Calvin Habib after winning the Grade 1 Gold Medallion on Thunderstruck last year (Candiese Lenferna).

Calvin Habib Returning To South Africa

TNP.straitstimes.com

Calvin Habib will ride at his last Singapore meeting on Kranji Mile day on Saturday just three months after making the move from South Africa.

The 26-year-old has decided to cut short his one-year Singapore Turf Club licence to return to Johannesburg to continue his career.

Habib has ridden only two winners in 51 rides over 12 meetings since his Kranji debut in February.

But he did not cite the low score as the reason for his sudden exit – more the low number of meetings.

“At this point in time, I’m at the prime of my career,” said Habib, a winner of more than 330 races in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

“I’m still young and enthusiastic, but racing once a week is not really stimulating for me.

“Back home, I used to ride 35 to 40 horses a week. When I was approached to come here, I was told the club would race twice a week around the middle of the season.

“But till now, the horse population is still low and the field sizes are not getting any bigger.

“I’ve ridden only two winners, but even if I had ridden 10 winners by now, I would’ve still gone back.”

Habib is confident he will not be met with the same paltry results at his old stomping ground.

“I’m heading home because all the feature races come up in the next two months,” he added.

“It’s early days, but I’ve spoken to trainers like Sean Tarry, who gave me all my four Group 1 winners, Tony Peter and Wendy Whitehead, and I hope to get rides from them.

“(Wife) Shandre and I haven’t booked tickets yet, but the plan is to be back in Johannesburg in time to ride on May 23 at Turffontein.”

Success in the Southeast-Asian jurisdiction was elusive, but Habib still put a positive spin on his five months, both on and off the track.

“I did enjoy the country and the system in place here. But I’ve also appreciated the experience I gained here,” he said.

“I’m taking away many positive things. I’ll go back a better rider, more professional as a whole.

“In Singapore, you’re more aware of a lot of factors, you’re more involved with the horses. You get to know them better as you ride them a couple of times a week.

“The pace of the races is also a lot quicker here. Every decision is a split-second decision, you must be as fast as possible and anticipate what could happen.

“You ride with different jockeys from different parts of the world whereas in South Africa, we all come from the same academy.

“You get to learn from the other jockeys and that can only help you improve yourself.”

His first win on the Hideyuki Takaoka-trained Wind Trail showcased both his tactical nous and strength in a tight finish while the second on Takanini was easier.

“Wind Trail gave me my first happy memory even though it was a Class 4 race,” he said.

“I loved the short-head win after a heads-up, heads-down battle with two other horses.”

Habib is booked for five rides at his farewell meeting, including Circuit Mission in the SG$1 million Gr1 Kranji Mile.

The James Peters-trained galloper ran a creditable fifth for him in the Group 1 Raffles Cup (1,600m) on March 25, but still faces mammoth odds to turn the tables on the winner Lim’s Kosciuszko.

Habib does not, however, write off his chances of walking away with a win that would single-handedly salvage his Singapore stint.

“That would be a fairytale ending if that happened,” he said. “He ran fifth for me in the big race, he just needs luck, a good barrier.

“In big races, anything can happen, like the pace is too quick. You also need the right horse and my horse does have ability.”

In Takanini, whom he rode to a luckless sixth in the Gr2 Singapore Three-Year-Old Classic, he had another good bullet in the Gr2 Singapore Guineas. But it was not to be.

“Unfortunately, the Guineas was moved from May 20 to 27. I won’t be there,” he said.

“Takanini is an exciting horse. He will win a Group race one day.If he wins the Guineas, I’ll be smiling at home because it proved I was right about him.Thanks to Mr Michael Clements for his support, but also Mr Takaoka, CT (Cheng Tee) Kuah and Mr Stephen Gray.It would be absolutely awesome if I could come back one day – so long they race twice a week again.”

New Predator

New Predator Moves To Ridgemont Highlands

Time To Take A New Approach!

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The only son of the international stakes-winning Galileo stallion New Approach at stud in South Africa gets afforded a rare and solid gold opportunity to build on his outstanding start when he joins the exciting Ridgemont stallion band in the paddocks of Robertson.

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From limited opportunity of mares since his first season at stud in 2019, New Predator has made an outstanding start with his first offspring on the track showing speed and precocity.

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Ridgemont is synonymous with champions of the turf, with the stallion honour roll dating back almost 75 years and including such breed-shaping icons of the ilk of Persian Wonder, Elevation, Harry Hotspur, Golden Thatch, Jungle Cove, Badger Land, Jallad, National Assembly and Dynasty.

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“Ridgemont have a proud history of making great stallions and have some of the best-bred mares in this country in their paddocks. That platform of opportunity, coupled with New Predator’s ability to upgrade mares, and the fact that Mr Wernars stands the bulk of his high-class stock in the Western Cape, motivated the thought that it made sense to give New Predator every opportunity to fulfill his enormous potential. He is a bit of an outcross to other bloodlines here and it all adds up to a truly exciting opportunity,” said Vermaak.

