Turf Talk Newsletter – 03 August, 2026

Asiye Phambili lands the SA Fillies Sprint with a powerful late run (Picture: Race Coast)

A Gr 1-winning seven-year-old mare would usually be packed off to stud, but the Duncan Howells-trained What A Winter mare Asiye Phambili showed on World Pool Gold Cup day she still has the wherewithal and the zest to compete at the highest level.

It took a while for her to see daylight in the Gr 1 wfa Mercury Sprint over 1200m, but when she did she took off and the powerfully built mare stormed home to be beaten just 1,40 lengths.

She gave the champion owners Hollywood Racing their local highlight of the 2025/2026 season when winning the Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville.

She seemed too far out of her ground in that race at the halfway mark and she then had to switch inward into going that had been perceived as inferior the whole day, and yet she still managed to power home to beat the champion mare Double Grand Slam by a neck.

Two years previously Howells had been supremely confident of winning the SA Fillies Sprint, but she pecked and dumped her jockey at the jump.

Then last year her late charge came a short-head too late.

So, it was a thoroughly deserved win this year.

She also won the Gr 3 WSB Southern Cross Stakes last season and the Gr 3 Poinsettia Stakes on top of finishing fourth in the Gr 1 wfa World Pool Cape Flying Championship.

Her Mercury Sprint third was a repeat of her third in that same race last year and she has done it from draws of eleven and seven respectively.

She looks capable of adding further Gr 1s at the ripe age of seven.

She is a horse who just seems to get better and better every season.

To emphasise how powerfully built she is, she was the third heaviest horse in the whole meeting on World Pool Gold Cup day.

KZN’s galloping tank can do Hollywood Racing proud again.

Mission To Mars cruises in at Turffontein Standside on Saturday (JC Photos)

It is interesting to note that the promising Stuart Pettigrew-trained Irish-bred import Mission To Mars is out of a mare by Jeremy, as the latter is by Danehill Dancer.

The nick between Galileo and Danehill Dancer mares is one of the world’s elite thoroughbred crosses and with Mission To Mars’ sire Sea The Stars being a half-brother to Galileo and Danehill Dancer being the grandsire of Mission To Mars’ dam, the cross could be said to be there to some extent.

It is a largely irrelevant observation though because Mission To Mars is unfortunately a gelding.

However, the talented bay could be Betway Summer Cup bound after another easy and impressive win and this time it was in a MR 96 Handicap over the Summer Cup 2000m course and distance.

At Turffontein Standside on Saturday the gelding was having just his third career start, despite now being a six-year-old.

He was drawn two with Philasande Mxoli keeping the ride and he was backed into 5/10 favourite.

He broke well and soon found the rail.

He then settled nicely, third in line on the rail under the beautiful long rein of the underrated Mxoli.

In the straight he turned it on effortlessly and sped past the pacemaker Royal Edition while still under a tight hold.

Mxoli just had to steer him, showing him the stick and administering one reminder as he sauntered to a 3,50 length victory from Prince Of Kildare, to whom he gave 2,5kg, and the third horse was beaten 8,75 lengths.

He will likely get the maximum eight point raise for the handicap win, which will take him to a 94 merit rating.

That is still some way short of Summer Cup qualifying standard, but he has hardly come off the bit in his two wins over 1600m and 2000m respectively, followinhg his debut over 1500m in which he camje from a mile back to run second.

Pettigrew said he would get his African Horse Sickness Vaccinations now and they then had a plan for him “up until the end of November”, which was a hint that he would be targeted at the Summer Cup.

Pettigrew is a horseman of vast experience and is not one to jump the gun. He admitted the horse still had a number of hurdles in front of him and would have to prove himself good enough. However, he added that the horse was a lovely, sound type and he believed he would be even better with the sting out of the ground after the rains came.

Owner Willem Ackerman said it had been his acid test going from a maiden to a MR 96 Handicap and admitted the performance had left him excited.

For a horse who arrived with a reputation of not wanting to work and who then took over a year to get to the racecourse he appears to be remarkably professional and there is little hint of any problems other than him going down to the start with his best friend, the stable pony.

The Secretadversary wins the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot (Picture: Sky Sports Racing) 

The 2025/2026 season will go down as a memorable one for a few of the top thoroughbred owners of South African racing and their achievements included overseas success.

