Sakhala Is’Cathulo wins cosily to give the Hollywood Syndicate their 500th win (JC Photos)

The Hollywood Syndicate had their 500th winner today at Turffontein Inside and it was eagerly anticipated because they gave an incentive of R50,000 to the trainer of their 500th winner, R50,000 to the jockey and R10,000 to the groom.

Appropriately the trainer of the 500th winner was Clinton Binda, because with 98 wins for Hollywood he is the syndicate’s winning-most trainer.

Muzi Yeni was aboard the Binda-trained Klawervlei Stud-bred William Longsword three-year-old gelding Sakhala Is’Cathulo.

He bounced him out from the widest draw of all in the 1000m maiden around the turn which was contested by just seven runners.

Yeni took the gelding to the front and he then found extra when challenged by the favourite Thing Called Love.

The Willam Longsword gelding ran out a 1,20 length winner.

Binda gave all the credit for the win to his team, whom he was full of praise for.

The winning grrom was Claudius Mwandama.

Yeni was also an appropriate winner. He revealed how much Hollywood had helped him in his earlier days with such things as the cost of flights to Kimberley.

Clinton also trained Hollywood’s 50th and 200th winners.

His first winner for the syndicate was Hollywood’s 24th win.

Devin Heffer, Hollywoodbets Brand And Communication Manager, said, “A massive well done to Clinton, Muzi and Claudius and a massive well done to Owen, Anthony, Tony, Jo, and all our trainers, jockeys, grooms, and breeders who have helped us reach this significant milestone! Here’s to the next 500!”

Owen obviously refers to Hollywoodbets founder and owner Owen Heffer.

Anthony refers to Hollywood’s Racing Manager Antony Delpech and Tony and Jo to Tony and Joanne Mincione.

Tony and Jo, who used to be thoroughbred breeders, assist with the buying of the Hollywood horses.

The photographs below capture the excitement of the achievement.

Rachel Venniker pictured earlier in her career in the Nick Jonsson colours of cyclamen, spectrum green crossed sashes, white sleeves and a cyclamen cap (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Rachel Venniker will become the second female jockey after Genevieve Michel to ride in the WSB Met.

Genevieve Michel rode the Geoff Woodruff-trained Foveros gelding King Shore to 12th place in one of the most iconic of all Mets, the one won by Horse Chestnut in 1999.

Venniker rides the Justin Snaith-trained The United States gelding Without Question and said she was “Over The Moon” to receive the news on Wednesday.

Without Question has dropped to a merit rating of 117 from a high of 120.

The four-year-old will thus be 7,5kg under sufferance with the best weighted runner and hot favourite See It Again.

Ironicallly, Rachel knows See It Again better than any other horse in the race as she is attached to the Michael Roberts yard and works this horse regularly.

See It Again’s owner Nick Jonsson also owns Without Question and Jonathan Snaith said, “It is common knowledge Rachel has done a lot of work on See It Again and Nick Jonsson felt it most appropriate that we make use of Rachel in this Gr 1 event.”

He added, “Rachel is a wonderful and balanced rider and will suit Without Question beautifully.”

However, he did admit, “Without Question has not been the same horse since his poor run in the HWB Durban July.”

Without Question lay in second place in the running in the July, but found nothing in the straight and was beaten 11,65 lengths into 16th place.

The big horse had also been handy in the Gr 1 Splashout Cape Derby and stayed on strongly for third, beaten just 2,50 lengths by See It Again.

However, in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 he came from off the pace for a good two length third.

Jonathan concluded, “He is probably better than his recent runs would suggest and he will relish the ten furlong trip.”

He actually ran a cracker in his penultimate start when beaten just 3,90 lengths in the Gr 2 Cape Merchants over the too sharp 1200m.

Last time out he stayed on for a 4,10 length sixth in the Gr 2 Anthonij Rupert Wine Premier Trophy over 1800m and that should have put him spot on for the Met.

Rachel recently had her second career win at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth.

