Herman Brown and Grant van NIekerk after combining to win with The Night Ferry (Picture: Wayne Marks)
Graeme Hawkins (Race Coast)
Herman Brown (Jnr) has returned to the training ranks after a 12-year leave of absence and his first runner back, The Night Ferry, gave him the perfect welcome by taking out the fourth race at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth today (Tuesday), an Open Maiden over 1600m run on a heavy track. Formerly trained by Justin Snaith, The Night Ferry (17/2) went from pillar-to-post under Grant van Niekerk and had enough in reserve to hold off the fast finishing Superhero by less than half-a-length, with the short-priced favourite Gold Giboski a further length away in third spot.
Brown said in the winners’ interviews, “It’s a great start. I haven’t had a runner in 12 years — I was nervous. I must have had 25,000 runners in my career by now, but this one felt different. Grant rode a lovely race. He’s not an easy horse to ride, but he outstayed them. It’s great to win any race, really. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but hopefully we can pick up a few more.”
Later, The US Of A stormed to victory in the R135 000 Turf Talk Syndicate B Stakes over 1000m, giving Richard Fourie his fourth winner over the first six races on the card. As expected, the race mapped out perfectly for The US Of A with Fourie able to settle some way off the brisk gallop set by the well supported Elusive Winter. Approaching the final 200m Elusive Winter was still going great guns under Gavin Lerena, but The US Of A made up the leeway with a minimum of fuss and the Paddy Kruyer-trained 4yo son of The United States drew clear of his market rival to win going away by a widening margin.
Following The US Of A’s victory, Fourie was still 12 winners in arrears of Lerena and with just nine days of the current racing season remaining, it would take a monumental effort by Fourie to deny Lerena his second Champion Jockey title. Elusive Winter stayed on well to finish a clear second with Roman Agent and Flying Finley completing the Quartet.
Fourie’s first winner came in the second race, a D Stakes over 1800m, when partnering the warm-order favourite Baton Rouge (1/1) to a hard-fought victory State Capitol. Baton Rouge was always handy but had to dig deep to hold off a determined and sustained challenge from State Capitol. Fourie followed up in the third race, a Maiden Plate (F&M) over 1600m, going all the way on the Justin Snaith-trained Zena’s Act (7/2) to score comfortably by two lengths over Mighty Mary (3/1).
Fourie never had a ride in the fourth race but completed his early hat-trick aboard the Adam Marcus-trained See A Penny (28/10) who smashed her seven rivals in the fifth race, a C Stakes over 1950m. Wood World made an early dash for home under Gavin Lerena but the 3yo son of One World was soon under pressure in the home stretch and See A Penny quickened smartly from midfield to score by more than three lengths in dominant fashion. Heliotrope ran on steadily to snatch second spot, a nose ahead of Professor Snape with Wood World a one-paced fourth.
Punters suffered an early setback with the first race, a Maiden Plate over 1200m, going the way of 66/1 chance Note To Self on debut. With Gareth Wright doing duty for the Snaith team, the 2yo son of Futura accelerated impressively from some way off the early speed and came home strongly to win going away by close on two lengths from a much-improved World Warrior. Note To Self is an eye-catching individual who is bred to prefer a lot further, but he showed a touch of class yesterday and could be worth following.
The most impressive winner of the day was Late December who raced away to win the eighth race, a Class 4 Handicap over 1200m, by a country mile. Trained by Greg Ennion for Gary Player, Late December has now won both his starts in 2025 following a lengthy spell on the sidelines and the clearly talented 3yo son of Rafeef should work his way through the divisions.
