Turf Talk Newsletter – 25 May, 2026

Twice South African Champion Jockey S’Manga Khumalo, whose career took off after winning the first of his two Hollyoodbets Durban Julys in 2013, will learn his fate on May 29 (Friday) after being found guilty on a number of counts in an inquiry into serious integrity related allegations.

The inquiry took place before an inquiry board today (Monday).

He pleaded guilty on two of the counts and not guilty on one other.

However, he was found guilty on all three counts.

The charges he was found guilty of include corrupt activities for monetary gain and race-fixing.

Luyolo Mxothwa received a five year ban, with three years suspended.  for a breach of far lesser proportions a couple of weeks ago.

The NHA published the below updated details of Khumalo’s inquiry:

Dual Gr 1 winner Jan Van Goyen heads the list of entries in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 (Picture: Wayne Marks)

The Gr 1 Daily News 2000 has attracted the three joint second highest rated three-year-olds in the country as well as the highest rated filly and only three of the eleven runners are not rated above 110.

An important scratching from the first entries was the 128-rated Tin Pan Alley, although this is likely due to him being targeted at the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge on June 6.

The other scratching was the 110-rated Copper Eagle.

Dual Gr 1 winner Jan Van Goyen heads the field and he and his fellow 118-rated contemporaries, Note To Self and Star Major, ensure a star-studded contest.

The in-form rider Mickaelle Michel retains the ride on Star Major after his excellent win in the Gr 2 WSB Guineas and there is a chance then that she will become the second woman in history to ride a Gr 1 winner in South Africa following the victory of Lisa Prestwood on the Buddy Maroun-trained Al Nitak in the Golden Horse Sprint on June 1 2003, almost exactly 23 years ago.

Hazy Dazy, who narrowly missed out on the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara by finishing a two length second to Littlemissmillion in the Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks, is taking on the boys in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 rather than running in the Gr 2  Lucky Fish Woolavington 2000. The 117-rated filly will have her usual pilot Trent Mayhew aboard.

Some will view Hazy Dazy’s participation in the Daily News as a pity as she would otherwise have clashed with 117-rated dual Gr 1 winner Wish List in the Woolavington and that would have sorted out the title of best three-year-old filly in the country.

Wish List faces six other rivals in what is a small but classy field in the Lucky Fish Woolavington and among them is Rainbow Lorikeet, who was just 0,70 lengths behind her when third in the Gr 1 Cartier Paddock Stakes and she followed that with a runner up finish in the Gr 1 Maine Chance Farms Majorca Stakes over 1600m.

However, Rainbow Lorikeet will have to bounce back from a 7,50 length fifth in the Gr 1 Empress Club Stakes, where she was beaten by Woolavington entries Minogue and Callmegetrix.

In the Daily News the 114-rated Vivas Liberte will be having his first run in KZN.

The other horses rated above 110 are the 115-rated Chronicle King, the 113-rated Happy Verse and the 111-rated Malmesbury Missile.

The other three runners are the 102-rated Master Spy, the 99-rated Diogenes and the 92-rated World Of Royalty.

Below are the entries for the Daily News 2000, the Lucky Fish Woolavington 2000 and the Listed Lonsdale Stirrup Cup.

Asiye Phambili lands a deserved Gr 1 (Race Coast)

The Jackpot of Graded features at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Saturday culminated in six-year-old Asiye Phambili becoming the most deserved Gr 1 winner for the last season or two under an outstanding ride by Sean Veale in the SA Fillies Sprint brought to you by The Witness.

It was an emotional moment all round for Veale, the Hollywood Racing team and for trainer Duncan Howells when the slow motion replay showed that the 2/1 chance Asiye Phambili had prevailed by an official margin of a neck over the 18/10 favourite Double Grand Slam.

It was a particularly memorable race for Howells as his other charge Hierarchy finished a fine 2,65 length fourth at odds of 66/1.

She could progress into a Gr 1 winner herself.

Howells is not known for outward displays of emotion

He said in an interview on Sunday, “It is the closest a horse has ever brought me to tears. It was a race I really wanted to win and it was chiefly for the horse’s sake. I felt it was the best highlight of my training career, it was really very, very special.”

The strong but athletically built What A Winter filly actively looked proud of herself after the race as she trotted back to her groom.

She stood for a moment with head raised majestically, ears pricked and surveyed her surrounds. After a number of near misses she was finally able to say, “I am the Champ.”

Duncan continued, “She is a lovely filly and is one of those horses that grows on you.”

Sean Veale was emotional afterwards too and thanked Hollywood Racing’s racing manager Anthony Delpech for “having his back” as the choice of jockey.

