Legendary ex-pat South African trainer David Payne had a runner in last year’s Melbourne Cup and is attempting to get two horses into the field for this year’s renewal of Australia’s greatest race . (picture: racingandsports.com.au)

Payne And De Kock Horses Among Melbourne Cup Entries

The Melbourne Cup weights have been announced and among the entries still standing their ground are two horses trained by ex-pat South African David Payne and one from the yard of Robbie Griffiths and ex-pat South African Matthew de Kock.

However, there are 133 entries in all, and the final field is limited to 24 runners.

David Payne’s leading entry is Navajo Peak, who won a Group 2 over a mile at Randwick on September 2 under Chad Schofield. He failed next time out when stepped up to 2000m but this five-year-old Territories gelding has won over 2000m and is entered in both a Group 1 mile event and a Group 1 2400m event at Randwick on September 30. Payne also has him entered in the traditional qualifier for the Melbourne Cup, the Gr 1 Caulfield Cup over 2400m, which is run at Caulfield racecourse in Melbourne in mid-October, 16 days before the Melbourne Cup.

Navajo Peak has been set to carry 52kg in the Melbourne Cup, which is 6,5kg below the topweight and 2kg more than bottom weight.

He is also set to carry 52kg in the Caulfield Cup.

Payne also has Raging Bull entered and this one is one of the many 50kg bottom weights.

This five-year-old Bull Point gelding finished fourth in the Group 1 Victoria Derby as a three-year-old but his best recent race was a 6,90 length fourth in a Listed race over 2400m, so he looks to have a lot to do to qualify for the Melbourne Cup.

He is also entered in the Group 1 over 2400m on September 30 but he is not among the Caulfield Cup entries.

The Robbie Griffiths and Matthew de Kock entry is Aberfeldie Boy, a four-year-old So You Think gelding who finished third in the Group 1 South Australia Derby as a three-year-old.

He finished a close third in his seasonal reappearance over 1700m at Flemington, but is only a one-time winner and looks to have a bit to do to qualify for the Melbourne Cup.

He is set to carry 50 kg in both the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup.

The Herald Sun carried an article on the Melbourne Cup weights: CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT MELBOURNE CUP AND CAULFIELD CUP WEIGHTS

Mexican Pete cruises in under Sean Veale (Candiese Lenferna Photography).

Mexican Pete Adds Another String To Robinson/Moodley Bow

Frank Robinson has two unbeaten three-year-olds, Sovereign State and Mexican Pete, who look to have classic potential and both are owned by Sid Moodley.

Mexican Pete, an R80,000 Master Of My Fate colt was asked to run off a 90 merit rating and carry 60.5kg against hardened older handicappers over 1600m on the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly today (Wednesday) in just his second career start.

Frank pointed out afterwards this was not at all an easy task for such a young, inexperienced horse and yet he cruised in by four lengths in effortless fashion under Sean Veale.

Sovereign State, a gelding by Visionaire, has been equally impressive and is also unbeaten in two starts.

Another promising type for the Robinson/Moodley combination is Futura colt Star Of The Future, who finished a narrow second over the too sharp 1000m on debut.

It is well documented that Moodley has bought thirty new horses into the Robinson yard, fifteen three-year-olds and fifteen two-year-olds, and tthe three-year-olds have made a fine start to the partnership.

This has helped Robinson have his best ever start to a season.

He has had seven wins so far this season at a 29.7% strike rate, the highest strike rate in the country.

He decribed Mexican Pete as “more like a Derby horse.”

Veale, who has become the yard’s stable jockey, made a more telling statement, “I haven’t sat on a string like this since Mr Drier was powerful.”

Sovereign State comes out again on Monday in a MR88 Handicap over 1400m on the poly and that will be another acid test for him because he has to run off a 98 merit rating.

Sid Moodley watched today’s race from a beach resort in Greece.

It is exciting times for both him and Frank.

Picture: Hewitson and Rising From Ashes are easy winners of the 6th race at Happy Valley today (Wednesday) (HKJC)

Hewitson Off The Mark For The Season

Lyle Hewitson has been in demand in Hong Kong this season but scored blanks in his first three meetings, so would have been relieved to have a winner at Happy Valley today.

His ex-pat South African colleagues Luke Ferraris and Keagan de Melo had three rides each today and a third place finish by Ferraris was the best they could manage.

Hewitson had his 28th ride of the season and first win of the season on the Francis Lui-trained six-year-old Shamus Award gelding Rising From Ashes.

