Turf Talk Newsletter – 19 August, 2026

The methodology that appears to have been used by the panelists to decide the Equus 2026 equine awards could bring to the table something that has in the past been lacking i.e. consistency.

In order for the statistics to be correctly interpreted, the panelists need to be racing aficionados, or purists, who know the sport and its traditions inside out and who have a sound knowledge of handicapping.

Such aficionados will also know when discretion is necessary, which it must be on occasion.

The current panel has some of the most respected racing aficionados in the land.

Thus, no holes at all could be punched into their decisions.

A precedent has been set, which should be followed in future to ensure consistent decisions.

Taking a look at the awards, sound racing decisions were made and none of them were whimsical.

The two-year-old filly award was potentially contentious and some might have disagreed with it,

It was a choice between a horse who had won two Gr 2s, i.e. Palace Of Avernia, versus one who had won a Gr 2 and a Gr 3 and had beaten Palace Of Arvernia in the Gr 2, i.e. Get Up, and an unbeaten horse who had won one Gr 2 easily and had also won two Listed races, i.e. Marchland.

In past years Get Up and Marchland would have likely competed for the award as winners respectively of the Allan Robertson Championship and Douglas Whyte Thekwini Stakes, because in the past both of those races were Gr 1s, while the races Palace Of Avernia won, i.e. the Amusnet Golden Slipper and World Pool With Race Coast Debutante have both been Gr 2s for a long time.

That is probably why the announcement of Palace Of Arvernia as the winner initially came as a surprise to some, because there becomes an ingrained association with the status  of certain races.

However, at closer inspection the panelists look to have got it right because Palace Of Arvernia was the only one to have won two Gr 2s.

The panelists wouldn’t have ignored the argument that Get Up comfortably beat Palace Of Arvernia in the Allan Robertson (by 4,85 lengths), but they might have taken into account that Get Up was beaten in the only other Gr 2 she ran in.

There was also an argument for Marchland. She was unbeaten in four starts in the season and won the Thekwini by 3,30 lengths on top of winning two Listed races, the highest class of race available to her in the East Cape, with consummate ease.

The panelists opted for the only horse to have won two Gr 2s and it was likely a wise choice, because consistency can then be maintained in future rather than the scenario of deciding some awards by discretion and others by statistics.

Some would then question how Holding Thumbs was given the Stayer’s Award when the statistics viewed from one angle marginally favoured Ahead Of The Facts.

Ahead Of The Facts had two Gr 3 wins and a Listed win plus a Listed second, a Gr 3 second and a Gr 3 fourth;

Holding Thumbs also had two Gr 3 wins and a Listed win, but he only had a Gr 3 third as far as places went.

However, when Holding Thumbs won his Gr 3 in Cape Town he gave Ahead Of The Facts a whopping 11kg and a shorthead beating, when he won the Gr 3 Gold Cup he faced Ahead Of The Facts on weight for age terms and beat him by a cosy 2,10 lengths.

Ahead Of The Facts beat Holding Thumbs by 3,75 lengths on 1kg terms better than wfa in the Gr 3 New Turf Carriers Western Cape Stayers and he beat Holding Thumbs by 3,40 lengths in the Gr 3 Gold Vase when 1kg better off than weight for age and

Therefore, Holding Thumbs’ form in the highest Grade they raced i.e. Gr 3 was cumulatively superior to Ahead Of The Facts’.

Holding Thumbs also won the traditionally most prestigious of the Gr 3 staying races in the country.

For The Horse Of The Year there were four horses who had won two Gr 1s during the season, See It Again, Buffalo Storm Cody, Wish List and Double Grand Slam.

In the eyes of all racing aficionados open wfa Gr 1s take precedence and that immediately eliminated both Wish List, who won a wfa Gr 1 restricted to females and a three-year-old classic Gr 1, and Double Grand Slam, who won two wfa Gr 1s restricted to females.

Both See It Again’s and Buffalo Storm Cody’s two Gr 1 wins were of open wfa races.

Open wfa races over classic distances usually take precedence over sprint races for such awards, but not always as was seen when Romantic Warrior and Ka Ying Rising shared the Hong Kong Horse Of The Year title in their recent racing awards.

However, even if See It Again’s two open wfa Gr 1 wins over 2000m did not take precedence over Buffalo Storm Cody’s respective 1000m and 1200m wins, then See It Again also had an open Gr 1 wfa second and an open Gr 1 wfa third, while Buffalo Storm Cody only ran seventh in the other open Gr 1 wfa race he contested.

Neither horse won any other stakes race.

See It Again thus looked a shoe-in and the night’s MC, Clyde Basel, revealed the decision had been unanimous.