She rides regularly on right hand tracks but Hollywoodbets Kenilworth being left handed does not worry her.

“A racecourse is a racecourse and you just have to learn the track and I know it quite well now,” she said.

Without Question’s draw of nine does not bother her either.

She said, “I don’t think it really matters. Draws are not that important over 2000m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth because they’ve got a long back stretch.”

Without Question is a 25/1 shot and he might make a mockery of those odds if able to run to his inherent ability.

Soetendal Estate is excited to be represented for the first time at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale, and we are bringing Lot 68, a classy son of FIRE AWAY out of a HIGH CHAPARRAL mare, from the family of INTELLIGENCE CROSS and SWEET ORANGE.

His two-year old half-sister, FAMOUS LADY, recently won her first start in Johannesburg in impressive style, and this colt looks equally racy.

This colt has grown into a superb type, and it’s hard to fault him. He has a strong resemblance to his sire, and is a fluent mover. With the likes of stakes winners My Golly Molly and Egyptian Mau leading the way, Fire Away is already at 9% stakes winners to runners, and doesn’t look like stopping here.

For pedigree enthusiasts, this mating is not only a 20/20 match on G1 Goldmine, but also a Perfect Match (only one in twenty-five 20/20 matches is a perfect match). On the newer Pedigrees360 platform, the colt also scores exceptionally well.

Apart from sales preparation, Soetendal Estate has become well-known as a spelling and pretraining facility, with recent stakes-winning graduates including the likes of October Morn (Gr2 Cartier Sceptre Stakes), Royal Aussie (3rd Gr1 King’s Plate), Future Variety (Listed Sophomore Sprint), and Questioning (Gr3 Cape Classic).

Lot 90 is a colt by Vercingetorix out of Gr 1 Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic, Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift Guateng Fillies Guineas and Gr 3 Victory Moon Stakes winner Takingthepeace (Visionaire). (Picture: Cape Racing Sales)

There’s never a dull moment at forward- thinking Ridgemont Stud with exciting developments constantly underway, and they despatch an alluring draft of 14 yearlings to the upcoming CPYS 2024, which will be held on Thursday 25 January in the CTICC.

Ridgemont stand freshman sires Malmoos and Real Gone Kid, as well as established producers Canford Cliffs, Potalo Palace and Champion Freshman Sire of 2021, Rafeef.

Rafeef (4 yearlings) and Canford Cliffs (2 babies) comprise nearly half the draft with ace sires, Vercingetorix (3 Lots) and Gimmethegreenlight (2 youngsters) also represented. Single yearlings by Hawwaam, Erupt and One World complete Ridgemont’s pleasing offering.

There is plenty Australian Black Type evident on the page of Lot 40, No More Nonsense, a Rafeef colt ex Maningi Indaba so he is bound to garner much attention.

Lot 40

OZ bloodlines also feature prominently in Lot 119, an Erupt colt out of Being Fabulous; Lot 114, a Vercingetorix filly ex 5 x winner, Ancient Spirit (a daughter of Fastnet Rock) has extensive international links running through the female side.

Lot 108, Victor, is another by leading sire Vercingetorix out of African Lily, who has already thrown King’s Cup victor, Trip to Africa.

Lots 75 and 104 are Gimmethegreenlight colts. The former, Scorpio, is out of She’s a Giver, an accomplished performer on the Highveld, whilst Getupandgo’s dam, Whatalady also won multiple races between 1200m and 1600m, with Black Type stretching back across generations through 2nd dam, Vogue and 3rd dam, the Foveros mare, Thousand Nights.

Lot 75

Gimmethegreenlight has, of course already twice been SA Champion Sire and as the sire of 58 Stakes winners, his offspring are highly prized.

Takingthepeace won the G1 SA Fillies Classic and a bunch of other features so her Vercingetorix colt should get the tongues wagging. Vercingetorix has already sired 29 stakes winners, including 8 G1’s winners from 322 runners. To check out Lot 90’s athletic prowess, head to stable A6. (see picture above the headline)

London News mare, Piccadily Miss has a 100% strike rate from five foals to race. One of them, Wrecking Ball is a zippy, G3 winning sprinter. Piccadily Miss has been put to Champion 3 y-o colt in SA in 2018/19, Hawwaam and the resultant bay colt is listed as Lot 59.

