Ravi Padayachee (red tie) and Keanu Padayachee (right corner foreground) watch on as S’Manga “Bling” Khumalo does a Frankie Dettori style flying dismount from King Pelles. (Candiese Lenferna Photography).
Hollywoodbets Durban July day was a day of bold decisions coming to fruition and this was very much the case when the Gareth van Zyl-trained King Pelles won the Gr 3 Durban Gold Vase over 3000m.
Owner Ravi Padayachee, nominee of the Lucky Vest 12 CC syndicate, recalled, “Gareth’s Dad Gavin and I bought King Pelles at the Nationals in 2022. I liked the sire Duke of Marmalade and then obviously KP is my son’s initials, Keanu Padyachee. We were in and out in the bidding and I think if I remember correctly we were bidding in the end against Sean Tarry. When he was approaching half-a-million rand Gavin said, ‘Leave it.’ But then I put my hand up one last time and we won the bid!!”
They had secured the Drakenstein Stud-bred son of Duke Of Marmalade for R475,000 and Gary Player, Dave MacLean and NV Parmanand came in as partners.
Gavin was initially the trainer before passing him on to Gareth upon his retirement, which was before the horse had had his first start.
The R475,000 would have seemed quite a bargain by today’s standards as he is a half-brother to Gr 1 SA Derby winner, the former Gary Alexander-trained Await The Dawn gelding Hero’s Honour.
King Pelles, who is out of Galileo mare Grail Maiden, now has the distinction of being a half-brother to two SA Derby winners, because he is also a half-brother to this year’s winner of that prestigious Turffontein race, the Lancaster Bomber colt Legend Of Arthur.
What is especially significant about the latter horse is he is trained by Sean Tarry, so Tarry obviously went back to the well to secure a closely related replacement for the one that got away, although he had to go to R925,000 to get Legend Of Arthur.
Ravi was also full of praise for Kevin Sommerville, racing manager of Drakenstein Stud.
He said, “Gavin thought this horse would go over the ground and Kevin from Drakenstein did mention this to me when we were in Cape Town. He said, ‘Ravi, this horse will win the Derby, he needs to over further, he is hungry for that distance.’ They are horsemen, we put the money down,but they are specialists in what they do. I didn’t mention Kevin in the winner’s interview, but he did say that to me about a year ago. He has proved to be spot on.”
King Pelles has now actually won three Gr 3 staying races in this one season and if he wins the Gold Cup on the last weekend of the season he would make it a possibly unprecedented fourth.
He won the Gr 3 Glorious Goodwood Chairman’s Cup over 2500m on L’Ormarins King’s Plate day, then fulfilled Kevin Sommerville’s prophecy by winning the Gr 3 Tote Derby over 2400m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on June 14 and followed up three week’s later by winning the Gold Vase on Saturday.
Athandiwe Mgudlwa was aboard for the Chairman’s Cup and S’Manga Khumalo has ridden him in his last two starts.
On Saturday King Pelles was backed in to 9/4 favourite despite having to carry joint topweight of 60kg.
He jumped from draw three in the eleven horse field and was slowly away, but that allowed Khumalo to secure the rail around the first turn before switching to a one out position with cover in midfield down the back straight.
King Pelles quickened superbly at the top of the straight and had hit the front by the 400m mark.
It was clear nothing would catch him as he was galloping resolutely and there was no sign of tiredness.
He won by three lengths from his Tote Derby runner up Holding Thumbs and that gave part-owners Gary Player and Dave MacLean the exacta.
Ravi revealed in the winner’s interview it was his parents 55th wedding anniversary on the day, which made the win all the more special.
Ravi said later about his association with horse racing, “It was my late wife Vanoshini who enticed me to follow my dream and I have now been 20 years in the racing game, I love it. I love the passion. For the last month and a half we’ve been very successful. These colours are my colours and were chosen by Vanoshini. Today is special. To win a graded race on July day is every owner’s dream.”
He reserved a special word for part-owner and friend Viren Parmanand.
“He is not well and I wish him well and think this would have made him feel better today,” he said.
He added, “I think Vanoshini will be smiling down from above today.”
It was not actually Ravi’s biggest win as he was part-owner of the 2009 Gr 2 SA Nursery winner, the Mike Azzie-trained Var colt Vacherin.
Ravi likes to include his family in his racing passion.
One of his horses is called K M V Retrofit, which is named after Keanu, his partner Mags and Vanoshini.
He explained Mags is his nickname for his partner, but she prefers to be called Des.
Ravi concluded, “Our pinnacle will be to now win the Gold Cup. I have looked at the entries and it looks like we’ve beaten everybody there. It will take a good horse to beat us.”
King Pelles was given a six point raise for his win on Saturday, which puts him on 118, three points lower than the highest rated Gold Cup entry Purple Pitcher. However, he has pulled up well and the Gold Cup favours the topweights with the bottom weight being 54kg and the weights compressed.
It is going to be a massive day out at Hollywoodbets Greyville on July 27 for Ravi and family and friends.