Hollywood Racing, who were crowned champion owners for the second season in succession, set a local target for themselves of 180 wins, way ahead of their best previous return of 128. Remarkably they reached 179 wins with one meeting of the season left and looked set to get their target exactly on the Fairview Poly on Friday. However, they were a short-head shy of reaching it when Whirlybird was second in the sixth race and then in the penultimate race of the season they were half-a-length back with Potenza.

Hollywood’s local highlight was a Gr 1 win with the Duncan Howells trained What A Winter mare Asiye Phambili, who produced a remarkable finishing burst from someway off the pace to get up by a neck in the Gr 1 wfa SA Fillies Sprint over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville, beating the crack Justin Snaith-trained mare Double Grand Slam. It was a hugely deserved Gr 1 win for the mare who had not had much luck in previous Gr 1s. She also won the Gr 3 WSB Southern Cross Stakes over 1000m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth and the Gr 3 Dennis Drier Poinsettia Stakes over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville as well as finishing fourth in the Gr 1 wfa World Pool Cape Flying Championship over 1000m and an unlucky third in the Gr 1 wfa Mercury Sprint over 1200m. She gets better and better and this powerful filly resembled a tank in full flight when charging late in the Mercury, so it is great news to hear she will be staying in training as a seven-year-old.

Overseas, Hollywood Racing, in partnership with Rikesh Sewgoolam, went close to flat racing big race glory when their stalwart One World colt One Stripe finished a late-surging 0,25 length second to his Graham Motion-trained stablemate Test Score in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park over 1800m with Gavin Lerena up. One Stripe had put his disappointing Woodbine Mile and Breeders Cup Turf Mile runs behind him when winning an Allowance Optional Claimer over a mile at Gulfstream Park in a time just 0,4 seconds outside the course record. One stripe followed up his Pegasus run by finishing second in the Gr 1 Makers Mark Mile Stakes at Keeneland and third in the Gr 1 Manhattan Stakes over 1900 at the iconic Saratoga “Meet”. The Woodbine Mile and Breeders Cup Mile winner Notable Speech, who was an admittedly unlucky fourth in the Makers Mark Mile, franked One Stripe’s form recently when winning the Gr 1 Lockinge Stakes over a mile at Newbury in the UK by an easy and impressive two lengths.

Hollywood Racing’s other USA-based stalwart, the Graham Motion-trained What A Winter gelding Isivunguvungu, came back from a nine month layoff to recently win an Allowance Optional Claimer over 1100m at Laurel.

However, the Hollywood Racing overseas highlight was provided by their jumps racing superstar Il Etait Temps, who provided a moment any owner in the world would dream of when winning one of the Cheltenham Festival’s Championship events, the Gr 1 Queen Mother Champion Chase over two miles. It was the Willie Mullins-trained grey’s sixth Gr 1 win. They own the champion chaser in partnership with the Kieswetter family’s Barnane Stud.

There was also overseas Gr 1 success for a former champion owner, Gaynor Rupert of Drakenstein Stud. Her exciting UK Summer included being owner-breeder of a John and Thady Gosden-trained Sea The Stars filly called I’m The One, who was installed as Epsom Oaks favourite after a highly impressive six length victory over a mile and two furlongs at Newbury on debut. She finished second in her next start in a Listed event at Chester and was unfortunately then sidelined with injury.

However, a St Mark’s Basilica three-year-old colt Gaynor owns and bred in partnership with Coolmore, Thesecretadversary, later won the Gr 3 Jersey Stakes over seven furlongs at the Royal Ascot meeting before landing a Gr 1 in France over seven furlongs at Deauville.

Locally the second-placed owner in the 2025/2026 championship was Durban-based Nick Jonsson, who pulled off surely the finest ownership feat in SA history when his Justin Snaith-trained Twice Over gelding won the Gr 1 wfa WSB Met, because it meant Jonsson had won Cape Town’s most famous race four times in succession with four different horses. To win one Met could be due to luck but there is nothing lucky about winning four in a row and it proved Jonsson to have inuition of rare quality in the buying arena. See It Again also landed the Gr 1 wfa Premier’s Champions Challenge and Snaith and Jonsson ran one-two in the Gr 1 wfa HKJC Champions Cup at Hollywoodbets Greyville with Eight On Eighteen and See It Again. Eight on Eighteen was Equus Horse Of The Year in 2024/2025 and See It Again looks a certainty to give Jonsson a second successive Horse Of The Year and a third one overall as his part-owned Do It Again was Horse Of The Year in 2018/2019.