One World is making a splash with precocious juveniles and Lot 70 is worthy of closer inspection. The full brother Lion Rampart has already won in some style at only his second outing, so whilst the “page” is promising, be sure to visit stable A8 and get confirmation by seeing Give it Laldy in the flesh.

Lot 70

Craig Carey is the vastly experienced horseman to contact in connection with Ridgemont’s attractive draft. His cell number is 082 654 5169 or email craig@ridgemont.co.za

ENDS

For racing queries and sales queries, contact Justin Vermaak at justin@caperacing.co.za or Janine van Blerk at janine@caperacing.co.za

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Picture: The Tony Peter-trained Bavarian Beauty runs in the R7.5 million Gold Rush on WSB Met day and this Gr 1 Douglas Whyte Thekwini Stakes winner can bring another feather in the cap to Maine Chance Farms’ stalwart stallion Querari (Picture: Candiese Lenferna)

The Maine Chance Farms-based Oasis Dream stallion Querari has produced the most individual stakes winners this season in South Africa and he is in third position on the overall national log behind the reigning champion Gimmethegreenlight and the boom sire Vercingetorix.

Querari’s six individual stakes winners this season are the Robbie Sage-trained Quantum Theory, who won the Listed Spring Spree Stakes over 1200m, the Vaughan Marshall-trained Questioning, who won the Gr 3 Cape Classic over 1400m, the Justin Snaith-trained Maine Chance Farms homebred filly Baltic Secret, who won the Listed Laisserfaire Stakes over 1000m, the Brett Crawford-trained Zoomie, who won the Listed ROA Stakes, the Andre Nel-trained Master Redoute, who won the Gr 3 Ridgemont Peninsula Handicap over 1800m and the Peter Muscutt-trained Formagear, who won the Listed Christmas Handicap over 1600m.

Querari’s pedigree keeps on being boosted overseas as he comes from a fine family.

At Royal Ascot in 2022 the Gr 2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes runner up Thunder Beauty is out of Quiania, whose dam is a half-sister to the dam of Querari.

Quiana and Querari both share the multiple Group One and Group-winning mare Quebrada in their female lines.

They were both bred by Gestut Farhof, whose owner Dr Andreas Jacobs also owns Maine Chance Farms.

Then in December last year the Gr 1 Qatar Derby at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club in Doha was won by the former John and Thady Gosden-trained Frankel colt Jeff Koons, who is now trained by Hamad Al Jehani, and this relative of Querari’s was ridden to victory by Faleh Bughanaim.

Jeff Koons is out of dual Gr 2-winning Dubawi mare Quidura, who is a half-sister to Querari (Oasis Dream) and to Maine Chance’s other underrated stallion Quasillo (Sea The Stars).

Querari, Quidira and Quasillo are out of the superstar broodmare Quetana (Acatenango), who was bred by Andreas Jacobs at Gestut Fahrhofr.

Quetana has produced Gr 1 winner Querari, dual Gr 2 winner (among other Graded successes) Quidira, Gr 3 winner Quasillo and the Balmoral Handicap (£155,000 winner’s cheue) Sharja Bridge, who is a full brother to Querari and had an OR rating in the UK of 115.

Jeff Koons reached an OR of 90 in seven runs for the Gosdens, although he only won one race in the UK.

His cheque for winning the Qatar Derby was £64,479.64.

Querari has finished sixth on the national sires log in all of the last three completed South African seasons.
The like of Tony Peter-trained Gr 1 winner Bavarian Beauty, the hard-knocking Brett Crawford-trained Graded performer At My Command and the classy Questioning will be among the horses who can lift him into a higher position, while the Justin Snaith-trained Gr 1-winning former Equus Champion Sprinter Rio Querari might still have more to offer and the Snaith-trained juvenile Handsome Prince as well as the Mike Miller-trained juvenile Discerning are two precocious winners he has produced who could train on.