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A relentless galloping multiple Gr1-placed Gr2 winner from 1200m to 1600m, and a racehorse of the highest quality, New Predator was a winner of the Gr2 Drill Hall Stakes and Gr2 Charity Mile, and placed in three Gr1 races, including twice in the Horse Chestnut Stakes and the Mercury Sprint.

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He hails from the first crop of New Approach, a champion colt in the UK with a Timeform Rating of 132.

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New Predator will be syndicated for R75 000 and shareholders will receive a cover and a bonus for the first three years – his service fee for his first season in the Cape will be R12 500 (live foal).

Beechamwood Boy runs next week and can take Wendy Whitehead one step closer to 50 wins for the season (Picture: Candiese Lenferna).

Whitehead Targeting 50 Wins For The Season

Wendy Whitehead is having the best season of her career and having reached 43 wins, surpassing her previous best of 37, she is now aiming to reach 50.

She has achieved this with just 29 horses and the highlight was a memorable five-timer on January 18.

Her best SA Champions Season hopeful is the two-year-old Erupt filly Hot Pearl, who finished second in the Grade 3 Strelitzia Stakes over 1100m.

She is being targeted at the Grade 1 Allan Robertson Championship over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville.

She is about fifth on the log for the big BSA Sales race on Hollywoodbets Durban July day too.

One of the best runners in Whitehead’s yard is Beechamwood Boy, a four-year-old gelding by Eightfold Path, who has been transformed since gelding.

He reeled off four wins, a second and a third in his first six runs after a three month layoff and gelding.

In the last of the wins, by 4,20 lengths over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville, he clearly had Keagan de Melo excited.

He was then tried in the Listed In Full Flight Handicap over 1100m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville but unfortunately drew highest of all in the 16 horse field.

His regular partner De Melo was also unable to ride him because Dean Kannemeyer had Tempting Fate in the race.

Under the circumstances he did well to be beaten just 3,30 lengths into 6th place.

However, the Grade 1 Golden Horse Sprint looks a bridge to far at present considering the 54kg minimum weight condition and his merit rating of just 90.

Whitehead is looking for one more ordinary race for him before deciding which option to take next.

He is due to run next week and looked in fine shape in a gallop up the hill on the bottom sand track.

After next week’s race the Grade 2 Post Merchants might be an option, although his merit rating at present is likely a bit too low to qualify him.

The lucrative KZN Breeders Mile could also be a possibility, although a mile will stretch him.

O’Meara Rusike and Eric Ngwane at Ralph Beckett’s yard on Saturday.

O’Meara Rusike Looking Forward 77 Days Out From Glorious Goodwood

The L’Ormarins King’s Plate has a racing partnership with the Glorious Goodwood Festival in England and O’Meara Rusike will be looking forward to the latter event.

Zinbabwe’s first black female jockey took part in the Markel Magnolia Cup at Goodwood last year, a charity event for female riders, and became the first African rider to do so.

She then had a dream come true when winning the equivalent race at the L’Ormarins King’s Plate meeting this year, the Okapi Ladies International, on Pacific Green. Fittingly, Pacific Green is a Drakenstein Stud homebred by Gimmethegreenlight trained by Justin Snaith.

That was only the second win of O’Meara’s career.

O’Meara will not be in the riding line up for the Magnolia Cup this year but will definitely be in attendance.

O’Meara, considering her humble beginnings, must pinch herself everyday when waking up to ride work on the hallowed training tracks of racing headquarters, Newmarket in the U.K., where she workrides for Ralph Beckett Racing together with South African jockey Eric Ngwane.

O’Meara credits her adoptive parents and turbulent childhood for her achievement.

Orphaned at a young age O’Meara Chiedza Rusike’s journey to the racetrack started in 2016 when her adoptive father showed her an advertisement in a newspaper called the Herald from December of the previous year.

She knew this was a path she was meant to explore, and she said, “Being a jockey was a calling because I knew nothing about it, except for Zimbabwe’s big race, the OK Grand challenge”.

“I was actually surprised when my father excitedly showed me the advert. I never thought of it as a serious profession but all the same, I instantly fell in love with it,” she added.

She started a five-year apprenticeship at the South African Jockeys Academy (SAJA) and was the only girl out of the initial five who stuck it out.

The program was rigorous as she stuck to a mainly vegetarian diet to maintain a required weight range between 46kgs to 48kgs.

Apart from sticking to lots of vegetables, fruits and water, she used to take a 2.7km jog every day. For breakfast she used to have a slice of toast, an egg and black coffee with sugar.