In another fine ownership feat Nancy Hossack and Jonathan Bloch became the third known owners to land the July exacta following Luke Bailles in 1990 and Nick Jonsson in 2018. Their charges Note To Self and Wish List, both trained by Justin Snaith, finished close together in that order in the R10 million Hollywoodbets Durban July. Bloch also likely broke a record by winning the July plus all four of what used to be KZN’s most important classics, with his part-owned charge the James Crawford-trained Star Major winning the Gr 2 WSB Guineas and the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 and Wish List winning the Gr 2 WSB Fillies Guineas and the Gr 2 Woolavington 2000.

Another notable season was had by Kenneth Pillay of Kestorm Investments as he not only had two Gr 1 wins with the Tony Peter-trained Buffalo Storm Cody, but he also had 37 overall wins during the season at an amazing strike rate of 28.24%.

Craig Zackey made it 286 wins for the season when clinching a four-timer on the Fairview Poly with Dean Smith-trained All Systems Go (Pauline Herman Photography)

The national championships of all categories last season was notable in that there were no really close fought titles with all of them being clear cut, although there was a mathematical possibility that Varsfontein Stud could catch the eventual champions Mauritzfontein and Wilgerbosdrift at the World Pool Gold Cup meeting in the race for the Breeders Title.

Craig Zackey can now proudly and deservedly call himself Champion Jockey having reached a final tally of 286 wins for the season when landing a four-timer at the last meeting on the Fairview poly.

He had by far the most ridees in the season of 1683, but his strike rate was a decent 16.99%.

Zackey had set himself a target of 275 for the season and such was his excellence throughout that his prediction turned out to be conservative.
He was 61 wins clear of nearest rival Richard Fourie, who had 225 wins at a strike rate of 21.55%.

Keagan de Melo is a man to watch as he ended on 158 wins in third place, despite starting the season four months in on December 5.

His strike rate of 20.57% tells a story as it was third highest on the log behind that of Aldo Domeyer’s (53 wins at 22.75%) and Fourie’s.

Fourie generally only traveled from Cape Town to the East Cape other than for big meetings in KZN and the Highveld and if it is the same this season then the title might be fought out by Zackey, De Melo and Gavin Lerena. The latter traveled to KZN for the first meeting of the new season and now looks to be Hollywood Racing’s chief rider.

The rest of the top ten together with their number of wins and strike rates were Muzi Yeni on 148 (11.96%), Calvin Habib on 133 (10.95%), Callan Murray on 117 (12.58%) , Serino Moodley on 100 (12.35%), Sean Veale on 94 (13.13%), Gavin Lerena on 92 (18.47%) and Rachel Venniker on 83 (11.96%).

Blaine Marx Jacobson will be crowned Apprentice Champion with 43 wins at 11.85% and he beat home Mxolisi Mbutho on 32 wins (7.60%), Damyan Pillay on 31 wins (11.40%), Dezahn Louw on 28 wins (8.33%) and Bavish Soodoo on 27 wins (10.31%).
If there had been betting on the Apprentice Championship Marx-Jacobson would likely have been a 100/1 shot at the beginning of February as he had mustered a paltry three wins from 97 rides in the season at that stage and was going along at a strike rate of at 3.09%.

The two leaders at that stage were Mxolisi Mbutho and Girish Samo-Burthia, who were both on 21 wins at respective strike rates of 9.68% and 12.73%.
Yet just seven weeks later Marx-Jacobson, after moving to the Highveld, had taken the lead on 28 wins and had improved his strike rate to 12.79%.
The leading Workrider in the counry was Phenesile Mongqawa with 8 wins at a fine strike rate of 36.36% and Sam Mosia was next best with 7 wins at 25.93%, while Savanna Valjalo retired from the professional ranks in January but started riding in work races again in May and had five wins in 15 rides for a high strike rate of 33,33%.

The best bet of the season was Justin Snaith to land the Trainers Championship because at odds of around 5/10 it looked like buying money such was his firepower.

He ended up earning more than double the stakes money of his perennial closest rival Sean Tarry.

Snaith ended on stakes earnings of R39,579,158 from 140 wins.

The only statistic in which he was not leader was the number of wins in the season which saw Alan Greeff ahead on 149 wins.

The rest of the top ten were made up of Tarry (R17,897,882), Tony Peter (R15,419,938), Mike and Mathew de Kock (15,316,968), Alan Greeff (R13,191,599), James Crawford (R11,990,085), Candice Bass (R11,706,375), Dean Kannemeyer (R9,759,044), Vaughan Marshall (R9,543,629) and Glen Kotzen (R8,866,332).

