Picture: Gaynor Rupert and loved ones are all smiles after Saturday’s fairytale L’Ormarins King’s Plate result (Image: Wayne Marks) 

Turf Talk

Gaynor Rupert called the 2024 L’Ormarins King’s Plate meeting “the greatest day of my racing life” and Candice Bass-Robinson also said it was without doubt the greatest day of her training career.

Trippi colt Charles Dickens gave both Rupert and Bass-Robinson a first win of the country’s most prestigious Gr 1 weight for age mile, the L’Ormarins King’s Plate.

The other Gr 1 on the day the Cartier Paddock Stakes was also won by a Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Drakenstein Stud homebred, the Lancaster Bomber filly Beach Bomb. The tiny filly was coming off a win in the Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas and on Saturday she downed the Equus Horse Of The Year Princess Calla.

Rupert also bred the winner of the Gr 2 Antonij Rupert Wine Premier Trophy over 1800m, the Justin Snaith-trained Twice Over gelding Mucho Dinero, while Bass-Robinson won the Gr 2 Cartier Sceptre Stakes over 1200m with the Avontuur Stud-bred Trippi filly October Morn.

Rupert’s Drakenstein Stud was built on the lower slopes of her family’s L’Ormarins Wine Estate twenty years ago and she has been sponsoring the Queen’s Plate/King’s Plate ever since.

The efforts of her and her team have turned the event from an ordinary race day into South Africa’s equivalent of Royal Ascot, with glamour on the stands and lawns accompanying the top class racing.

She has won the race as a breeder before, having bred the twice L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate winner Jet Dark, who like Charles Dickens is by Trippi and he now stands at Drakenstein.

Rupert said in the winner’s enclosure on Saturday she had not prepared a speech because, unlike last year when believing Charles Dickens would win, there had now been the possibility of defeat.

He was defeated by the Ricky Maingard-trained Al Muthana at odds of 1/3 last year and on Saturday started only joint favourite with the runner up See It Again at 14/10 the pair.

Gaynor drew on Charles Dickens’ writings to describe his horse namesake’s season to date … it had begun with “the spring of hope” and it had given the connections “the worst of times” (defeat in the WSB Green Point Stakes), but ulimately he had given them “the best of times.” (LKP victory).

Bass-Robinson said Saturday’s victory had been particularly sweet.

Referring to his defeat in his penultimate start in the Gr 2 WSB Green Point Stakes followed by him silencing the critics on Saturday, she said, “I’m very glad about that, because people write off horses way too quickly. One run where you say the horse is going to need the run and the horse wasn’t at his best and they just write him off … but it’s fine … one doesn’t need to say anything!”

She added, “He was at his best on Saturday and that was the whole object … that was his mission.”

Bass-Robinson, like all great trainers, was meticulous in addressing every detail ahead of this mission.

She brought in her oldest friend Belinda Haytread to school Charles Dickens in an effort to get rid of the hanging antic which had crept into his racing.

She pointed out, “Aldo only started riding him at the 400m in the Green Point, but it had just looked like he had been riding him a lot sooner because he had been hanging so badly…”

“So it certainly made Aldo’s job easier,” said Candice about the outstanding work Belinda had done with the horse.

Domeyer had arrived on course supremely confident.

His plan had initially been to “place” Charles Dickens, but he had told Belinda a few days before the race he was right back to his best and he accordingly told Candice he had changed his mind and was “going to trust him and ride him as though he was the old Charles”.

Even Piere Strydom on comfortable Green Point victor See It Again knew he was up against it this time.

Down at the start he commented to Aldo Domeyer on how well Charles looked.

Aldo managed to find a position in midfield one out with cover behind Al Muthana.

See It Again was handy on the rail and in the straight Strydom found himself in front after he had switched the Twice Over colt inward to pass the slowing pacemaker Speed Machine.

A lesser horse would have been a sitting duck down the long 600m straight, but Strydom knew See It Again as a twice Gr 1 winner over 2000m would stay all the way to the line.

Meanwhile, Charles Dickens crept up under the hands. Thanks to the work of Belinda Haytread there was no sign of any hanging. Domeyer was able to sit relatively still as his charge ran as straight as an arrow down the centre and he was clearly still hard on the bit.

At the 300m mark Aldo crouched down in the saddle and began driving the Trippi colt.

The response was instantaneous.

His unbelievable turn of foot has always been his chief weapon. In the past that acceleration of his had settled races within a matter of strides and on Saturday it soon became clear that the old Charles was back.

He swept to the front and left See It Again looking like he was going up and down on the inside.

Aldo just had to give the strongly built colt two backhanders as he powered to an impressive 2,75 length victory.