Querari has produced three Gr 1 winners to date and no fewer than 41 stakes winners.

He has nine lots at the forthcoming Cape Racing Sales Premier Yearling Sale and they will be sought after.

Lot 3 is a Maine Chance Farms-bred filly out of a four-time winning Dynasty mare who is a half-sister to stakes winners Chesalon, Mardi Gras and La Volta, the latter being the dam of Gr 1-winning sprinter and now sire Master Archie.

Lot 6 is a Maine Chance Farms-bred filly out of Gold Cup winner Dynasty’s Blossom.

Lot 41 is a Drakenstein-bred colt who is a half-brother to the promising two-time winner Trip To Maputo (Trippi).

Lot 81 is a Blue Sky Thoroughbreds-bred colt out of a six time-winning Silvano mare.

Lot 94 is a Millstream Farm-bred colt who is out of an unraced Jet Master mare who is a half-sister to Gr 1 runner up African Ruler.

Lot 99 is a Normandy Stud-bred filly out of an unraced Twice Over mare who is a half-sister to the dam of stakes winner Emerald Princess.

Lot 105 is a Winterbach Stud-bred colt out of a one time-winning Windrush mare who is a half-sister to Gr 2 winner and multiple Gr 1-placed Second Base.

Lot 115 is a filly who will attract a lot of attention being a full-sister to former Equus Champion Sprinter Rio Querari.

Lot 124 is a Lammerskraal Stud-bred colt out of an unraced Galileo mare, who is a half-sister to a Gr 3 and Listed winner in Ireland.

The Last lot mentioned will have multiple incidences of a phenomenal German stallion called Alchimist in his pedigree, which makes him interesting.

Alchimist, a German Derby winner, was a victim of World War II at the age of just 15 when killed by Russian soldiers.

However, he has left an indelible imprint on the thoroughbred breed.

He appears twice in the pedigree of Urban Sea, the dam of Galileo.

That means he is prominent in the pedigree of many of Europe’s top racehorses, considering the phenomenal success of Galileo.

However, a look through the history of Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winners shows Alchimist to have had an influence in a number of instances outside of the Galileo lines.

Alchimist is in the pedigree of Maine Chance Farms’ late superstar six times SA champion stallion Silvano and is also in the pedigree of Querari. He is in the pedigree of Quasillo three times as the latter is by Sea The Stars, who is also out of Urban Sea.

Kabelo Matsunyane jumped from the widest draw of all on the Paul Matchett-trained Admiral Kitten gelding Zuzan in a 1600m event today (Thursday) but he managed to ease him across iinto the lead and dictate before pulling further and further clear in the straight (JC Photos) 

Readers, please start sending in your Emperor’s Palace Ride Of The Month suggestions

There are prizes to be won in this competition sponsored by Turf Talk’s official hotel partner, Emperor’s Palace.

The ride today at Turffontein Inside on Zuzan by Kabelo Matsunyane is an example of a ride which could be a contender.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH KABELO MATSUNYANE’S GREAT RIDE ON ZUZAN

CLICK HERE FOR THE DETAILS ABOUT EMPEROR’S PALACE RIDE OF THE MONTH COMPO

Pictures: Flower Alley colt Just Nuisance won first time out the maidens today (Thursday) under Kaidan Brewer at Turffontein Inside and clinched a double on the day for Alec Laird. (JC Photos)

Kabelo Matsunyane and Alec Laird had individual doubles at Turffontein Inside today.

Matsunyane goes to 40 wins for the season achieved at a strike rate of 9.83%.

Laird is on  18 wins at 16.51%.

It is widely believed that Alcide would have won Epsom’s 1958 Derby had not probable foul play prevented him from running. A form line through Nagami, who was third in the Derby, gives credibility to the theory that a fully fit Alcide would have won the race.

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT ALCIDE