Hollywood Racing were champion owners for the second year in a row with 179 wins and earnings of R22,344,960

KwaZulu-Natal’s owner extraordinaire Nick Jonsson edged out Sabine Plattner for second place with their respective earnings being R8,061,436 and R7,101,330 respectively.

The Breeders Championship was won for the third time in the last six seasons by Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein, who wrested the title back from Drakenstein Stud.

They won both the Gr 3 R1 million World Pool Gold Cup and the Gr 2 R500,000 Bet With The World Gold Bracelet on the final day of the season with Holding Thumbs and Mocha Blend respectively to remain clear of Varsfontein Stud, whose progeny Note To Self had won the R10 million Hollywoodbets Durban July.

Wilgerbosdrift is owned by Mary Slack, while Mauritzfontein is owned by her daughter and son-in-law Jessica and Steven Jell.

Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein’s progeny had 169 winners of 270 races with 11 individual stakes winners of 14 races for stakes earnings of R34,703,203.

Varsfontein Stud had 120 winners of 190 races with 17 individual stakes winners of 21 races for earnings of R32,261,776.

Drakenstein Stud had 85 winners of 135 races with 12 individual stakes winners of 14 races for earnings of R22,998,934.

Maine Chance Farms (Pty) Ltd had 69 winners of 117 races with 7 individual stakes winners of 13 races for earnings of R19,231,596.

Ridgemont had 96 winners of 142 races with 5 individual stakes winners of 6 races for earnings of R16,670,646.

Stallion phenomenon Vercingetorix secured his second Sires title with his progeny earning R40,770,265 from 138 winners of 248 races. He was unable to match his South African stakes race record from the previous season of 23 individual winners of 33 races, although his progeny did win more stakes races, 34, albeit with 21 individual winners.

Gimmethegreenlight (AUS) was in second places with 126 winners of 188 races. including 7 individual stakes winners of 7 races for earnings of R23,816,838

Querari (GER) had 92 winners of 143 races with 7 individual stakes winners of 12 races for earnings of R22,888,859

Master Of My Fate had 88 winners of 147 races with 11 individual stakes winners of 16 races for earnings of R21,145,171.

Rafeef (AUS) had 110 winners of 162 races with 6 individual stakes winners of 6 races for earnings of R20,746,283.

Malmoos was the freshman champion stalliion with 9 winners of 14 races and 1 individual stakes winner of 3 races for earnings of R1,800,896.

Note To Self was the highest earning horse of the season on R6,382,850, followed by See It Again (R5,080,750), Mocha Blend (3,948,275), Wish List (R3,749,363) and Questioning (R2,933,125).

Drakenstein Stud enjoyed a tremendous finish to the 2025-2026 South African season.

The Drakenstein bred pair of Eight On Eighteen and See It Again ran 1-2 in the G1 HKJC Champions Cup to provide the farm with a memorable result. Drakenstein enjoyed another fine season in 2025-2026, with the farm responsible for 12 black type winners in South Africa during the season, with Drakenstein bred thoroughbreds claiming 14 stakes races in the country overall.

Drakenstein Stud will be offering eight lots at the upcoming August Two Year Old Sale:

Lot 49: Mercy Mercy Mercy c Futura – Howl
By the sire of 2026 G1 Hollywoodbets Durban July winner Note To Self, this colt is a half-brother to two winners including HSH Princess Charlene Big Cap winner All Out For Six. Inbred to Fall Aspen, this colt is bred on the potent Futura/Trippi Cross.

Lot 84: Dolobran c Futura – Lucy English
By one of South Africa’s most inform stallions, this colt is out of the stakes placed Lucy English, and his granddam won four including the Listed Gardenia Handicap.

Lot 92: School’s Out f Futura – Magic School
Futura’s list of daughters include G2 TAB SA Derby winner Curious Girl and the likes of Pink Tourmaline and Light Of The Moon. This filly is a half-sister to the promising One Magic and her dam ran second in the G2 Joburg Spring F & M Challenge and third in the G1 SA Fillies Classic.

Lot 146: Penny Lane c Futura – Princess Penelope
This colt is out of a winning daughter of Silvano and dual Equus Champion Princess Victoria.
He hails from the same female line as former Horse Of The Year Princess Calla and champion sire Jallad.

Lot 174: Potion Number Nine c Jet Dark – Secret Potion
This colt is from the first crop of five time G1 winner and multiple Equus Champion Jet Dark. A half-brother to the useful Secret Fate, he is out of G2 SA Oaks winner Secret Potion.