At the Academy she woke up at 4,30am every day to go to the track from 5am to 11am. She then brushed, walked and fed horses at stables from 2.00pm to 5.00pm.

Her first race took place in December of 2018 and was an overwhelming experience for Rusike who came in 6th in a group of 13. “I was frightened but as I went down to the starting stalls, senior jockeys were motivating me, and it helped calm me down.”

Rusike wanted to quit after a terrible injury when her horse lost control and hit the gates.

“She wanted nothing more to do with horses but we encouraged her to soldier on,” recalled her adoptive father, Perseverance Ganga, a few years ago.

“Seeing her make history as the first black female jockey in the country makes me the proudest father on earth,” he said at the time.

Rusike hoped that although she was the first black female jockey in Zimbabwe, she wouldn’t remain the only. In an interview in 2018 she told CTGN, “I would love to encourage the other girls to come here because it’s a great opportunity it’s a great thing. Like you get to experience the other side and they shouldn’t be scared or get intimidated by the boys. Because what the boys can do, us ladies we can do it better with determination”.

O’Meara only had 18 rides in all as an apprentice for one win aboard the Gokhan Terzi-trained Lunar Dancer (Philanthropist) on October 5, 2019, over 1100m at Borrowdale.

However, she then decided to leave the Academy and go went back to Zimbabwe, where she applied for work-rider jobs around the world; ‘Australia, America, and the UK, I sent out over 50 emails. I wasn’t prepared to give up. Two replied, Lanes End Farm in America and Ralph Beckett.’

She said ahead of the Magnolia Cup last year, “I have never been so alive. I felt I had failed everyone back at home in Zimbabwe, and this opportunity is the most fabulous thing that has happened to me. I ride five lots a day at Ralph Beckett’s, but one of the most rewarding parts is the time I spend with the horses in the stable, this was something I never got to do in South Africa as a trackwork rider.”

Following her heart, she travelled to England in December 2021 to start work at Ralph Beckett’s Kimpton Down Stables near Andover, which is where she now works full time, predominately as a work rider accompanying leading British flat jockeys up the gallops including the likes of Hector Crouch and Rob Hornby.

O’Meara Rusike commented; “Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. Strength comes from overcoming the things you thought you couldn’t.

“I have often felt homesick in the past, but I don’t here. I love learning, and I love the people around me, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

The riders for this year’s Markel Magnolia Cup were announced last week.

The riders set to contest the five-and-a-half-furlong race down Goodwood Racecourse’s straight include:

Caroline Miller – 72-year-old, racing enthusiast and supporter of rehoming of racehorses

Dr. Laura Toogood – Digital expert, businesswoman, media commentator and author

Eliza McCalmont – Work rider for George Scott

Emma Russell – Jewellery Designer

Lyn Comerford – Director of Strategy and Operation at Markel

Maryam Al Jaber – State Lawyer in Qatar and the first Qatari female trainer of Camels

Milica Dusanovic – Civil Servant and Naval Reserve Officer

Olivia Bowen – Television Personality

Olivia Kennedy – Owner of cleaning business, single mother and member of Cool Ridings

Roya Nikkhah – Royal Editor for The Sunday Times, journalist and broadcaster

Saffron Oliver – E-commerce and development for Castle Vending and family business Tayto Crisps

Frankel: legendary racehorse is now current world #1 in second career at stud. Photo: Juddmonte

Retired Jet Dark Top Rated SA Horse (90th) On TRC Global Rankings

Richard Fourie in 48th place is SA’s highest ranked jockey and Justin Snaith is the highest ranked trainer in 28th place

Frankel took over from Dubawi as world’s #1 sire on current global rankings

Nicholas Godfrey

Big news this week on the world rankings as the legendary Frankel moves ahead of Dubawi to claim top spot as the world’s current #1 sire.

According to Thoroughbred Racing Commentary’s exclusive Global Rankings, the Juddmonte phenomenon earned a 58pt boost last week to take his current portfolio to 2401pts – just enough to end Dubawi’s long reign in pole position. The Darley stallion’s portfolio currently stands at 2389pts.

Now 15, Frankel stands at Banstead Manor in Newmarket at a 2023 fee of £275,000. Generally considered the greatest racehorse of the modern era after his unbeaten 14-start career for the late Sir Henry Cecil – ten of them G1 wins – the son of Galileo is well on the way to emulating his sire’s exploits in his second career.

Following Chaldean’s recent 2000 Guineas victory – plus noteworthy successes with Classic winners like Adayar and Hurricane Lane, and Arrest’s Chester Vase – the great horse last week had two winners which counted towards the rankings, notably G1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Jannah Rose. With this, Frankel has had 31 winners which count towards our rankings in the last three-year period, joint-top with the sadly missed Deep Impact.

However, Frankel has also had another 59 winners at G2 and G3 standard which eclipses the Japanese superstar by a wide margin. In addition, his strike-rate of 18% beats every stallion in our Top 30 except stud-mate Kingman (20%).