The Australian-bred was backed in to second favourite paying R4.00 on the Tote.

Jumping from pole position in the 1650m class 3 contest, Hewitson relaxed his mount from the off and was happy to sit on the rail in midfield.

He switched his mount off the rail on the final turn and coming down the centre the gelding ran on strongly to win cosily by 2,25 lengths.

Another South African Jockeys Academy graduate Karis Teetan rode a double on the day.

Hugh Bowman won the first three races and he has opened up a four win lead in the jockeys championship on Zac Purton, who only had one win today.

Bowman has had nine wins to Purton’s five. Teetan is next best on four and Ferraris and Chung are on three.

Primrose Path has been selected to win the fourth race (Picture: JC Photos)

Munch on a Macaroon at the Vaal

Jack Milner (Tab4Racing)

Trainer Chris Jonker has made a decent start to the season, recording three wins and eight places from 23 runners for a win-place strike rate of about 48%.

The small-yard trainer sends out a pair in the card opener at the Vaal on Thursday, a Maiden Plate for fillies and mares over 1450m on the Classic track and judged on form Mocha Macaroon looks perfectly placed to give Jonker his fourth winner.

This daughter of Rafeef jumped at odds of 100-1 in her first two outings and performed accordingly.

Third time out, at 80-1, she almost caused a major upset when finishing third, beaten less than a length by Ivy League, who has gone on to record two more wins. That run was over this course and distance.

Mocha Macaroon has been improving ever since, and it comes as no surprise she has been priced up at 18-10. Raymond Danielson has been riding well and he takes the ride on this three-year-old filly.

It comes as no surprise to see Mike de Kock-trained Arabian Red at the top of the bookmakers’ boards at 7-10 in Race 2, a Maiden Plate for fillies and mares over 1800m. However, she does look the banker bet on the card.

The three-year-old daughter of Heavenly Blue is obviously looking for further and it is hard to imagine her not getting the job done.

Apprentice Malesela Katjedi has ridden her in her first two starts and De Kock has stuck with him for this run.

Another interesting runner on the day looks to be Primrose Path, who lines up in Race 4, a MR 74 Handicap for fillies and mares over 1600m.

Trained by Fanie Bronkhorst, the four-year-old Flower Alley filly will have none other than the maestro Piere Strydom in the saddle.

Primrose Path has scored two wins and three runner-up finishes from her last five starts, proving that she can maintain her best form.

Interestingly, she will be jumping from gate No 8 for the third consecutive time.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 5 Mocha Macaroon, 10 Wonder I Do, 2 Secret Recipe, 1 Lorna Lilly

Race 2: 11 Arabian Red, 7 City Lights, 1 Perform, 3 All Rise

Race 3: 4 Destiny Of Souls, 8 Bey Suyay, 2 Raffles, 9 Scarlett Pimpernel

Race 4: 1 Primrose Path, 6 Leonessa, 5 Duenna, 2 Perilla

Race 5: 2 Avoontoast, 4 Lady Calavera, 8 Key Element, 3 Ballroom Bliss

Race 6: 5 Dreamland, 2 Moola Man, 3 Mescal, 6 Back To Basics

Race 7: 4 What A Honey, 6 Brave Viking, 3 Scallywag, 7 Funky Music

Race 8: 2 Inner Sense, 6 Meet The Captain, 5 Cerulean Dancer, 8 Written In Stone

BEST BET

Race 2 No 11 Arabian Red

VALUE BET

Race 7 No 4 What A Honey

BEST SWINGER

Race 1 5×10

BIPOT

R108

Leg 1: 5, 10

Leg 2: 11

Leg 3: 4, 8

Leg 4: 1, 5, 6

Leg 5: 2, 4, 8

Leg 6: 2, 3, 5

PLACE ACCUMULATOR

R192

Leg 1: 11

Leg 2: 4

Leg 3: 1, 6

Leg 4: 2, 4

Leg 5: 2, 3, 5

Leg 6: 3, 4, 6, 7

Leg 7: 2, 5, 6, 8

PICK 6

R2160

Leg 1: 4, 8

Leg 2: 1, 2, 5, 6

Leg 3: 2, 4, 8

Leg 4: 2, 3, 5

Leg 5: 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9

Leg 6: 2, 4, 5, 6, 8

JACKPOT 1

R216

Leg 1: 1, 2, 5, 6

Leg 2: 2, 4, 8

Leg 3: 2, 3, 5

Leg 4: 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9

JACKPOT 2

R270

Leg 1: 2, 4, 8

Leg 2: 2, 3, 5

Leg 3: 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9

Leg 4: 2, 4, 5, 6, 8

He Knows No Fear (near): one of 12 horses in which traces of anabolic steroids were found. Picture Credit: Patrick McCann

