Turf Talk Newsletter – 07 November, 2023

The Weiho Marwing-trained Gr 1 WSB SA Derby winner Son Of Raj looks to be well handicapped for the Betway Summer Cup (JC Photos)

The Weiho Marwing-trained WSB SA Derby winner Son Of Raj ran to about a 120 in the Gr 3 Betway Victory Moon Stakes over 1800m on Saturday but was not allowed to be adjusted “due to him running unplaced in 5th place.” This means he could be going in to the Betway Summer Cup with a 2,5kg advantage. He remains on a 115 meaning he will be carrying 54.5kg in the big race as things stand and had he been adjusted upward he might well have had to carry 57kg. Son Of Raj is currently an 18/1 chance with the sponsor.

Atticus Finch was raised to an 111 for his Victory Moon win. That means he will be officially going into the race 1,5kg under sufferance as things stand. Yet he is the third favourite at 6/1. However, he is a horse who gives the impression he has more to come and he looks to have a superb racing temperament.

Puerto Manzano is the 5/1 favourite.

Hollywoodbets Durban July hero Winchester Mansion is 11/2 second favourite.

However, on a formline through Electric Gold, Winchester Mansion’s new Brett Crawford-trained stablemate Billy Bowlegs offers better value.

Electric Gold was beaten 1,75 lengths by Puerto Manzano in the Gr 3 Jubilee Stakes over 1800m last June and he was 8kg better off than weight for age in that race.

On Saturday in the Gr 3 Betway Victory Moon Stakes over 1800m Billy Bowlegs gave Electric Gold 6kg and was beaten only 0,25 lengths. Billy Bowlegs, as things stand, will face Puerto Manzano on 4kg better than weight for age in the Summer Cup, which on a strict line through Electric Gold, after doing the maths, means he will dead-heat with Puerto Manzano. Yet he is out at 18/1 for the Summer Cup. He will be having his third run for Brett Crawford and is sure to line up in top condition.

Royal Victory was just 1,25 lengths behind Billy Bowlegs in last season’s Gr 1 WSB SA Classic and he, as things stand, will receive 1,5kg from the latter in the Summer Cup. So although he will officially be 1,5kg under sufferance carrying the bottom weight of 54kg, he comes out slightly ahead of Billy Bowlegs. He is out at a whopping  80/1 with the sponsor.

Royal Victory wins the recent Michaelmas Handicap (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Muzi Yeni has snapped up the ride on the Nathan Kotzen-trained Betway Summer Cup outsider Royal Victory.

The four-year-old Pathfork gelding has had three runs this season over 1200m, 1400m and 1900m and in the last of them he stepped up to 1900m on the Hollywoodbets Greyville turf in the non-Black Type PinkDrive Michaelmas Handicap and won by a head in fine style after coming from the back.

He was ridden by Calvin Habib in all of those races.

However, Habib had committed to Atticus Finch a long time ago and the latter booked his place in the race on Saturday with victory in the Gr 3 Betway Victory Moon Stakes.

Nathan said Royal Victory had come out of his win very well.

He said, “I always thought he doesn’t quite stay and I said to the owner Peter Victor if he doesn’t win the 1900m race we don’t bother going to the Summer Cup. He kicked on very nicely and won a good race going away.”

Kotzen supplemented Royal Victory for the Summer Cup after the Michaelmas win.

Royal Victory comes out quite well on the formlines of the Gr 1 WSB SA Classic, in which he finished a three length fifth last season.

He might not have been at his best that day either, because Nathan recalled he had not been impressed by his final work out before the SA Classic.

That was the reason he decided to give him a rest after the race and not aim him at any of the Champions Season classic events.

He reveealed the horse had had a few niggles with his feet around that time, but that had now been sorted out.

Royal Victory should get in to the Summer Cup final field as the entries are starting to break up. He is one of the highest merit rated borderline cases.

Nathan said the horse would travel up to Johannesburg on the Thursday before the race.

