The Mike de Kock-trained Global View gelding Dave The King has walked away with the Equus Horse Of The Year award for the 2023/2024 season.

His groom Lwandiso Jevu was named Groom Of The Year.

Dave The King was bred by Gary Player stud and is owned by Messrs L M Nestadt & G J Player & Ralphs Racing (Pty) Ltd (Nom: Miss K Ralphs).

There were a number of horses who won two Gr 1’s during the season.

However, Dave The King was the only one of those to win two open weight for age Gr 1s.

It was revealed that after much discussion by the panelists he ousted his unbeaten stablemate Gimme A Nother for the award.

Lindsay Ralphs was the spokesman for the connections and remarked that behind a horse like Dave The King were many champions, including the breeder, the trainer, the groom, the farriers, the veterinarians, the jockeys etc.

Dave The King fittingly gave Richard Fourie the final win of his record-breaking 378 wins furing the season in the Gr 1 wfa HKJC Champions Cup.

The above picture taken of Richard Fourie and others in the starting stalls at Hollywoodbets Durbanville won Chase Liebenberg the Equus Still Photography award. Fourie officially received the Equus Champion Jockey award and was also named as recipient of the Equus Special Achievement award.

There will be no controversy in the aftermath of the Equus Awards this year as all of the awards went to the largely expected recipients.

The only surprise during the evening was Green With Envy not being named as a nominee for the Middle Distance award despite having won the Gr 1 Splashout Cape Derby and the Gr 1 Daily News 2000, although he was unlikely to have beaten Royal Victory for the award anyway as the latter made history by being the first out of province horse to win both of Johannesburg’s biggest races.

Richard Fourie, as well as winning the Champion Jockey award also won a Special Achievement award for his phenomenal feat of having 378 wins in the season, smashing the 334 wins of Anthony Delpech set in 1998/1999, a record which was thought to be the safest in SA sport.

The other human and breeding awards that were not known before the ceremony started are Listed below:

The Outstanding Breeders award went to Drakenstein Stud for their feat of setting a new record of 21 individual stakes winners during the season.

The Outstanding Stallion award went to One World for his feat of smashing the freshman record by having 30 individual winners of 40 races, which also equalled the overall record for two-year-old progeny of any sire.

The broodmare of the year was Beach Beauty, who was the darling of the SA turf as a racehorse and at stud she has produced six foals and five runners, four of them stakes winners, including the dual Gr 1 winner Beach Bomb. The other one of the five runners is stakes placed, while one of her stakes winners is starting stallion duties this season.

In the media awards:

The Print Media award went to Charl Pretorius for his well researched and informative Off The Record column article The TCO2 Testing conundrum.

The Still Photography winner was Chase Liebenberg for a great picture of a starting stalls moment (see above).

The Broadcast award went to Vicky Minott for her Taking The Reins interview with Anthony Delpech.

All the equine awards are listed below:

Champion Two-Year-Old Filly
Nominees: VJ’s Angel, Quid Pro Quo
Champion: Quid Pro Quo

Champion Two-Year-Old Male
Nominees: Cats Pajamas, Cosmic Speed, Fire Attack, Proceed
Champion: Proceed

Champion Three-year-old filly
Nominees: Gimme A Nother, Beach Bomb.
Champion: Gimme A Nother

Champion Three-year-old colt
Nominees: Main Defender, Green With Envy, Oriental Charm, Purple Pitcher.
Champion: Green With Envy

Champion Older Female
Nominees: Princess Calla, Humdinger.
Champion: Princess Calla

Champion Older Male
Nominees: Dave The King, Charles Dickens, Royal Victory, Thunderstruck.
Champion: Dave The King

Champion Sprinter
Nominees: Thunderstruck, Lucky Lad
Champion: Thunderstruck

Champion Miler
Nominees: Dave The King, Charles Dickens, Main Defender
Champion: Charles Dickens

Champion Middle Distance
Nominees: Royal Victory, Oriental Charm, Dave The King.
Champion: Royal Victory

Champion Stayer
Nominee: Red Maple, Purple Pitcher, Master Redoute.
Champion: Master Redoute 

Champion Broodmare
Beach Beauty 

Champion Sire
Gimmethegreenlight

Champion Breeders
Wilgerbosdrift And Mauritzfontein

Outstanding Breeder
Drakenstein Stud

Outstanding Stallion
One World

Media Awards

Print
Charl Pretorius

Broadcast
Vicky Minott 

Still Photography
Chase Liebenberg

Champion Apprentice
Kobeli James Lihaba

Champion Jockey
Richard Fourie

Special Achievement
Richard Fourie

Champion Trainer
Justin Snaith

Champion Owner
Drakenstein Stud

Horse Of The Year
Dave The King

Groom Of The Year
Lwandiso Jevu

Bernard Fayd’Herbe after his Emperor’s Palace Ride Of The Month in February on the Lucinda Woodruff-trained Cafe Culture (Picture: Wayne Marks)

Bernard Fayd’Herbe was riding at the top of his game when suffering an injury in April that has put him out since and he estimates there is still at least a two month period of recovery ahead.

