Turf Talk Newsletter – 09 December, 2024

Fatal Flaw completes a comfortable start to finish victory to give Piere “Striker” Strydom victory in the one big race in South Africa that was missing from his CV. (Picture: Wayne Marks)

When you have a horse who can relax in front and dictate and then kick away from them at the top of the straight then gatespeed becomes the key to success and the Brett and James Crawford-trained Fatal Flaw possesses the aforementioned assets plus the key of gatespeed and this allowed her to comfortably convert favouritism in the Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday.

Having the legendary Piere “Striker” Strydom aboard was a bonus.

Striker said, “People often ask me, ‘How do you rate a good horse?’ and I reply, ‘It is all about a good temperament, gatespeed,  natural speed where they travel well, and then a kick, 90% of the good ones are like that.”

Fatal Flaw has all those assets and Striker used them well.

However, he added, “The good thing is she went to the front and relaxed. The bad thing is she hadn’t run there before (it was her first time around a left hand turn) and she was green on the corner, she didn’t handle it well. I was already a little bit wide coming into the straight as she was hanging out, but at least that helped me make up my mind that I was going to go to the outside. They often go out at Kenilworth when it rains and there has been some rain, and the previous race they had gone to the outside. I thought why fight the horse to be on the inside when they’ve just won on the outside.”

Earlier Piere had used the New Predator’s filly’s gatespeed to get over from a wide draw and he then took his time to get on to the rail in front, knowing none of the principles would want to lead.

Two of the main contenders, Beware The Bomb and Symphony In White, began overracing on the inside as they waited for Fatal Flaw to get to the front and that might have been costly for them.

Fatal Flaw then dictated at no more than a steady pace, but she was beautifully relaxed, despite being green.

It was basically race over from a long way out, because Fatal Flaw possesses a terrific kick coupled with a resolute finish made very effective by a big action.

She duly kicked into a four length lead at the top of the straight and then just stayed on resolutely in the last 400m.

Strydom kept the stick away until the last 100m and then gave her four rhythmical backhanders to keep her mind on the job.

She easily fended off the main challenger, Scarlet Macaw, to win by two lengths.

It was the one big race in the country missing from Striker’s CV, so was a satisfying moment for the legendary jockey.

Piere elaborated about Fatal Flaw, “She’s not very tall for me, she’s almost on the short side. But she’s quite a strongly built filly, she’s solid, and she’s very balanced and I love her action. So you feel comfortable, she’s an easy ride.”

The Gr 1 Cartier Paddock Stakes over 1800m might be an option for Fatal Flaw’s next race and Piere believes she will see out the trip.

He said, “I think the way she won on Saturday, she wasn’t slowing down.”

He said about just giving her a couple of backhanders at the end, “You know when a horse is doing its best, I don’t understand why some guys want to beat them up. They come out of a race like Saturday better mentally, they improve, because they realise it’s not something they going to do and feel the stick.”

The Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein homebred Ideal World filly Mocha Blend powers home under Sean Veale (Candiese Lenferna Photography) 

Andrew Harrison (Gold Circle)

Mocha Blend only won a maiden at a hot and humid Hollywoodbets Scottsville yesterday but she won with authority. Frank Robinson’s filly caught the eye when running on late behind Meritorious on debut and although the latter did not run up to expectations at her next start with excuses, Mocha Blend is a filly with quality about her.

She stood out head and shoulders above her rivals in the paddock and won as she liked with Sean Veale commenting post-race that if he had not found some trouble in a muddling pace, she would have won a lot more comfortably than the four and a bit lengths would suggest. Mocha Blend took the corner with Veale’s hands in the air as if he was driving a harness chariot, a sure sign that his mount was cruising. She is definitely a filly worth following over ground.

Gary Rich is one of the country’s most under rated trainers as he shows week in and week out what he can do with the limited stock that he has to work with.

But he has his fair share of winners with what he’s got and Flying Cool got over the line late under stable stalwart and regular pilot Cole Dicken to win the fourth. With the field all bunching on the outside rail in the straight, Dicken found himself hunting galloping room but once through a gap, Flying Cool responded gamely.

Second-placed Captain Oliver was only having his second start but Frikkie Greyling looks to have a promising stayer in the good looking son of Potala Palace who is sure to come on from this effort as the pace was never genuine.

Between a dearth of two-year-olds in KZN and many trainers preferring to wait until later in the season for their charges to make their debuts, the operator was left in a conundrum when two horses were scratched from the first leaving just four runners.

The question then became, do they let four runners from two stables contest for the R111 000k stake, or abandon the race? The operator decided to abandon given the value of the stake and the fact that tote turnover on the race would almost certainly be negligible. For the owners it will have been a disappointment but in the greater scheme of things given the precarious state of racing in KZN, it was probably the prudent thing to do.

But favourite punters got off to a winning start when Dressedtothenines made most of the running under young apprentice Mxolisi Mbuto who kept plugging away to win comfortably with fellow apprentice Sifiso Bungane chasing him home aboard Wings Of Josephine with the balance of the field a long way behind.

Safe And Sound is a filly on the up with Kabelo Matsunyane having worked her out, and giving valuable feedback to Duncan Howells. Not the easiest to settle, Matsunyane made the pace in her last two and the daughter of Querari responded with back-to-back victories.

Impatient owners are always a millstone around a trainer’s neck. Granted, there are some trainers that string owners along to keep the stable money coming in but mostly it is a case of patience.