It was the superstar Trippi colt’s third Gr 1 victory and all three of them have been in prestigious mile races, the Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas, the wfa Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge and now the biggest one of them all, the wfa L’Ormarins King’s Plate.

High in the stands Gaynor Rupert shook her fists in triumph. One member of the Rupert entourage lost her headdress as she jumped up and down in what was obviously a joyous release of the tension which must have accompanied the build up to the race in the Rupert household.

The whole family was in attendance including Gaynor’s husband Johann, who has reportedly begun taking more of an interest in racing thanks to Charles Dickens.

Aldo revealed afterwards it had been a longheld ambition of his to win this race and he said he was going to enjoy every second of the victory for a long time.

Even Lord Robin Renwick, who presented the trophy on behalf of King Charles, commented on how happy Aldo was and how he had made his move in the race “at the perfect moment.”

Gaynor had difficulty keeping the emotion at bay in her victory speech and after dishing out accolades to the Bass-Robinson team and for a “fantastic ride”, she said she had always known Charles Dickens was “a great horse”.

She added, “Today he showed who he really is and he is the future of Drakenstein. Trippi, whom I love so much, and we’ve now got Charles.”

Candice said Charles had come out of the race well, but the connections had not yet discussed his immediate future and whether he would line up in the Gr 1 wfa WSB Met.

Picture: Beach Bomb makes it a fourth win and a second Gr 1 in just her sixth career start (Image: Wayne Marks)

Turf Talk

The Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Drakenstein Stud homebred Lancaster Bomber filly Beach Bomb is outdoing her famous five times Gr 1-winning mother Beach Beauty.

After just six career starts she is already a twice Gr 1 winner having added the Cartier Paddock Stakes on Saturday to her victory in the WSB Cape Fillies Guineas.

The Beach Beauty fairytale story is well documented, but probably not so well known is that she was a five-year-old mare when cracking her first Gr 1 victory.

Beach Beautry’s first crack at the Paddock Stakes turned out to be a nightmare for trainer Dennis Drier and connections.

The scratching of the mighty Igugu had left a field of just six and Beach Beauty started 9/10 favourite.

However, an absolute crawl in the early stages led to her fighting for her head and she was ultimately beaten half-a-length by the Brett Crawford-trained Thunderstruck. The time of that race told the story … 117 .74 seconds.

Beach Bomb’s time on Saturday at 113.16 seconds was not a fast time, but was still more than four seconds faster than that 2012 snail-paced debacle.

Beach Beauty’s first Gr 1 win was in fact in the 2013 Paddock Stakes as a five-year-old and she recorded the second fastest time in the race this century of 109.76 seconds.

She also won the 2014 Paddock Stakes.

On Saturday three-year-old Beach Bomb, in a history-repeating-like scenario, also faced a field of just six runners.

However, they included the Equus Horse Of The Year Princess Calla.

In her previous start she had come from a mile back to land the Cape Fillies Guineas, a result which had looked impossible when they turned for home.

However, on Saturday her feat of coming from last was probably an even greater accomplishment.

Bass-Robinson said, “The race didn’t suit her, they went so slow, so that was a very good win because she would have preferred a pace. Yet she still managed to go and peg Princess Calla back.”

She added, “She’s a very impressive little filly. For the little thing that she is, she’s very good that filly.”

Princess Calla started even money favourite.

Richard Fourie decided the pace was too slow in the early stages and took Princess Calla, who had thrown her head up early, around Love Is A Rose into second place where she sat one out and one back behind the slow fractions set by Royals.

At the 400m mark Fourie’s move looked likely to pay dividends because she was stretching nicely out in front and still looked to have a bit in hand.

However, Beach Bomb’s resolute effort took her within striking distance and Happy Chance was also making inroads on the inside.

Beach Bomb tended to hang inward away from the stick, which meant JP van der Merwe had to continually straighten her.

However, when she had finally drawn alongside the big mare he was able to give her two or three telling cracks late in the race and that saw her surging to get up by 0,30 lengths.

The new question was whether Fourie should have made that early move instead of keeping Princess Calla behind Love Is A Rose? She had also thrown her head up a little when last going over this trip in the Gr 1 HKJC World Pool Champions Cup, but the pace had been faster that day which allowed her to get cover and into a rhythm. Time will tell whether the six-year-old Flower Alley mare is in decline or not. She is entered in the WSB Met as well as the Gr 1 wfa Majorca Stakes over 1600m on the same day.

Beach Bomb will not follow in the footsteps of Drakesnstein Stud homebred Oh Susanna, who was trained by Justin Snaith to win the Met as a three-year-old.

Candice Bass-Robinson said she would run in the Majorca, although Drakenstein’s racing manager Kevin Sommerville said it had not been confirmed yet.

The Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas first and third Snow Pilot and Hluhluwe were beaten 5,90 lengths and 6,20 lengths respectively in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate. That confirmed the general opinion that the Cape three-year-old male crop is a touch below par this season and one wonders whether Drakenstein will also be eyeing the Gr 1 Splashout Cape Derby for Beach Bomb?

Picture: Charles Dickens silenced the critics in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate (Image: Wayne Marks)

Turf Talk

Respected analyst Karel Miedema gave Charles Dickens a 114 Ability Rating for his LKP victory on his raceform.co.za website, but he pointed out that the day’s racing had been difficult to assess due to some confusing sectional times.

He said as a word of caution, “The 1200m Ladies race (72.48s) went faster than the 1200m Sceptre Stakes (72.93s).

Sectional timing seems to show that the Ladies race went fast early and slow late, with the Sceptre Stakes the opposite.

There was one other 1200m race (race 8) which might have helped to see what was possible, but that race has no time taken…

The 1000m Winchester Sprint Cup (56.63s) went almost 2 seconds faster than the 1000m 2yo race (58.56).

The time in the Sprint Cup (close to Course Record) seems to suggest that the track and/or wind conditions made for extremely fast going.

Or maybe the 2yo’s are not that good.

There was no other 1000m race on the day and the three 1200m races were odd (as outlined above), so can’t be compared.

The general consensus seemed to be that the 1800m Paddock Stakes (113.16) was run at a slow pace early on.

The 1800m Premiers Cup (113.09) ended up only a fraction faster, suggesting that the pace for that race also may not have been real.

Perhaps the results of these races should not be taken on face value.

It was a pity that there wasn’t another 1600m race apart from the King’s Plate, to give perspective.“

Miedema’s 114 AR for Charles Dickens can be compared to the career high of 117 he gave him for his Gr 1 wfa Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge victory as well as to the 115 he gave him for his narrow second in last year’s King’s Plate and the 110 he gave him for his easy Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas win.

Miedema gave See It Again 114 for his Gr 2 WSB Greeen Point Stakes win, so must have felt he had performed below par as runner up in the LKP on Saturday, awarding him a 108.

October Morn’s blistering turn of foot carried her to victory in Saturday’s Gr 2 Cartier Sceptre Stakes over 1200m under Raymond Danielson (Image: Wayne Marks)

Turf Talk

The Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Trippi filly October Morn, who won the Gr 2 Cartier Sceptre Stakes over 1200m under Raymond Danielson on Saturday, will be targeted at the Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint at Hollywoodbets Scottsville in the Champions Season.

The David Abery-owned mare was bred by Avontuur Stud and is out of the 1000m specialist Miss October (Var).

However, Bass-Robinson felt the Gr 1 Cape Flying Championship would be a bridge to far for the three-year-old at this stage.

October Morn has not had much luck recently and on Saturday it looked like there would be a repeat because Danielson found himself stuck behind a wall of horses towards the inside.

However, being pushed by another horse fortuitously helped him because she was pushed towards a gap.

She wasted no time in pouncing for the narrow gap and was soon sweeping past horses, having displayed a fine turn of foot.

Danielson had to keep her going with some smacks in the final stages because she looked to idle after hitting the front.

However, she held on by a comfortable 0,30 lengths from the Gareth van Zyl-trained Hollywood Syndicate-owned four-year-old What A Winter filly Asiye Phambile, who was coming off three successive 1600m victories for Duncan Howells in KZN.

Kwinta’s Light, Shantastic and Winter cloud were beaten 1,55 lengths, 1,65 and 1,70 lengths in to third, fourth and fifth places respectively.

Golden Hostess was sixth and the favourite Mrs Geriatrix’s disappointing Cape campaign continued as she could only manage seventh place, beaten 2,05 lengths, although she did carry a 2kg Gr 1 penalty and was not well away.

The victory was rewarding for David Abery, because he has also been involved in the mare Miss October.

Picture: Rachel Venniker is clear on Fire Tonic (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Turf Talk

Rachel Venniker has graduated from the South African Jockey Academy and had her first meeting as a fully-fledged jockey at Sunday’s meeting at Hollywoodbets Scottsville.

Her first ride was aboard the Stuart Ferrie-trained Wylie Hall gelding Fire Tonic and she managed to  keep this four-year-old going to comfortably beat the joint favourites Run To Rio and Send Me.

Venniker was a twice South African Champion Apprentice.

She had one win as a workrider before joining the Academy.

She had 207 wins as an Apprentice.

This season Venniker has had 28 wins at a strike rate of 9.43%.

Kelso was a five times Horse Of The Year.

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT KELSO