Ireland Doping Case Set To Rumble On After Appeals Lodged

Luke Comer doping case set to rumble on after trainer and regulator lodge appeals against original verdict

David Jennings (Deputy Ireland Editor Racing Post)

The Luke Comer doping case looks nowhere near to being resolved after the trainer and the regulator both lodged appeals against the findings of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s referrals committee to suspend the trainer’s licence for three years and hit him with €840,754 in fines and costs.

Comer had stated his intention to contest the verdict of a nine-day hearing after 12 of his horses tested positive for anabolic steroids, and the regulator has made the unusual move of challenging the leniency of the sanctions too.

Comer had until 5pm on Wednesday to lodge an appeal against the findings and Niall Cronin, communications manager for the IRHB, said: “An appeal has been submitted by Mr Comer against various elements of the decision of the referrals committee.”

Cronin added the regulator would be doing likewise. He said: “Additionally, the IHRB has lodged an appeal under rule 27(i) (b). The grounds for appeal are undue leniency of the sanctions imposed on the trainer in respect of the multiple breaches of rule 96 and the breach of rule 272 which were found by the referrals committee.”

Rule 27 deals with the leniency of a sanction, while rule 96 concerns the adverse analytical findings and rule 272 relates to supplying misleading information or false evidence.

Comer’s representative Andrew Coonan told the Racing Post: “Mr Comer has given the decision of the referrals committee very careful consideration and, given the nature of the findings, he has decided to appeal against that decision.”

The 12 horses in which traces of methandienone (MD) and methyltestosterone (MT) were found included He Knows No Fear, who won at 300-1 at Leopardstown in 2020.

He Knows No Fear had a hair sample taken from him in the aftermath of the Listed Trigo Stakes at Leopardstown in October 2021, a race in which he finished fourth of 14, and it was found to contain MD and MT. On the back of that, the authorities paid a visit to Comer’s yard the following month and found 11 more horses who also tested positive for the banned substances.

Comer denies that he or any of his staff were involved in doping the dozen horses and he was not charged with a breach of rule 273, which covers anybody who “administers, or attempts to administer, or connives at the administration, to a horse of any prohibited substance”.

Comer, whose Comer Group International is a major sponsor of Irish racing, claimed environmental contamination was the most plausible reason for the findings and argued that hay consumed by his horses may have been contaminated with MD or MT through pig slurry.

However, IHRB chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin said there was no evidence put forward to substantiate the hypothesis that it occurred in the environment.

A date for the appeal has yet to be set.

Michaelhouse Lads Spend A Day At The Races

A group of Michaelhouse schoolboys, pictured above with commentator/presenter Sheldon Peters, spent a fun educational day at the Hollywoodbets Greyville races today.

Five-year-old Louis Goosen-trained Twice Over gelding Rodriguez became a five-time winner today and he was one of three Mario Ferreira-onwed horses to win at the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly meeting. (Picture: Candiese Lenferna).

Mario Ferreira Treble, Goosen/Maujean Double, Lihaba Double

Prolific owner Mario Ferreira had a treble at today’s seven race Hollywoodbets Greyville poly meeting, two of them for the Louis Goosen/Chase Maujean comination, and 4kg claimer Kobeli Lihaba had a double.

Ferreira goes to six wins for the season, at a strike rate of 18.18%, which is nine behind the leaders Hollywood Syndicate on 15.

Goosen has had six wins now at 16.22%.

Maujean has made a good start to the season with 15 wins at 8.93%.

Lihaba has had three wins at 6.52%.

Vaal Classic Fields, Thursday

The horse in question is pictured above (Photo: Mark Cranham/cranhamphoto.com)

Today’s Question

Which filly, who went on to become arguably the most influential matriarch in thoroughbred history, won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe this year 30 years ago?

ANSWER TO TODAY’S QUESTION

Urban Sea, trained by Jean Lesbordes, won the Arc in 1993 and subsequently became a broodmare phenomenon.