Gr 2 WSB Gauteng Guineas winner Eye Of The Prophet has been scratched from the Gr 1 R5 million Betway Summer Cup (JC Photos)

There have been three important scratching from the Betway Summer Cup.

All of Dave The King, Eye Of The Prophet and Runaway Song were in the top 20 of the second log and have all been scratched.

Dave The King was originally the highest merit rated horse in the race, but after the running of the Gr 2 Allied Steelrode On A Mission Mile had been replaced as potential topweight by Puerto Manzano.

Another prominent scratching was Union Square, who was the fourth highest rated horse of the entries not on the log.

The scratchings have improved the chances of some borderline cases of making the final field.

The three highest rated entries who were not in the top 20 on the second log are the 112-rated Hoedspruit, the 111-rated Atticus Finch, who booked his berth by winning the Gr 3 Betway Victory Moon  Stakes, and the 111-rated supplementary entry Royal Victory.

There are horses on the log who are rated below them i.e the Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks and Gr 2 Track And Ball Oaks winner None Other and the 110-rated Listed winner Meridius.

The other scratchings to date are Rule By Force, Star Coin, Royal Guide and Brave Viking.

Atticus Finch wins the Gr 3 Betway Victory Moon Stakes comfortably (Picture: 4Racing)

NHA Press Release

Betway Victory Moon Stakes (Grade 3)

ATTICUS FINCH has had his merit rating raised from 107 to 111 following his success in the Grade 3 Betway Victory Moon Stakes over 1800m on the Turffontein standside course on Saturday 4 November.  The Handicappers were of the view that last years’ winner LITIGATION who placed 4^th here made for the most suitable line horse, which leaves him unchanged on a mark of 110.

The only other horse to receive an increase in ratings is ELECTRIC GOLD, who goes up from 102 to 105. A noteworthy performer here is SON OF RAJ, who runs above his rating at these weight terms but cannot be adjusted due to him running unplaced in 5^th spot.

Two horses were given rating’s drops, WHAFEEF was dropped from 107 to 105 and STAR COIN was reassessed after failing to confirm his 6^th place finish in the Grade 1 SA Classic, he was adjusted downwards from 108 to 100.

Mark Zahra salutes as he makes it back-to-back Melbourne Cups (Picture: Skysports.com)

Winning horse and rider complete Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double

Soulcombe finishes in second with Sheraz third at Flemington

The Guardian (Courtney Walsh)

Trained by a storied racing family and ridden by a champion jockey at the peak of his craft, Without A Fight blitzed the Melbourne Cup field to win Australia’s great race with rare ease. The Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained stayer became just the 12th horse to complete the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double with a dashing performance at Flemington on Tuesday.

So great was the advantage Without A Fight established in the latter stages of the $8.4m race, jockey Mark Zahra had the time to look left and then right for any dangers. There were none. At the finale of a 3200-metre staying test run at a frantic pace, with the frontrunners swamped late by rivals sitting back in the field, there was daylight to the runner-up.

Soulcombe, part-owned by a string of Richmond premiership players, ran brilliantly for second while the third-placed Sheraz ran a bottler for a bolter.

In October Zahra was fined $50,000 and suspended for seven days after breaching whip rules when winning the Caulfield Cup on the sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum-owned galloper. But there was no need for any hard riding on Tuesday, with the 41-year-old deftly handling a horse his strapper described as “a little bit weird, and that is being an understatement”.

With his second Melbourne Cup in succession in his keeping, Zahra rose from his saddle and raised his fist in triumph before waving two fingers towards the crowd. Zahra is the first jockey since Glen Boss on Makybe Diva to win consecutive Melbourne Cups, with Without A Fight breaking a Cups double drought dating back to Ethereal in 2001.

Last year Zahra steered Gold Trip to victory in the Melbourne Cup for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, as Without A Fight struggled on soft ground to finish 13th. He agonised over staying with Gold Trip before opting for Without A Fight, a horse he believed could become a champion after riding him with success in Brisbane during winter.

“The stars aligned for Gold Trip last year and aligned for this horse this year,” Zahra said. “Just a few things and the way he won the Caulfield Cup, I was confident he would run it.

