Turf Talk Newsletter – 14 November, 2024

Back In Business is led in after winning the Listed Betway Spring Spree Stakes back in August (JC Photos)

Back In Business was back at the training track this morning (Thursday) for the first time since the nasty incident in the Allied Steelrode Onamission Charity Mile, in which he unseated Muzi Yeni.

Meanwhile, his talented stablemates Rule By Force and Fiery Pegasus are rated as contenders by the yard in their respective engagements on Betway Summer Cup day.

Trainer Joe Soma said from his Turffontein base today, “Back In Business came back with a bit of a swollen joint, just slightly swollen, and from then until now we’ve done a lot of work on it, icing him and wrapping him up, and it’s looking quite good at the moment. He went to the track this morning for the first time since the race, which was 12 days ago.”

He said about the progressive William Longsword gelding’s furture program, “I don’t know where we are going to go, I’ll have to look at it very seriously. I will have to make a serious decision about the L’Ormarins King’s Plate, because he’s not a horse who I think will handle the long trip to Cape Town. But you never know. I would love to go, but he’s not a horse who stands in the pens for a long time, but on the other hand if you go down with Choice Carriers they give him such a big berth, so it might feel comfortable.”

He said about the big horse’s options if the King’s Plate was avoided, “We would probably go for the Hawaii Stakes and then the Horse Chestnut.”

Joe was not at all happy with the riding in the Charity Mile that led to Back In Business clipping heels and stumbling badly and he said, “Very poor riding from a lot of the jockeys in the R1 million event. Thankfully the horse is alright and we are hoping and praying Muzi will be back as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, Rule By Force put up a scintillating display on Monday when winning a MR 106 Handicap over 1800m by two lengths, despite carrying 59,5kg and jumping at odds of 25/1.

Joe said about the now 112 merit rated five-year-old Pomodoro gelding, “I’m hoping he gets into the Summer Cup. Firstly I can’t believe he was that price in Monday’s race, if that race had been run on Saturday he would have started 3/1. But when the rains came and it was changed to Monday I chickened out because he had had a knock on the tendon before, which we battled with, he didn’t bow the tendon but just knocked and it took a long time to settle. But the way he had been working and his class – if you look at his Triple Crown form he ran horses like Royal Victory to two lengths and he then ran third in the SA Derby – he was in a MR106 off a 105 against horses who shouldn’t be 106 and he won accordingly, so I was impressed with that and I think if he does get in he will be a very nice outsider for the once a year punter for a win and place. I think he could be the dark, dark horse of the Summer Cup. He is now 112 so he’s got a good chance of getting in, but we will leave it to the handicappers.”

Fiery’s Pegasus’s form speaks for itself and she will be a big runner in the Gr 3 Fillies Mile as she will go into the race without any penalties.

One Stripe remains the most exciting three-year-old prospect in the country at present. (Picture: Wayne Marks) 

At this time last year the male three-year-old strength appeared to be on the Highveld, but it was only really through two horses, Main Defender and Sandringham Summit, and in the end they didn’t achieve as much as they were expected to and ultimately it was the Cape horse Green With Envy who was named Equus Champion three-year-old male.

The Jonsson Wokwear Dingaans has attracted a big entry and there could be a lot of potential stars. However, the two who have impressed the most are both trained by Mike de Kock and are still unexposed, meaning they are only rated 105 and 96 respectively.

Greaterix was spoken about last season when winning second time out over 1200m by 5,20 lengths. This season he avenged his debut defeat by beating Pistol Pete over 1100m by two lengths, although he was receiving 9kg. He was then stepped up to 1600m and led from start to finish to win a Graduation Plate by 3,50 lengths, beating only three other opponents, but two of them were merit rated above 100. He could still be anything. The grey Vercingetorix colt is out of the Jet Master mare Semra, whose three wins were from 1600m to 2000m. Greaterix could well be a triple crown prospect.

Heather’s Boy is more imposing and this rangy type has a big stride. He is by Rafeef out of the classy Tiger Ridge mare Folk Dance. Heather’s Boy carried 60kg against older horses second time out off a 90 merit rating and fought off  a persisent challenger impressively.

The Betway Graham Beck Stakes winner Moonlight Trader (Erupt), ran on well that day and is a progressive sort trained by Paul Matchett. Paul is capable of bringing them on slowly but surely and this horse has begun to blossom.

The Sean Tarry-trained Lancaster Bomber colt Legend Of Arthur is out of a Galileo mare and having run on to be beaten just 0,65 lengths in the Graham Beck, he could shape into a triple crown candidate.

SA Nursery winner Fire Attack from the Alec Laird yard had to give the whole field 2kg in the Graham Beck and in his first run for seven months was beaten by just 1,50 lengths.

Musical Score was beaten just 1,35 lengths in the Graham Beck and this Lucky Houdalakis-trained Oratorio colt is well regarded.