He said, “I am alright, I am just taking time recovering and can’t do too much. But it is all about how well you recover, getting back, that is what is important.”

The top heavyweight rider had established a particularly good relationship this season with the Vaughan Marshall yard, which invariably has Gr 1-winning potential.

In one of the rides of the season he went close to adding to his three Met wins when caught 50 metres from home on the Marshall-trained 25/2 shot Rascallion.

He had also ridden the crack Marshall-trained two-year-old colt One Stripe to two impressive victories and there were a number of other good horses he was associated with.

In fact his ride on the Lucinda Woodruff-trained Cafe Culture in a 1400m event at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth was voted by Turf Talk readers as the Emperor’s Palace Ride Of The Month for February and that horse went on to win the Gr 2 Post Merchants over 1200m on Hollywoodbets Durban July day.

Bernard lamented the timing of the concussion-related injury and said, “I had all those horses prepped and I had big plans, but it is part of racing.”

The talented rider will hopefully be back in action for the always much looked forward to Cape Summer season.

Picture: The mighty three-times national champion sire Gimmethegreenlight 

Varsfontein Stud are not only celebrating their 50th anniversary at the moment but also their best ever season.

They are coming off their top amount of earnings ever (Varsfontein Stud progeny raked in R22,153,894), their highest ever position on the national Breeders log (third), their best ever number of stakes winner (14) and stakes wins (21) and their resident stallion Gimmethegreenlight was champion stallion for the third time and he repeated his feat of also being leading stalllion of three-year-olds and two-year-olds, a treble achievement in one season that had never been done before since at least 1953, if not ever, and he has now done it twice.

Gimmethegreenlight is getting on a bit, so had his book limited to 95 mares last year and he will cover the same amount this year.

His young four-year-old son Sandringham Summit is fully booked and will start covering in about two weeks time (the covering season starts in September).

Stud manager Carl de Vos said about Sandringham Summit, “He’s settled in nicely, he’s still a bit babyish, but he will be alright. He’s very popular and is full, he’s got a very nice book.”

Master Of My Fate (Jet Master) finished fourth on the national sires log last season and it was his fourth successive top five finish, with a high of second place to colleague Gimmethegreenlight happening in the 2020/2021 season.

He is popular and so is Erik The Red (Captain Al), who had 14 lots sold at the BSA National Yearling Sale for an average of R392,857.

Carl said about those two stallions, “We are very fortunate, they are well booked, but you see they are well syndicated.”

Carl and his team are very busy at present with foaling season having started and they are preparing 20 lots for next week’s BSA August Two-year-old Sale, 17 of their own and three as agent.

Of their own 17 their are eight by Gimmethegreenlight, four by Master Of My Fate, two by Erik The Red, one by boom sire Vercingetorix, one by the new kid on the block One World and one by Danon Platina.

Lot 293 is an interesting Gimme colt being out of a three time-winning Judpot mare who is a half-sister to Erik The Red.

Lot 330 is sure to attract interest too being by Gimme out of the Listed-winning Jet Master mare Touch The Sky, who is a daughter of the matriarch and champion broodmare Mystic Spring. This grey colt is a full brother to the Varsfontein homebred filly Rotunda, who ran eleven times for the Peter Muscutt yard for two wins, three seconds, three thirds, a fourth and a fifth.

Lot 228 is a Gimme colt who is closely related to Master Of My Fate. He is out of an unraced full-sister to the Gr 3-winning Dynasty filly Hastagyolo, who in turn was out of a Jallad half-sister to Master Of My Fate.

The Vercingetorix Varsfontein are selling is a also going to attract a lot of buyers. This colt, Lot 180, is out of the successful Fort Wood broodmare Justthewayyouare, who is a half-sister to Master Of My Fate. That makes this colt a half-brother to Triple Crown winner and now sire Malmoos.

The One World colt Varsfontein are selling, Lot 86, also has an interesting pedigree. He is out of an unraced British-bred Camelot mare who is a half-sister to Fastnet Rock filly Tenerife Song, who was the champion three-year-old filly in Turkey.

An Erik The Red colt who will attract some interest is Lot 257 as he is out of a Jallad half-sister to Gypsy’s Warning and he himself is a half-brother to Gimmethegreenlight Listed-winning filly Queen Forever.

A Master Of My Fate colt who is beautifully bred and up for sale is Lot 91, a colt out of a Var twice-winning half-sister to both Gr 1 winner Juxtapose (Judpot) and to the current exciting Listed-winning speedster Pineapplemintgreen (Gimmethegreenlight). His dam is also a half-sister to the Captain Al mare Sun Sentinel, dam of the crack East Cape filly Luna Halo.