The original owners lost patience with Stars In Heaven but on the advice of Gareth van Zyl, he was a buy-back on an online sale. The hot son of Danon Platina has repaid twice with back-to-back wins as he outgunned stable companion and favourite Gimmethegoodlife in the fifth.

Emerald Green was not one that you could hang your hat on given her recent form but it all panned out in her favour with a messy start playing in her hands in the seventh. Chase Maujean and Louis Goosen go back a long way and Maujean pressed all the right buttons as the daughter of Gimmethegreenlight quickened away from her rivals with Happy Analia, always up with the pace, no match as her inexperience apprentice allowed her to wander under pressure.

The South African Jockey Academy held their year-end awards ceremony on Friday but there is only so much that you can teach, the rest goes to experience.

Piere Strydom gave a master class on Fatal Flaw in the WSB Cape Fillies Guineas on Saturday but as accomplished veteran Kevin Shea pointed out in a recent podcast, the rest of the country does not have to put up with a host of inexperienced apprentices.

Apprentice Damyan Pillay rode an excellent race on Hope Is Power in the last, failing by the narrowest of margins,  but the experience of Matsunyane counted on Mar Del Plata who scraped home with Hope And Power looking for some assistance.

Brass Bell returned to KZN this year after a stint in the East Cape (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Jack Milner

Racing is on the Polytrack at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Tuesday and there could be a couple of decent bets in the offing.

There was once a good bit of advice offered by a bookmaker that one should only take odds-on about a horse if it is a good a reliable performer and not because it looks to be the best horse in a very weak field.

Overall, that is sage advice but there are times where once just needs to bite the bullet and go for it and that looks to be the case with Zena Rose in Race 2, a Conditional Maiden for fillies and mares over 1400m.

A quick glance at the form of this Duncan Howells-trained three-year-old daughter of Horizon might give one cause for concern as she has raced six time for two places. However, closer scrutiny of her runs reveals a lot more.

Her first two runs over 1200m at HWB Scottsville were poor but she kept giving her opposition start. Then she did the same in her next outing but that was over 1400m, and she did make up ground before staying on to finish fifth, just 2.25 lengths behind Blind Speed.

Her next run was over 1600m on the Greyville turf where she again lost ground at the start but produced at the fastest final 400m to run a 2.45-length third to Greenlitealltheway. Howells tried her in blinkers the next time and this time she got out like a bullet but tore off to the front and ran out of steam.

Last time though, with the blinkers now removed she bounced back with a good third behind decent types Happy Fortune and subsequent easy winner Woza Nawe. With the speed she shows she looks well suited to the Polytrack.

The one concern is that as this is a Conditional Maiden, she will give weight to her seven rivals. But she appears head-and-shoulders above horses such as five-year-old maiden Head Girl and Fantasy League and from No 1 draw she has everything going for her.

Kabelo Matsunyane rode her last time and he is back in the irons once again.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 7 Zalta Star, 6 La Maddalena, 9 Precious Beauty, 1 Sweet Reunion

Race 2: 1 Zena Rose, 4 Head Girl, 6 Fantasy League, 2 Dynasty’s Last

Race 3: 3 Ayuwi Yuwi, 4 Gaelic Dancer, 5 War Empress, 6 Rugger Lover

Race 4: 6 Uzwano, 7 Chili Bomb, 2 Rollo The Viking, 3 Vencedor

Race 5: 2 National Award, 5 Force De Dieu, 1 Fish Eagle, 6 Bugalugs

Race 6: 2 Off Limits, 1 Linganomore, 4 Red Knot, 6 Lady Is A Champ

Race 7: 3 Allaroundtheworld, 2 Fine Admiral, 7 Send Me, 5 Duke Of Africa

Race 8: 8 Brass Bell, 2 Porfirio, 3 Roy Taking Off, 6 Rafiki

BEST BET

Race 2 No 1 Zena Rose

VALUE BET

Race 7 No 3 Allaroundtheworld

BEST SWINGER

Race 2 1×4

BIPOT

R81

Leg 1: 6, 7, 9

Leg 2: 1

Leg 3: 3, 4, 5

Leg 4: 6

Leg 5: 1, 2, 5

Leg 6: 1, 2, 4

PLACE ACCUMULATOR

R216

Leg 1: 1

Leg 2: 3, 4, 5

Leg 3: 6

Leg 4: 1, 2, 5

Leg 5: 1, 2, 4

Leg 6: 2, 3

Leg 7: 2, 3, 6, 8

PICK 6

R1200

Leg 1: 3, 4, 5, 6

Leg 2: 6

Leg 3: 1, 2, 5, 6

Leg 4: 1, 2, 4, 6, 7

Leg 5: 2, 3, 7

Leg 6: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8

JACKPOT 1

R60

Leg 1: 6

Leg 2: 1, 2, 5, 6

Leg 3: 1, 2, 4, 6, 7

Leg 4: 2, 3, 7

JACKPOT 2

R300

Leg 1: 1, 2, 5, 6

Leg 2: 1, 2, 4, 6, 7

Leg 3: 2, 3, 7

Leg 4: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8

The picture gives a clue to the answer (Image: HKJC)

How was history made in Sunday’s Gr 1 Longines Hong Kong Cup over 2000m at Sha Tin on Sunday?

ROMANTIC WARRIOR became the first three-time winner of the Longines Hong Kong Cup for James McDonald and Danny Shum.