Gavin Lerena is the other chief Hollywood Racing jockey and had ridden Asiye Phambili in her last start in Cape Town in the Diadem. He was on the injury list when Asiye Phambili had her first start of this season’s Champions Season in the traditional SA Fillies Sprint pointer race, the Gr 3 Poinsettia Stakes over the same Hollywoodbets Scottsville 1200m course and distance, a race in which she put in one of her most impressive career performances, running out a 3,70 length winner under Veale.

It would not have been an easy choice for Delpech. considering Lerena is a twice SA Champion Jockey and is the reigning Champion.

Delpech opted to keep Veale aboard and Howells knew he had made the right decision.

He said, “I wouldn’t have thought it fair to put on a jockey who had only ridden her once. He had to have somebody on the horse who knew the horse, it wasn’t a debate about the expertise of riders. Sean Veale knew the horse backwards. You can’t change that and you may never get another chance of winning a race like this. Sometimes it could work against you, but I felt in this situation it would work in her favour.”

Veale paid back the faith shown in him with the ride of the season.

Pre-race planning goes into any race and with this Gr 1 being viewed as a two horse race between Double Grand Slam and Asiye Phambili it could be predicted that it might boil down to the tactics employed by the two  jockeys involved, Andrew Fortune and Sean Veale respectively.

In Hollywoodbets Scottsville’s big sprint races the horses tend to drift from the outside draws inward and this creates traffic problems for horses coming from off the pace from inside positions.

With Fortune drawn ten and Veale eight it was predictable that Fortune would sit on the outside of Veale and box Asiye Phambili in … and that is exactly what he did.

However, Veale responded superbly to the situation even if it initially looked like the filly was in trouble as she ended up further back than she would have liked.

He dropped Asiye Phambili behind Double Grand Slam and with the pace on in the race he began driving her to build up momentum for an early move.

Meanwhile, Fortune’s tactic did have its consequences because Princess Of Gaul came from a wide draw and sat on his outside, forcing him to check slightly before diving for a gap all the way to the inside.

Michael Roberts, South Africa’s only Hall Of Fame jockey was known for his tactical superiority and he based it all on doing what the other jockeys had least expected.

Veale then delivered his trump card.

He switched to the outside of Princess Of Gaul and began charging for the line just after the 400m mark, plotting a straight course to the line, an unexpected move considering the best going had appeared, from previous races on the day, to be on the inside.

Meanwhile, Fortune had burst clear on the inside rail and it would be reasonable to assume he believed Asiye Phambili to be buried somewhere back in the scrum. He must have been shocked to see her surging up to him wide out in the centre.

Asiye Phambili did begin hanging towards her rival, as is natural for a racehorse, but she had momentum on her side.

They flashed past the line together just a couple of metres apart.

Howells thought she had been beaten.

He said, “Last year I thought she had got beat but thought we had a squeak of winning it. This year I genuinely thought she had got beat.”

Duncan was over the moon when the slow motion replay confirmed she had clearly won, although the official margin of a neck is surprising … it looked closer even in the slow motion replay.

Duncan reflected on the moment two years ago when the preparation had gone just as perfectly as it had this year only for the jockey Rachel Venniker to be dislodged at the start after Asiye Phambili had pecked badly.

He said whilst he did not think she was better today than back then he believed her to be tougher.

“She is a very hardy filly, she’s been going flat out for three years and traveling up and down and she’s never let us down. She has been a bit of a miracle horse.”

Duncan revealed the key to preparing an older mare like her, “Older horses sometimes maintain their fitness better than younger horses because they have been through the mill before and often, as is the case with her, you have to keep them fresh to maintain their attitude.”

Duncan said about the Erupt filly Hierarchy. “She ran a cracker, she is actually a very good filly, she has been plagued with viruses. She is vey unexposed and I think she has huge Gr 1 potential. We have had a lot of setbacks with her. She is not a flash in the pan. She has always shown in work at home she is well above average and I think there is a lot to come with her. ”

Duncan concluded by revealing he had bumped into Andrew Fortune in Checkers on Friday night and there was a bit of banter.

On Sunday he magnanimously praised Fortune for a fine tactical ride on Double Grand Slam, but he was outwardly proud of the hard-working Veale for delivering the stable its ninth Gr 1 victory.

A R500 000 Cape Premier Yearling Sale book 1 graduate, the Hemel N’ Aarde Stud-bred Asiye Phambili is a daughter of four-time Gr1 winning stallion and champion sprinter What A Winter (Western Winter) out of the six-time winning Rambo Dancer mare, Cast A Spell, who in turn is out of American import Flying Magic.

Haute Couture gets the better of Rich Man’s World in a thriller (Race Coast) 

A trivia question that would leave many floored would be. which horse was the last to win both the Gold Medallion and the Cape Guineas?

The answer is surprising in that the last to do it was not a colt but a filly, the great “galloping goldmine” Empress Club.

With the Mike and Mathew de Kock yard’s propensity to send horses down for the Cape Guineas, there could be a chance of ending that trivia fact, because Saturday’s Gold Medallion winner Haute Couture looks to be top class.