Picture: Sean Veale (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Jack Milner (Tab4Racing)

Getting the opportunity to ride for either Alan Greeff or Gavin Smith is a massive advantage for jockeys travelling to Fairview to ply their trade and that is exactly what Sean Veale is currently finding out.

On his way to a record victory for champion jockey, Richard Fourie also passed the seasonal record of 116 winners ridden in the Eastern Cape. That record was held by Greg Cheyne and another item they have in common I they both rode for Greeff.

With Fourie having a well-deserved break, Veale has stepped into the fray and has never known it so good. In the three meetings staged in the province so far this season, Veale has already ridden eight winners at rate of 36.36%.

The exceptional run can continue at Fairview on Friday when they race on the Polytrack.

The best of their runners looks to be You Win Again in Race 5, a Middle Stakes for fillies and mares over 1200m, and Masked Vigilante in Race 8, a MR 78 Handicap over 1200m.

The now five-year-old mare You Win Again has made good improvement since joining Greeff, winning her last three starts.

All of those wins were on the Polytrack but she has also won on the turf and her last win was over 1200m.

It will be the first time Veale gets to ride her, but she does not seem a difficult ride and Veale has done a splendid job of replacing local and national champion jockey Richard Fourie so far.

Masked Vigilante always gives of his best but has been very costly to follow, having won four times in 31 starts but only once for Greeff.

That win was on the Polytrack where he clearly enjoyed it and was a wide-margin winner.

Masked Vigilante was noticeably a very unlucky when fourth and beaten less than a length on that surface last month.

He really should have won that race comfortably but was trapped behind runners and only saw daylight very late.

The Philanthropist gelding ran well without winning in his next two starts, finishing fourth on both occasions.

In both those runs he was making late progress and if Veale can get luck in running, he should be finishing best of all and get up to win.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 1 Master Forester, 7 Very Var Var, 2 Nikes Ray Of Light, 5 Burn Bright

Race 2: 1 Sweet Cake, 3 Global Scene, 2 First Wish, 4 Fire Festival

Race 3: 4 Breede Baby, 5 Trip To Barberton, 6 Hugsandhighfives, 1 Red Moon Rising

Race 4: 2 Destiny’s Angel, 7 Specmagic, 1 Single File, 3 October Fair

Race 5: 6 You Win Again, 3 Mythical Dream, 1 Summer Odyssey, 7 Symbol Of Love

Race 6: 1 Harold The Duke, 2 The Inkosana, 4 Global Lady, 3 Electric Storm

Race 7: 5 My Golly Molly, 10 Prevalence, 3 Sequoia, 4 The Mauritian

Race 8: 9 Guarding The Wall, 2 Masked Vigilante, 4 Ella’s Delight, 5 Great Melody

BEST BET

Race 2: 1 Sweet Cake

VALUE BET

Race 7: 5 My Golly Molly

BEST SWINGER

Race 8 2×9

BIPOT

R216

Leg 1: 1, 2, 7

Leg 2: 1

Leg 3: 4, 5, 6

Leg 4: 1, 2, 7

Leg 5: 3, 6

Leg 6: 1, 2, 3, 4

PLACE ACCUMULATOR

R324

Leg 1: 1

Leg 2: 4, 5, 6

Leg 3: 1, 2, 7

Leg 4: 3, 6

Leg 5: 1, 2, 4

Leg 6: 3, 5, 10

Leg 7: 2, 9

PICK 6

R1600

Leg 1: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6

Leg 2: 1, 2, 3, 7

Leg 3: 3, 6

Leg 4: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7

Leg 5: 3, 4, 5, 10

Leg 6: 2, 9

JACKPOT 1

R160

Leg 1: 1, 2, 3, 7

Leg 2: 3, 6

Leg 3: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7

Leg 4: 3, 4, 5, 10

JACKPOT 2

R80

Leg 1: 3, 6

Leg 2: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7

Leg 3: 3, 4, 5, 10

Leg 4: 2, 9

Economics charges past the gallant Jayarebe Credit: APRH / QUENTIN BERTRAND

Economics ‘definitely has more to come’ says Tom Marquand as star colt vindicates William Haggas’s plan with impressive return

Result
7 ran
15:25 Deauville
Flat Turf, Group 2
Distance: 1m 2f
1st 4 Economics fav 11/10
2nd 5 Jayarebe 56/10
3rd 1 Almaqam 76/10

Economics went from “could be anything” to legitimate future star in the space of the 23 seconds it took him to sweep past Jayarebe past the Deauville winning post under a jubilant Tom Marquand.

In doing so he unleashed scenes of unrestrained celebration as William Haggas embraced first the colt’s owner, Shaikh Isa Salman Al Khalifa, and then racing manager Jake Warren, the pressure of having passed up a crack at the Derby in the hope of banking future capital washed away in a joyous instant.