“You come into a race like today and, putting aside all of the choosing, a lot of jockeys try their lifetimes to win one and you can come in thinking this might be my chance.

“But when you have won one, you think, ‘if I stuff it up, there is one at home in the cabinet anyway,’ so it affords you that little bit of luxury. So to change horses and get a little bit of flak about my choice – they were giving it to me here down the race today – and for it to pay off, it is justified.”

Sam Freedman was on the phone to his uncle Lee Freedman in Queensland moments after Without A Fight clinched victory by 2.25 lengths.

But he paid tribute to his father, Anthony, who along with his brothers was part of a dominant force in Australian racing in the 1990s and 2000s, for helping the gelding blossom.

“Credit to the old man,” Sam Freedman said. “He has been incredible through all of this. There are lots of little moments [that lead to this]. I get a bit worked up at times and he is pretty cool, calm and collected, so he has just been the constant throughout.”

Soon-to-be-retired jockey Damien Oliver rode like a chief aboard Wiggum earlier in the day, but a fairytale fourth Melbourne Cup success on Alenquer went begging in his final carnival.

On a 31C day at Flemington, the connections of the contenders did their best to keep the horses chilled and relaxed ahead of the 3pm start.

Just over an hour before the race, Japanese galloper Breakup stood in stall 86. Wearing a red mask and pads around his knee joints, the raider stood in a misted fog. In stall 91 was the favourite Vauban. He raced near the pace before wilting to finish 14th for English jockey Ryan Moore. Right You Are failed to complete the course, but there are no concerns for its welfare.

The Flemington mounting yard was packed like the MCG on grand final day, a kaleidoscope of colour and filled with owners nervous and excited in equal measures. Among them were Richmond champions Tom Lynch and the recently retired Jack Riewoldt.

As the clock ticked beyond the 3pm start time, the Tigers exchanged handshakes. But when the barrier rogue missed the start by three lengths, they exchanged a worrying glance. It might have worked to Soulcombe’s advantage to settle towards the rear, for the one-time favourite ran a mighty race to reel in all but the eventual winner.

Afterwards, another connection bounced towards them and bellowed, “What a run. Bring on next year.” As with AFL premierships, there are no guarantees of another Cup run. But Without A Fight demonstrated what is possible when the conditions are favourable.

Lyle Hewitson keeps the David Hayes-trained Wide Blue Yonder going to claim an upset win at Sha Tin on Sunday. The horse returned 35.20 on the Tote for a one unit bet. (HKJC)

It never gets any easier in Hong Kong and so Lyle Hewitson would have been glad to have had a winner at the Sha Tin meeting on Sunday. He has had a winner at the last three meetings on the island and is on nine for the season, which puts him in lone 6th place on the log.

Keagan de Melo must have hoped a recent double would see his fortunes burgeoning, but instead he has had four blanks meetings in succession.

On the bright side De Melo is getting full books of rides and has had eight rides in three of his last four meetings.

Hewitson remains very much in demand with either eight or nine rides in those last three meetings.

Luke Ferraris has had three blank meetings in succession and it also followed a double.

He had seven rides in Sunday’s meeting and eight rides in the previous Sunday’s meeting at Happy Valley, so is also in demand.

De Melo starts with a good ride on Rattan World in the first race at Happy Valley on Wednesday (November 8).

Ferraris has a fine ride in the second on the Douglas Whyte-trained Happy Trio.

De Melo has a chance in the fourth race on the Whyte-trained Colourful Prince.

He also has a fair ride in the fifth on the Whyte-trained Shinkansen, although this gelding has a wide draw to overcome.

De Melo has a fair chance in the seventh on Intrepid Winner and Hewitson’s mount CP Brave can’t be ignored in that race either.

Hewitson’s best ride comes on Sweet Briar in the eighth. He won twice on this Francis Lui-trained horse last season, but he does have a tough draw to overcome here.

Glen Boss rode Makybe Diva in all three of her successive Melbourne Cup wins and is the only jockey to have won three successive Melbourne Cups.