He had to tackle the country’s most talked about prospect. the Vaughan Marshall-trained Rich Man’s World (One World), in Saturday’s Gold Medallion and he prevailed in a thriller.

Richard Fourie, mindful that last time he had to keep on reining Rich Man’s World in over 1100m on this track in the Gr 3 Godolphin Barb Stakes, allowed Rich Man’s World to pull himself to the front after he was a bit keen early.

Haute Couture, meanwhile, was using his huge stride but was relaxed and within himself, so his supporters must have been licking their lips a long way out as he was at Rich Man’s World’s quarters.

At the 400m mark Rich Man’s produced a good kick, but Haute Couture responded with a devastating burst of speed at the 200m mark that saw him come alongside.

Rich Man’s World tried his hardest to fight back but Haute Couture always had his measure and won by 0,30 lengths under a fine ride by Callan Murray.

It was a memorable race too for the trainer who is increasingly commanding attention, Mano Pandaram, as he gained a Gr 1 third place finish with recent maiden winner Kudikaran, who was beaten 6,40 lengths.

Only time will tell whether Haute Couture is a classic horse.

His dam by Var, Isle De France only won one race, over 1450m, but she was in turn out of the Gr 2 SA Oaks winner Ilha Bela.

Cape Breeders website wrote this about Haute Couture:

Ridgemont’s top-class sire Rafeef looks to have come up with a top-class colt in the form of Haute Couture.

The latter made it two wins from two starts when he won the G1 Gold Medallion (1200m) at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Saturday.

In the process, Haute Couture became his sire’s fifth G1 winner, with Rafeef’s G1 winners including 2022 Gold Medallion winner Thunderstruck.

A ten and a half length winner on debut, the Mike and Mathew De Kock trained Haute Couture made a mockery of his inexperience when he won Saturday’s R1.75 million feature.

Under Callan Murray, Haute Couture was always up with the pace, and he settled down to fight out the finish with favourite Rich Man’s World.
The Rafeef colt just put his head down where it mattered most with Haute Couture going on to win the 2026 Gold Medallion by a long neck.

Bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, Haute Couture races for the Murugasa family.

Haute Couture, a R2 100 000 buy from the 2025 National Yearling Sale, is out of the Var mare Isle De France and is thus bred on the same cross as such G1 winning sires Master Archie and Thunderstruck.

The inform Rafeef has another very smart two-year-old on his hands in the form of Flower Island, with the latter finishing second in Saturday’s G2 Allan Robertson Championship.

The Tony Peter Taxi To The Moon has burst into prominence this season as a top echelon sprinter and after a win in the Gr 3 Lebelo Sprint over 1000m at Turffontein on December 27 and a fine second in the Gr 1 Computation Sprint over that same course and distance he proved on Saturday at Hollywoodbets Scottsville he can compete at the highest level over 1200m too with a fine victory in the iconic Gr 2 Golden Horse Sprint, which has been won in the past by some of the finest sprinters in South African history, including the legendary JJ The Jet Plane, who won it twice.

In his run before the Golden Horse Taxi To The Moon won over 1000m at Hollywoodbets Greyville, which will stand him in good stead for the Gr 3 Post Merchants on Hollywoodbets Durban July day and in the Gr 1 wfa Mercury Sprint on Gold Cup day, both over 1200m.

Taxi To The Moon’s merit rating has been raised three points to 126.

That will see him having a fine chance in the Post Merchants, in which the top merit rating band reads: 62kg: 122 or more.

Presumably that means he will carry 62kg and be well in.

In the race on Saturday Tristan Godden relaxed Taxi To The Moon down the seemingly favourable inside about five lengths off the leaders King Of The Gauls and Ziyasha. who were on the outside.

The fancied pair Café Culture and One Eye On Vegas looked set to fight things out, until Godden bravely pushed the Kestorm Investments-owned 10-1 shot through a narrow gap between the two.

Taxi To The Moon prevailed over Cafe Culture by a quarter of a length and his time of 67,07 seconds was the fastest feature race time on a day of fast 1200m times.

The Hollywood Racing trio of One Eye On Vegas (9/2), the fast-finishing Kaalvoet (14-1) and Ziyasha (20-1) filled the next three positions.

Winning jockey Tristan Godden said it was quite fortuitous that the engagement had fallen into his lap after he had called trainer Tony Peter to declare his availability.

“He keeps on improving since the gelding, said trainer Tony Peter.

The Oldlands Stud bred Taxi To The Moon was a R1 million Cape Premier Yearling Sale buy for Kenneth Pillay’s Kestorm Investments, who had a fan club on course to enjoy the exciting victory.

The 4yo gelding has now won 8 races with 7 places from 22 starts and stakes of R1 613 094.

