Felix Coetzee is in Cape Town for a holiday during the Hong Kong off season where he is chief riding master at their academy.

 

Next Saturday will herald the tenth anniversary of his record-breaking eighth Gold Cup win and he revealed to Turf Talk the secret to his success in the country’s premier staying race, which these days is sponsored by Marshalls World Of Sport. 

 

He said, “I knew the track well and I got to know it better through running it to keep my weight down. Also when Mr Millard used to have a Gold Cup horse we used to go to Greyville for a gallop about ten days to two weeks before the race and we would gallop for the full Gold Cup distance. So I would take the horse to the exact starting position and then do pace work for the whole two mile distance. This gave me a good feel of the horse (and the course) because I would pick up the pace the whole way and finish well. It gave me a good idea of what I wanted to feel from the horse on race day. So I can recall on a few occasions being very much in touch with the way the horse was travelling beneath me during the race.”

 

There are two climbs at Hollywoodbets Greyville, the back straight and the climb from about the 1000m mark to the top of the straight.

 

Felix regards the second climb as the tougher of the two as it is steeper and the horses have travelled further by that stage.

 

Millard used that hill to his advantage. 

 

Felix said, “We usually needed the race to be a test of stamina, so we used to increase the pace coming up that hill. The horses behind us would have to increase their pace as well and that is what would beat those who were  suspect in stamina.”

 

The yard often used pacemakers too.

 

Felix recalls when winning it on Bella Bianca, trained by Tony Millard, that Bernard Fayd’Herbe had ridden the pacemaker Chaplin.

 

He said, “Bernard and I had a very good understanding of what was required. His task was to ride at a certain pace until the top of the straight and he did it to an absolute tee. He needed to have done so too because I only just got up! (by a quarter of a length).”

 

Felix regards the stout Terrance Millard-trained British-bred mare Devon Air as the best Gold Cup horse he ever rode.

 

He said, “She was a dour stayer, but she was such a strong front-runner that after the Drill Hall you could just start increasing the pace. This made it impossible for anything to get to her. Any horse who tried to chase her would die and those who didn’t would never get to me anyway. There were some guys who did sit and wait that year. She won easily (by 4,5 lengths from Hawkins).”

 

He also mentioned the amazing Terrance Millard-trained three-year-old Argentinian-bred gelding Illustrador, whose still celebrated winter season campaign in Durban kicked off with a win in the Grade 3 Rupert Ellis Brown Memorial Plate over 1200m at Clairwood. He then won the Grade 1 SA Guineas and two weeks before the July he won the Natal Derby over 2400m. He won the July by a comfortable 1,30 lengths and then a week before the Gold Cup finished third in the Grade 1 Mainstay International over 1800 at Clairwood from draw 16 of 16.

 

Illustrador won the Gold Cup by half-a-length carrying 55.5kg.

 

Felix recalled, “He was an absolute freak, but the key to him was he relaxed so well. You just had to put your hands down and he would relax. You saved energy doing that. Staying the distance was no issue because he was bred for it. But he could win over 1200m, so he obviously did have acceleration too.”

 

Felix would not have believed he would one day be the Gold Cup’s leading rider in history when sitting on the sidelines in 1983. An ear infection meant he had to be stood down for the ride on the Millard-trained Hawkins, who duly won under Millard’s super sub Mark Sutherland. Hawkins had finished second the previous year and finished second to Devon Air the following year.

 

Felix’s eight Gold Cup wins beat the seven of Charlie Barends.

 

Felix’s eight:

 

2012 – In Writing (Arg) (Editor’s Note) trained by Dean Kannemeyer.

1998 – Bella Bianca (Arg) (Ahmad) trained by Tony Millard.

1996 – Festive Forever (Foveros) trained by Tony Millard.

1990 – Illustrador (Arg) (Cipayo) trained by Terrance Millard.

1988 – Castle Walk (Dancing Champ) trained by Terrance Millard. 

1986 – Occult (Kama) trained by Terrance Millard.

1985 – Voodoo Charm (Del Sarto) trained by Terrance Millard.

1984 – Devon Air (GB ) (Sparkler) trained by Terrance Millard.