“I don’t know the answer to that but you get a gut feeling in your life and we just felt that it was the right thing for him,” said Haggas when asked to quantify how much upside there might be to having stuck to their guns.

Marquand was in far less doubt on the subject, adding: “There’s definitely more to come from him physically but no-one can stress enough what William and Shaikh Isa did. To miss the Derby is a very bold call.

“William and Maureen [Haggas] are so often right about these horses – pretty much every time – and for Shaikh Isa to trust the team with that, well it’s a big day to miss out on.

“But they’ve undoubtedly made the rest of this horse’s career, whatever he does from hereon in.”

Haggas had expressed the hope beforehand that we might all get the confirmation of what Economics had dropped heavy hints about in the Dante in May and he was happy to hail a fine performance on just the colt’s fourth career start,  which came a full 91 days after the York win.

“I’m very pleased with him,” said Haggas. “I haven’t watched it properly as I saw it from a disadvantageous position but he had a bit of a fight with Brian Meehan’s horse [Jayaraebe] and stayed on well.

“I think Brian’s is a pretty nice horse and I think the first four home were in the right order, so that suggests it might have been quite a good race. It’s the firmest he’s ever run on. I’m not sure he needs that ground but he’s a pretty good horse, I think.”

Betfair cut Economics to 4-1 (from 7) for the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown and both trainer and owner are keen to make that the next stop.

“The natural thing is the Irish Champion Stakes because it’s sponsored by the Bahrain royal family and Shaikh Isa is the grandson of the King,” said Haggas. “That’s an obvious race and he’s in the Qipco Champion Stakes. All being well and with a fair wind, it’ll be those two.”

Haggas added: “Who knows how much he’ll improve but I’d be a fool if I hadn’t got him quite ready. We’ve done a bit with him – just the normal – and had him fit enough to do it if he was good enough.”

Drawn wide and safe in the knowledge that Safwan was in the field to set the pace for stablemate Wahdan, Marquand watched from the rear before angling Economics out turning in, allowing this giant frame of a colt to work through the gears on his way to a two-length success, with another six lengths back to Almaqam in third.

“He was exceptional, there’s no getting away from that,” said Marquand of the flashy son of Night Of Thunder. “Obviously he did what he did in the Dante and you just hope it wasn’t too good to be true.

“Today was always going to be a pivotal day in his career. He’s shown what we saw at York but this was three times, five times better; whatever number you want to put on it. That was a big performance with form that stands up as well.”

Economics was led up by Ricky Hall, the man who rode Baaeed in the mornings and a reminder that, for all that Economics is yet to win a Group 1, lightning is in danger of striking the Haggas team twice in short order. He is certainly in the right hands to fulfil his potential.

“I’ve been part of the Somerville Lodge team for a while now and I’ve been very lucky to ride some very good horses,” said Marquand. “Watching Baaeed going out and winning for the team was brilliant because I genuinely feel part of the team and not just a jockey jumping on their back.

“It was great to see that but there’s that jealous side to all of us – otherwise we wouldn’t be any good at what we do – that you want to be the one on their backs.

“So to find a horse so quickly who’s looking like he might be of the same calibre is exciting and leaves us plenty to look forward to.”

Economics did what many expected while leaving the impression there was scope for considerably more to come.

It was a thoroughly professional performance with a spark of brilliance, which strongly suggested he would make a major impact in Group 1 company further down the line.

Held up sixth of the seven runners by Tom Marquand, the son of Night Of Thunder settled beautifully off a good gallop.

The 11-10 favourite had plenty to do entering the short straight, but his long stride rapidly took him upsides Jayarebe, conqueror of King’s Gambit in the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot, and he lengthened in excellent fashion to forge clear close home.

Firmly on top at the finish, Economics handled the quick ground well, but could prove even better with some give underfoot.

He is now likely to be aimed at a Group 1 over 1m2f in the autumn, and connections will have viewed this as a perfect preparation.

Paddy Power reacted by shortening his odds to 5-1 favourite (from 7s) for the Qipco Champion Stakes in October, which doesn’t look an overreaction.

The Ascot Group 1 appeals as the ideal race for him this season, and it would be a surprise if he didn’t step up to 1m4f next year judged on the manner in which he hit the Deauville line.

With only four runs under his belt, three of them wins, Economics has ample scope to get even better and remains an extremely exciting colt.

Picture: The Terrance Millard-trained Illustrador, ridden by Felix Coetzee, was the first winner of a R1 million July.

The stake for the July in 1973 was R53,600 and by 1979 it had increased to R70,000. In 1981 it was up to R200,000. By 1986 it was up to R350,000 and was up to R400,000 in 1988. It then went up to R500,000 in 1989. In 1990 it leapt to R1 million.