Lesbordes recalled the legendary mare in an article last year on TDN

‘Nobody Knows Me But Everybody Knows Urban Sea’

Jean Lesbordes Recalls The Extraordinary Mare

By Emma Berry (TDN)

On the day of this year’s French Guineas, Jean Lesbordes perused the runners in the paddock for the Prix de la Seine, made his way to the stands to watch the race, and then back to the winner’s enclosure for another look at the victrix Hidden Dimples (Ire), a daughter of Frankel (GB).

Thirty years earlier, Lesbordes had a much stronger connection to the winner of the same race. He was her trainer and the filly’s name was Urban Sea. The fact that her name appears in the third generation of the pedigree of Hidden Dimples will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the progress of that great mare. It is an understatement to say that Urban Sea’s influence has been profound; she is arguably the most significant matriarch of the modern era. Without her there would be no Galileo (Ire), and therefore no Frankel (GB). No Sea The Stars (Ire), who would come to emulate his mother by winning the race for which she is best remembered of her seven stakes victories, the 1993 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

It is at Epsom that Urban Sea’s legacy runs the deepest, however. When Sea The Stars followed his half-brother Galileo by winning the Derby in 2009, the guest of honour that day was trainer/breeder Arthur Budgett, whose broodmare Windmill Girl (GB) had been the last mare before Urban Sea to produce two Derby winners, starting 40 years earlier with Blakeney (GB) and followed four years later by Morston (GB).

It doesn’t end there, of course. Galileo is now the sire of five Derby winners and grandsire of another two. One of those, Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), has Urban Sea on both sides of his pedigree as his third dam Melikah (Ire) (Lammtarra) is one of her four daughters, three of whom are now black-type producers themselves.

Sea The Stars, too, has sired the Derby winner Harzand (Ire) as well as Oaks winner Taghrooda (Ire), and he has the favourite for this year’s Oaks in Emily Upjohn (GB). Nine of the top 10 in the betting for the Derby are all sons or grandsons of Galileo. Of the horses remaining in both Epsom Classics this weekend, 14 of the 18 potential Derby runners have Urban Sea in their pedigree, as do seven of 12 in the Oaks, not to mention 11 of 18 for Sunday’s Prix du Jockey Club.

The Prix de la Seine of May 31, 1992 was really just the start for Urban Sea, certainly as far as the racing public was concerned. Though she had won an October maiden as a 2-year-old, this Listed contest was her first black-type victory, having finished third in the G2 German 1,000 Guineas on her previous start. For Lesbordes, however, it was really just the affirmation of a feeling he had had about Urban Sea ever since he first saw and fell in love with the chestnut daughter of Miswaki and Allegretta (GB) as a yearling at Marc de Chambure’s Haras d’Etreham.

Everybody could ride her, even the girls who came to help at my stable on a Sunday. She was so straightforward. In our stable her name was ‘La Mule’.

In partnership with Michel Henochsberg and Maurice Legasse, de Chambure bred Urban Sea at Denali Stud in Kentucky under their shared name of Marystead Farm. Her dam Allegretta, from a family with its roots deep in Germany’s outstanding nursery Gestut Schlenderhan, was no one-horse wonder at stud. Her later foals included the 2,000 Guineas winner King’s Best (Kingmambo) and G3 Prix de Flore winner Allez Les Trois (Riverman), who went on to produce the Prix du Jockey Club winner Anabaa Blue (GB) (Anabaa), but none would leave their imprint on the breed in the manner of Urban Sea.

“In the beginning I chose her on pedigree because she was by Miswaki and I remember when I went to Keeneland I saw Mr Prospector and I loved him,” says Lesbordes, who bought the yearling filly for FF280,000 (circa €33,000).

“I saw her in the stud, a grand-daughter of Mr Prospector, and I just felt that everything was right. That was just before the August Sale. When I saw her, I don’t know why, but something about her spoke to me. So when she came to Deauville I said, ‘this one is for me’.”

That first important decision made, Urban Sea returned to the Chantilly stable of Lesbordes, whose passion for horses was sparked by attending the races with his father in Bordeaux, close to where he grew up. From stints on a stud farm while still studying, he worked for several trainers before eventually training in his own right in the south-west of France, including a successful period with jumpers in Pau.

“I had some results so I ended up moving to Chantilly,” he explains of his journey north in 1986. “My ambition was to win every type of Classic, and the horses who weren’t good enough for Classics could go jumping. On the Flat I didn’t want to run in handicaps.”