Lot 175: River In Seville f Futura – Seville Orange
A half-sister to two winners, this filly is out of G3 Track And Ball Oaks winner Seville Orange, a half -sister to G3 Byerley Turk winner Oxalis Gold. This filly, inbred to Sadler’s Wells, hails from the family of international standouts as Alhaarth, Green Dancer, and Solemia.

Lot 279: Barbie World f One World -Barberton Daisy
By the sire of such standouts as One Stripe, She’s My World, World Of Alice and Rich Man’s World, this filly is a full -sister to Listed The Independent On Saturday Insider East Coast Cup winner Gerbera and half -sister to the stakes winning fillies Lesedi La Rona and Swazi Queen.

Lot 312: Chopin c Vercingetorix – Chat Ching
By reigning champion sire Vercingetorix, who was responsible for more than 20 stakes winners in 2025 -2026, this colt is bred on similar lines to the Vercingetorix sired champion and young sire Cousin Casey. His dam is a stakes winning half -sister to four stakes winners.

This draft can be viewed from Block D at the TBA Complex in Germiston.

See It Again stretched his lead at the top of the Horse Of The Year log (Picture: Wayne Marks)

Johannesburg, South Africa — With the conclusion of 2026 World Pool Gold Cup day on 26 July, the Equus Committee has released the final logs for the 2025/26 season.

An impressive second place in the Gr1 HKJC Champions Cup saw See It Again (Justin Snaith) stretch his lead at top of the Horse Of The Year log from 138 to 162 points. Questioning (Vaughan Marshall) achieved a fourth place finish in the 2026 Gr1 Mercury Sprint, accumulating 5 points to climb to 129 and maintain his 2^nd place spot on the log, marginally ahead of Hollywoodbets Durban July runner-up Wish List (Justin Snaith) who finished in third position with 124 points.

The final day of the season produced a number of changes to the Two-Year-Old categories. On the fillies’ log, Palace Of Arvernia (Dean Kannemeyer) moved into the top spot on 32 points after her victory in the Gr2 World Pool With Race Coast Debutante. The Sean Tarry-trained Get Up dropped into second spot with 28 points, while victory in the Gr2 Douglas Whyte Thekwini Stakes earned Marchland (Kelly Mitchley) 16 points to join Good Day Sunshine (Mike/Mathew de Kock) in joint third spot on the log.

There were big changes to the 2YO Colt/Gelding category too. A win in the Gr1 World Pool Moment Of The Day Premiers Champion Stakes saw Erik Dubois (Louis Goosen) soar to 32 points, joining Haute Couture (Mike/Mathew de Kock) at the top of the leaderboard. Rich Man’s World (Vaughan Marshall) remained on his rating of 24 to occupy the second slot.

The standings in the Champion 3-Year-Old Filly category remained static. Wish List (Justin Snaith) maintained her 26 point lead, topping the board on 124 points after her runner up effort in the 2026 Hollywoodbets Durban July. Victory in the Gr1 Ridgemont Garden Province Stakes put Tienie Prinsloo charge Quickstepgal in second place on 98 points and Hazy Dazy (Corne Spies) rounds off the Three-Year-Old Filly table with 64 points.

The same applies to the Champion Three-Year-Old Colt/Gelding category. Tin Pan Alley (Sean Tarry) maintained his position at the top of the log with 84 points, Hollywoodbets Durban July winner Note To Self (Justin Snaith) remained in second spot with 64 points and Star Major (James Crawford) and Trust (Candice/Tammy Dawson) fill 3^rd and 4^th spots with 60 and 44 points respectively.

In the Champion Older Female category, Double Grand Slam (Justin Snaith) still tops the log with 92 points, while Asiye Phambili (Duncan Howells) finished 3^rd in the Gr1 Mercury Sprint to secure second spot on the log with 63 points. Callmegetrix (Sean Tarry) concluded the season next best on 52 points with Mocha Blend (Frank Robinson) moving into 4^th spot with 48 points after winning the Gr2 Bet With The World Gold Bracelet.

The Champion Older Male category has See It Again (Justin Snaith) on 162 points, a comfortable 33 points ahead of nearest rival Questioning (Vaughan Marshall) on 129. A second Gr1 Mercury Sprint win secured Buffalo Storm Cody (Tony Peter) 3^rd place with 92 points ahead of The Real Prince (Dean Kannemeyer) who closed his campaign on 72 points.

