South Africans Craig Benton (2 winners) and Dylan Cunha won three of eight races on the Polytrack at Chelmsford last Thursday. While Cunha is now well established with a competitive string at Newmarket and doing exceptionally well, Benton started with only five runners this year and this double finally got him off the mark in the UK.
Benton opened shop at Epsom Downs, where he was placed in charge of Equestrian R Infinity Limited, re-schooling and rehoming retired race horses for various equestrian disciplines, on behalf of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. This followed his 10-year stint as head of Hong Kong’s Racing Development Board, training and schooling work riders, grooms and jockeys, a position now held by Felix Coetzee. He also performed a stint as official starter for the club.
ERI Limited has two operational sides, the equestrian side and the racing stable. Benton explained: “There are similar centres in New Zealand, Australia and China. The objective is to re-school retired, injured or semi-retired racehorses for equestrian sports, including showjumping or dressage. Most of those who come to us are not able to return to the racetrack, but there are some with racing left in them, like our Chelmsford winners Twitch and Bold Suitor. They’re both seven-year-old geldings who are sound again and enjoying their racing. They’re entered again for Saturday at Chelmsford and should run well again.”
Twitch (Georgia Dobie), in the winner’s enclosure.
Benton, whose father Buller was a top trainer in South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, cut his teeth as assistant to Dennis Drier (“an amazing man and teacher), and then trained successfully on his own with Graded winners like Melting (who held the honour of once beating the legendary Empress Club); Art Di Vivre and Another Cuddle among his stars. As a young man, he also trained for a while in California.
Benton detailed the rest of his journey in racing: “I left South Africa in 2004 to become a steward in Macau and a few years later Training Operation Manager at the British Racing School at Newmarket before I was head-hunted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. It’s all finally led to Epsom, where we are now hoping to expand the racing yard. Tony Millard’s former assistant Erik Lin works alongside me at The Limes, a wonderful training stable formerly occupied by John Benstead. He was the first trainer to train for the Arabs.”
He’ll be attending the Ready To Run sales at Newmarket next month and said: “I have nine new buyers and we’re looking to get at least six new runners. You’re as good as your next winner here in the UK, and people only start taking notice when you’re on the scoreboard. We’re looking to race more often and I am very pleased for Dylan Cunha, who has built his own yard virtually from scratch, like I am doing now. Brian Finch, who is chairman at Epsom, has been of great assistance helping me to dig in and get some support.”