Bar one period when the number of horses in his stable rose to around 60, Lesbordes usually trained around 25 horses. Urban Sea was one of 20 horses purchased for a single owner.

“I bought Urban Sea for a Japanese owner with a big string in France,” he explains. “I bought her in August and then by February the Japanese owner had a financial crash.”

Faced with the prospect of losing the horses, Lesbordes was fortuitously introduced to Hong Kong businessman David Tsui through a mutual acquaintance, and Tsui, originally in partnership with a friend, ended up buying the entire group.

“Our friendship has continued for more than 30 years,” says Lesbordes. He remains closely connected to the Tsui family and was present at Longchamp for the Arc victory of their homebred Sea The Stars, who raced in the colours of David and Ling Tsui’s son Christopher.

That year was a momentous one. Urban Sea died from complications after foaling her final son, Born To Sea (Ire), in March 2009. Come April, Sea the Stars started his extraordinary romp, month after month, through six Group 1 races: the 2,000 Guineas, Derby, Eclipse, Juddmonte International, Irish Champion Stakes, and finally the Arc itself.

It is easy to see how Lesbordes is so strongly attached to his clear favourite of Urban Sea’s offspring. It was not, however, instantly obvious to the trainer that he had a future champion on his hands when Sea The Stars’s mother first entered training. In fact, Urban Sea was given a nickname that is certainly not befitting of her now-legendary status.

“In the stable at the beginning she was the easiest to ride,” he recalls. “Everybody could ride her as a yearling, even the girls who came to help at my stable on a Sunday. She was so straightforward. In our stable her name was ‘La Mule’.

“My son Clement started to ride her and when she started to work she was fantastic. As a two-year-old she had a little issue with her fetlock so we had to stop. But it was no problem and then she ran later at two and won the second time she ran at Maisons-Laffitte. She was very easy to train. She was asleep most of the time, but every time we showed her something she picked it up no problem.”

In my life as a trainer only three times I said ‘I will win’. Three times. And the Arc was one of them.

It is this equable temperament that Lesbordes says he believes has been key to the success not just of Urban Sea but of her offspring. Of her 11 foals, nine raced, eight of which were black-type winners, four of those at the highest level. Certainly in assessing the phenomenal success Ballydoyle has had with Galileo, Aidan O’Brien refers regularly to the strength of his temperament and to that of his offspring.

“Sea The Stars had the same character,” says Lesbordes, who ceased training a handful of years after Urban Sea retired from racing as a five-year-old. He later spent eight years working for the Paris-Turf.

“He started in training when I was working as a journalist so I had more opportunity to follow him. I saw Sea The Stars for the first time at Epsom for the Derby and when he came into the parade ring he was so quiet, almost asleep, just the same. Urban Sea gave him this disposition.

“It’s incredible because all of her produce were fantastic. When you have a horse like Galileo you think that is pretty special, but then after that you have Sea The Stars. Incredible. Then there were the good fillies, and now they are all good producers, too.”

For Lesbordes, though the memories of Urban Sea are are still fresh decades later, they come with a bittersweet edge. His son Clement, her daily exercise rider who was 20 at the time of the mare’s Arc victory, was killed in a cycling accident four years later. He had accompanied Urban Sea on her many trips abroad, to Japan, Hong Kong, England, Germany, Canada and America, with that road once travelled so happily together coming to the most tragically abrupt ending.

“I remember everything about Urban Sea,” says Lesbordes, now 76 and still resident in Chantilly.

He adds wistfully, “Nobody knows me but everybody knows Urban Sea. When I am finished Urban Sea will always be remembered. For me, it is extra special as my son took Urban Sea everywhere. It was magic.”

Of the most magical of all those days, he says, “I felt sure she would win the Arc. I was sure. I don’t know why. In my life as a trainer only three times I said ‘I will win’. Three times. And the Arc was one of them.

“On the day of the Arc I was quite nervous and I saw one of the breeders of Urban Sea, Michel Henochsberg. The race just before the Arc, Verveine (Lear Fan) won the Prix de l’Opera and Urban Sea had beaten her in Deauville in August. In the stables, Michel Henochsberg said to me, ‘C’est dommage’.

“I remember at the time it felt like a knife in the heart. But after the Arc it was not a shame at all!”

Turf Ed – Urban Sea has the great ill-fated German stallion Alchimist twice in her pedigree and this stallion, who is also in Silvano’s pedigree, has not been given the credit he deserves in throughbred history.

Turf Talk Newsletter – 20 September, 2023