By Vercingetorix (Silvano), the winner is out of the once winning Indigo Magic mare Earn A Moon, a half-sister to Mike De Kock’s former Dubai stakes winner Lucky Find and the well-performed PE stakes performer Pay The Piper. Both of the latter won 8 races.

Sosoru can make it a hattrick at Vaal Classic on Tuesday (JC Photos)

The highest rated race at the Vaal Classic meeting on Tuesday is a MR 96 Handicap over 1000m and Sosoru looks the one to beat.

This Vercingetorix gelding has fine gatespeed and natural pace and can be switched to whichever side is perceived to be favourable after likely jumping out in front. On this track the high draws are usually favourable and his draw of seven should be close enough to the outside going. His speed is not cheap as he has a fine kick too. He won by 4,75 lengths over 1160m last time in impressive style so his merit rating of 89, after a maximum raise of eight points, looks to be capped. His time in that last race was excellent if compared to other races on the same day. Callan Murray will be full of confidence at present having won a Gr 1 over the weekend and Sosoru should go close. Its Personal is a tall horse with a nice action and he won well in a good time over this trip last time, especially if considering he was slowly away. He should be in the shake up. Echo Check improved with cheekpieces on over 1160m last time. He looked to be headed to the top at one stage, but his string of below par runs have seen his merit rating coming down to a competitive mark. He led last time and was swamped late, so will enjoy the step down in trip.

In the first leg of the Pick 6 over 2400k Chabal has some useful form over this trip and he jumps from a plum draw of three. He is currently off a mark just two points higher than his last winning mark over this trip. Play With Fire stays 2000m and is interesting sent over a further trip as she is a resolute sort.  Bold Action is not only by stamina influence Futura but is also a half-sister to El Rey Vienne, a William Longsword gelding who was once just two lengths back in the Highland Night Cup over 2400m. She should get the trip and she is currently off a competitive merit rating. She does have a tricky draw of ten though.

In the second leg of the Pick 6 Orange County jumps from a good draw over an Ideal 1800m trip and can bounce back. He is progressive and has Gavin Lerena up. Art Nouveau is always thereabouts and has a useful 1,5kg claimer up over a suitable trip. Page Boy has always struck as a progressive sort and can go well here.

in the sixth race over 1800m, a MR 66 handicap, Commander Of All’s last win was over 1700m so he should enjoy this trip and he is just three points higher than he was for that win in November last year. Rock My Boat starts handicapping off a reasonable mark and on pedigree looks likely to relish this trip, but he does have a tough draw. Crepuscolo makes appeal as one who enjoys the trip and he is just four points higher than his last win, which was over this trip, although his draw of eight is not easy.

The eighth race over 1000m could be won by the talented Catfish who has a fine record over 1000m in which he bumped an array of good horses and was not beaten by far. His merit rating of 87 looks more than  reasonable and he is not only drawn in the right side but has the leading apprentice, the talented 2,5kg claimer Blaine Marx-Jacobson aboard. Blindfire relishes this course and distance and is drawn on the right side. Taking A Risk is drawn on the right side and this distance suited son of Fire Away has been knocking hard off this same mark and is drawn on the right side.

The ninth is over 1200m and Oriental Bouquet is in good form and has a nice high draw so could find the winner’s enclosure off a mark three points higher than her last win and with the in form Mickaelle Michel aboard, whose 1,5kg gender claim equates to the three point Oriental Bouquet has to find to match her previous winning performance. Belle Of Angelus drops to a lower class and from a good draw should have a chance, although she was beaten by both Oriental Bouquet and Spy Story when widely drawn on the Inside track last time. Daring Act should give a good account of himself in this lower class. Zoombomber has a high draw and should be right there. Kotinos will be a factor under Gavin Lerena if able to overcome a low draw.

In the third race over 1000m Staggerwing looks a racing certainty on formlines and is drawn on te right side too, although he does return from a short layoff.

In the second race over 1000m Tiger Magic ran a cracker on debut and from a good draw will be hard to beat under Gavin Lerena. Buffalo King Cody has a low draw which might make it tough, but he has a form chance if his last run is ignored.

Samuel Sharpe looks the one to beat in the first race with the 1,5kg gender claim of Savannah Valjalo being a bonus.

Get Up gives Sean Tarry a 22nd Festival Of Speed feature (Race Coast)

Sean Tarry’s tally of Gr 1 winners at Hollywoodbets Scottsville would be 22 had the Allan Robertson sadly not lost its Gr 1 status this year as his What A Winter filly Get Up ran out an easy and impressive winner of this race on Saturday at Hollywoodbets Scottsville under Gavin Lerena.

The “King of Pietermaritzburg” will have to be judged on Festival Of Speed features races now and with a record 22 he has also not had a Festival Of Speed feature race blank since 2018, meaning he has won at least one of the four features for a phenomenal eight seasons in succession.