Winds Of Change has not been seen out this season yet, but is one of the highest rated maidens in recent times and has proven ability against top class opposition.

Proceed, last season’s Equus Champion two-year-old male, and his Sean Tarry-trained stablemate Cosmic Speed have also not been sighted yet this season.

Meanwhile, in KZN the Frank Robinson-trained Cat’s Pajamas (Rafeef) and the Mike de Kock-trained Artist’s Model (Buffalo Bill Cody) are both Dingaan’s entries and have plenty of promise, although the former might be more comfortable over shorter than a mile.

When comparing the above to the best in the Cape, it becomes apparent that this season’s Cape three-year-olds look to have a lot of class and depth.

They are headed by the Vaughan Marshall-trained One Stripe (One World), who showed how good he was on October 12 when giving 1kg to last season’s Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas winner Snow Pilot in a 1400m contest and only losing by a length.

The Justin Snaith-trained Vercingetorix colt Sail The Seas (Vercingetorix) impressed on Saturday and is one for the classic notebook.

The Snaith-trained Great Plains (Danon Platina) used his big stride to finish well in the Cape Classic for a second career stakes success.

The horse he beat, the Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Vercingetorix colt Boundless Energy, has had the dogs barking for a while and is one to keep an eye on.

All Out For Six (One World) is One Stripe’s stable companion and was only 0,75 lengths behind Boundless Energy in the Cape Classic.

The Snaith-trained Lancaster Bomber colt Eight On Eighteen won the Langerman and this long-striding sort is another who will have to go into the equation.

There are sure to be more emerging and the pecking order should have started to have taken some shape by the end of this month.

There are few more passionate horseracing people in the country than the racing all rounder Mark van Deventer and in a joint promotional effort between Interbet and Turf Talk, he will be writing a once a week tipping column that will appear in every Friday’s newsletter starting on November 15.

Mark, who is also a racing manager and racing writer, is one of the best racing analysts in the country and is known for an approach that combines intellect with an eye honed from watching the sport for decades.

He calculates his own speed figures and incorporates them into his tipping.

However, he can also spot the good horses who begin a bit under the radar, but have obvious improvement in them.

Therefore, his tipping advice is always worth reading and his naps are particularly worth taking note of.

Turf Talk looks forward to carrying Marks’s first article tomorrow (Friday) and long may the relationship continue!

The middle distance to staying type Zeus finished fourth in last year’s Betway Summer Cup and was 19th on the final log this year so should get into the final field (JC Photos)

The first jockey declared in the Betway Sumnmer Cup is Rachel Venniker for the Fabian Habib-trained Zeus.

This is signicificant because it puts an end to any speculation about who will be riding the favourite, the Michael Roberts-trained See It Again.

Rachel is stable jockey for Roberts and rides See It Again for almost all of his work, but Piere Strydom is his incumbent race rider and looks now to be a certainty to be aboard for the Summer Cup.

Rachel rode See It Again in his last race, which added fuel to the speculation.

However, owner Nick Jonsson’s words of a couple of months ago that it would be “frankly foolish” not to keep the legend on at his home ground have been shown recently to be full of foresight because Strydom has been riding to a strike rate on the Highveld this season of 30.19% and at Turffontein Standside he has had 53 rides for 19 wins, a strike rate of 35.85%.

Strydom’s riding has not dimmed at all with age and if anything has got better, because as it has so often been said when dealing with horses one never stops learning.

Strydom is known for always leaving something in reserve in his horses, which has left many a jockey and punter surprised when his seemingly beaten mount fights back. This characteristic of his has been more evident this season than ever before, not to mention all the others skills in his armoury.

The Jackson mare Ride On gives both Gavin Lerena and Tony Peter individual doubles and the win gives Lerena the lead in the SA Jockeys Championship. (JC Photos)

Gavin Lerena, Chase Maujean and Tony Peter all enjoyed doubles at Turffontein Inside today (Thursday) and Lerena’s double saw him move into the lead in the South African Jockey Championship.

Lerena has now had 69 wins this season and has achieved it at a strike rate of 27.06%.

He is one clear of the sidelined Muzi Yeni.

Craig Zackey is next best on 62, with Richard Fourie on 57 and Sean Veale on 43.

Maujean has had 27 wins at 8.77%.

Peter has had 30 wins at 17.05%.

Jsustin Snaith leads the Trainers championship with earnings of R5,524,506.25, Brett Crawford is in second place on R4,022,693.75, and Alan Greeff, Gavin Smith and Tony Peter are the next three on R3,337,975.00, 3131550.00 and R2,712,312.50 respectively.

A night race meeting as seen from the Durban View room. (Gold Circle) 

When was the first night race meeting at Greyville and how many attended?

The first night race meeting was planned for Valentine’s Day, 14 February, 1996. However, it had to be postponed to Friday, February 16, due to heavy rains. The latter meeting proved a great success and attracted more than 7,300 racegoers.