It is necessary here to explain what is meant by phrases such as “races which count towards our rankings” or “races of Group or Graded standard” because TRC does include certain races which are not ratified by the IFHA as Group/Graded races.

Notable among these, of course, are those huge-pot invitational races, mostly in Australia like the Everest, the world’s richest turf race – but we also include British and Irish Classic trials at nine furlongs and above which may have only Listed status officially.

This has impacted Frankel because Lingfield Derby Trial winner Military Order is one such winner to receive upgraded status; as if to emphasise the value of the integrity of the race, he is new favourite for the Betfred Derby at Epsom.

Savethelastdance, hot favourite for the Oaks at Epsom after her 22-length Cheshire Oaks win, would not appear in the rankings at all unless we ‘upgraded’ such trials. She makes her debut at #211 – it was probably a weak Listed race, after all, and the soft conditions accentuated the margin. That said, she will improve her standing out of all recognition if she follows up in the premier fillies’ Classic – and the TRC algorithm can reassess her Chester run.

Last year’s Everest winner Giga Kick (#5 from #22, +257pt) is the major mover on the racehorse rankings this week after a cosy victory in the Doomben 10,000 in Brisbane. The system has been cautious over his form due to the margins and conditions – plus the small matter of three defeats since he won the Everest.

But this was a competitive race, representing his second consecutive G1 success after his defeat of top miler Zaaki over seven furlongs in the All Aged Stakes at Randwick last month. Giga Kick has won seven of his ten career starts altogether and the three-year-old is now the top-rated active Australian-trained horse after the retirement of current world #3 Anamoe.

Giga Kick’s young trainer Clayton Douglas said the colt would now have a break before returning as a four-year-old to defend his Everest crown.

View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires

Rustic Steel (Deep Impact) was the winner of the inaugural Big Dance on Melbourne Cup day 2022 (Picture: Sam Ruttyn)

Big Things Happening In NSW (Australia) Racing

The Big Dance is run over 1,600 metres on turf at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia 30 minutes after the running of the Melbourne Cup.

It had it’s inaugural running on 1 November 2022, with prizemoney of $2 million.

It is restricted to horses contesting one of the 25 selected NSW Country Cups.

The Victoria Racing Club accused Racing NSW of ambush marketing, due to it’s proximity to the Melbourne Cup.

Nevertheless, it will once again be run on Melbourne Cup day this year and for increased prize money.

Racing NSW announced today (May 16) that prizemoney will be increased for the Big Dance and both the Country Championships and Provincial-Midway Championships Finals.

The Big Dance, to be run at Royal Randwick on 7 November 2023, will now carry prizemoney of $3 million, an increase of $1 million. Qualifying for the Big Dance is through a series of Country Cups and the Wild Card race at Royal Randwick in October.

The Melbourne Cup is run for a stake of Au$8 million.

Racing NSW Chairman, Mr Russell Balding AO said:

“The inaugural Big Dance race meeting in November 2022 was a tremendous success from the viewpoint of on-course participation, wagering and the build-up throughout the qualifying races.

“This prizemoney increase reflects that success and Racing NSW is confident that the race itself and the meeting can continue developing in coming years.”

The Country Championships and Provincial-Midway Championships will be staged for the tenth time in 2024 and prizemoney for those Finals will be increased to $1 million, from $500,000.

“The Country Championships has developed as a highlight of the autumn in its own right, delivering the Championships to locations throughout country NSW.

“The Country Championships and Provincial-Midway Championships are important aspirational racing series. It is fitting that the prizemoney be increased from the tenth edition of the Finals for both the Country Championships and Provincial-Midway Championships,” Mr Balding added.

The Country Championships Final will be run at Royal Randwick on Saturday, 6 April 2024 and the Provincial-Midway Championships Final will be held on Saturday, 13 April 2024.

The improved four-year-old Admiral Kitten gelding Zuzan wins the last race today under Philasande Mxoli to give Paul Matchett a double. Zuzan is now a five-time winner and has won three of his last four starts. (JC Photos)

Zackey, Crawford And Matchett Doubles

Craig Zackey rode a double at Turffontein Standside today, while the Brett Crawford yard scored a double and Paul Matchett’s fine run continued too with another double.

Zackey, who spent part of the season in New Zealand, goes to 34 wins at a strike rate of 9.63%.

Brett Crawford goes to 82 wins for the season at a strike rate of 13.27%.

He is in fourth place on the national trainers logs, which is decided on stakes amount.

Matchett’s recent good run included securing a R720,000 payout for a punter who selected eight out of eight winners at Sunday’s Turffontein Inside track meeting, the final win being the Matchett-trained Global Impact (Global View).

Matchett’s double today took him to 49 wins for the season at 13.21%.