, a 3-year-old son of Silent Name (JPN), was a longshot and is trained by John Mattine.

Racecaller Robert Geller tweeted that Ryan ‘sat the perfect trip aboard Silent Miracle punching out the victory in a thrilling three way battle in deep stretch’.

27-year-old Ryan flew out of Johannesburg with his wife Kelsey on Monday 1 May.