The result of the Gr1 Mercury Sprint saw Buffalo Storm Cody (Tony Peter) move to the top of the Champion Sprinter leaderboard on 92 points with Asiye Phambili (Duncan Howells) dropping to 2^nd spot with 63 points. Taxi To The Moon (Tony Peter) retained third spot with 48 points and the Eastern Cape’s Kingdundee (Dean Smith) remained in 4th place with 40 points.

There was no change to the Champion Miler standings. Vaughan Marshall charge Questioning holds a strong lead with 104 points, 32 ahead of nearest rival, Double Grand Slam (Justin Snaith) on 72. Tin Pan Alley (Sean Tarry) is next best on 68 points, followed by The Real Prince (Dean Kannemeyer) and Quickstepgal (Tienie Prinsloo) with 54 and 48 points respectively.

See It Again (Justin Snaith) retained his position at the top of the Champion Middle Distance category log, extending his final tally to 120 points. Wish List (Justin Snaith) remained in second spot with 68 points, while Mocha Blend (Frank Robinson) and Eight On Eighteen finished joint 3^rd with 48 points each. Hollywoodbets Durban July winner Note To Self (Justin Snaith) occupies 4^th spot with 40 points.

Ahead Of The Facts (Justin Snaith) increased his standings in the Champion Stayer category to finish on 30 points, only 8 points ahead of Gr3 World Pool Gold Cup winner Holding Thumbs (Glen Kotzen) on 22 points. Candice/Tammy Dawson-trained Enflame remains in 3^rd spot on the log with 13 points.

Marchland is a nominee for Champion Two-year-old Filly (Picture: Race Coast)

Johannesburg, South Africa — With the conclusion of 2026 World Pool Gold Cup day on 26 July and the final set of logs for the 2025/26 racing season, the Equus Awards judging panel has released the list of nominees for the 2026 Equus Awards.

The categories and finalists for the equine awards are:

CHAMPION 2-Y-O FILLY:

1. Get Up

2. Marchland

3. Palace of Arvernia

 

CHAMPION 2-Y-O COLT/GELDING:

1. Erik Dubois

2. Haute Couture

3. Rich Man’s World

 

CHAMPION 3-Y-O FILLY:

1. Hazy Dazy

2. Quickstepgal

3. Wish List

 

CHAMPION 3-Y-O COLT/GELDING:

1. Note To Self

2. Star Major

3. Tin Pan Alley

 

CHAMPION OLDER FEMALE:

1. Asiye Phambili

2. Double Grand Slam

3. Mocha Blend

 

CHAMPION OLDER MALE:

1. Buffalo Storm Cody

2. Eight On Eighteen

3. Questioning

4. See It Again

5. The Real Prince

 

CHAMPION SPRINTER:

1. Asiye Phambili

2. Buffalo Storm Cody

3. Kingdundee

4. Taxi To The Moon

 

CHAMPION MILER:

1. Double Grand Slam

2. Questioning

3. Quickstepgal

4. The Real Prince

5. Tin Pan Alley

 

CHAMPION MIDDLE DISTANCE:

1. Eight On Eighteen

2. Mocha Blend

3. Note To Self

4. See It Again

5. Star Major

6. Wish List

 

CHAMPION STAYER:

1. Ahead Of The Facts

2. Curious Girl

3. Enflame

4. Holding Thumbs

 

All nominees qualify for the prestigious Equus Horse Of The Year Award.

 

The Equus Awards judging panel for 2026 comprises Graeme Hawkins (Chairman), Robert Bloomberg, Karel Miedema, Aveen Sewpersad and Darryl Maree. While the panel will have the deciding vote on the winners in each category, the lists of nominees are drawn from the Equus logs.

 

In addition to the above, there will also be Thoroughbred Breeders awards for:-

 

· Champion Broodmare

· Champion Stallion

· Champion Breeder

 

Nominees for the CHAMPION BROODMARE category are:-

· Massachusetts

· Palace of Dreams

· Real Princess

 

The Media Award categories are:-

· Print/Editorial

· Still Photography

· Video/Broadcast

 

The Human Achievement Award categories are:-

· Champion Apprentice Jockey

· Champion Jockey

· Champion Trainer

· Champion Owner

· Groom Of The Year

 

The Equus Awards will be hosted by 4Racing for 2026 and will celebrate all that made the season great at The Galleria in Sandton on Tuesday, 18 August.

Further updates and information will be published on the official Equus Awards website (www.equusawards.co.za) and social media channels.

ENDS.