The Champion Miler was Questioning, who won one open wfa Gr 1 over the trip and was a short-head second in another open wfa Gr 1 over the trip. No other horse had a record in open wfa Gr 1 miles that could match him,

Both Double Grand Slam and Quickstepgal did each win two Gr 1s over the trip in restricted company.

Double Grand Slam’s Gr 1 mile wins were in two female wfa Gr 1s.

Quickstepgal’s Gr 1 mile wins were in a three-year-old classic for females and a Gr 1 wfa race for females.

Questioning performances in open wfa Gr1s were given precedence.

With that said the choice of Champion Three-year-old Colt/Gelding, appears to have gone against this thinking.

However, this award provided a good example of discretion being needed.

Tin Pan Alley was the only three-year-old to win an open wfa Gr 1 and he beat no fewer than six Gr 1 winners when he did it, including second-placed See It Again by 3,75 lengths.

He had also won the Gr 2 Jo’Burg Spring Challenge against older horses and won the Gr 3 Graham Beck Stakes.

However, he was just too inconsistent to be named Champion Three-year-old colt/gelding.

His Mile form included that one amazing performance in an open wfa race, but otherwise consisted of an unplaced run in the Highveld’s traditionally most prestigious three-year-old mile event, The Gr 2 Jackpot City Dingaans, an unplaced run in the Gr 2 Gauteng Guineas, a defeat in the Gr 2 WSB Guineas to Star Major, the only time they met, and a 15,85 length last place finish in the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge.

Star Major, on the other hand, had clearly blossomed into a fine horse by the end of the season to win the WSB Guineas and Gr 1 Daily News 2000 in  fine style.

It was not a vintage three-year-old crop and by the end of the season he was the standout, not only beating Tin Pan Alley, but also beating Note To Self by three lengths in the Daily News.

Note To Self made himself a contender for the award by winning the Gr 1 Hollywodbets Durban July, but when he beat Star Major in the Gr 1 Cape Derby he was only in second place … had he won the Cape Derby he would have been made Champion Three-year-old colt/gelding, but in the end it was Star Major’s Gr 1 Daily News 2000 win and his Gr 2 WSB win vs Note To Self winning a Gr 1 handicap …  Star Major was thus preferred.

The three-year-old filly award saw twice Gr 1 winner Wish List ousting twice Gr 1 winner Quickstepgal and it went on her better overall record for the season.

The Champion Two-year-old male award saw two horses with Gr 1 wins, Haute Couture and Erik Dubois.

However, Haute Couture beat a much vaunted unbeaten horse in the Gr 1 Gold Medallion i.e. Rich Man’s World, and the pair were more than six lengths clear of the rest of the field.

That performance was preferred to the 0,30 length win of Erik Dubois in the Gr 1 World Pool Moment Of The Day Champion Stakes.

Double Grand Slam’s Champion Older female award and See It Again’s Champion Middle Distance and Champion Older Male awards were self explanatory.

Hopefully the precedent set by this year’s quality panelists will ensure consistency in the awards process for many years to come.

The full list of Equine Award winners are below:-
· Champion Two-Year-Old Filly: Palace of Arvernia
· Champion Two-Year-Old Colt/Gelding: Haute Couture
· Champion Three-Year-Old Filly: Wish List
· Champion Three-Year-Old Colt/Gelding: Star Major
· Champion Older Female: Double Grand Slam
· Champion Older Male: See It Again
· Champion Sprinter: Buffalo Storm Cody
· Champion Miler: Questioning
· Champion Middle Distance Horse: See It Again
· Champion Stayer: Holding Thumbs
· Horse Of The Year: See It Again

Palace Of Dreams is pictured winning the Gr 3 Pretty Polly Stakes in which she beat the like of subsequent Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint winner Singforafa (JC Photos)

The Equus Champion broodmare Palace Of Dreams (Potala Palace) is owned by Sheik Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum’s Al Adiyaat breeding operation, which breeds out of Millstream Farm.

Palace Of Dreams is the dam of Gr 1 SA Classic winner Grand Empire and dual Gr 2 winner Palace Of Arvernia, who was named Equus Champion two-year-old filly.

Palace Of Dreams has only ever been sent to Vercingetorix and her fourth foal, a lovely chestnut filly who stands over a lot of ground and is a beautiful mover, is a full-sister to both Grand Empire and Palace Of Arvernia and is lot 130 at the BSA August Two-year-old Sale which starts on Thursday (August 20) at 09H30.

The Potala Palace mare Palace Of Dreams won the Gr3 Pretty Polly Stakes on her third start as a juvenile, beating the like of subsequent Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint winner Singforafa.

Her third dam is Pax Romana, a half-sister to the champion sprinters Harry Hotspur and Rotterdam.

By standout stallion Royal Prerogative, Pax Romana produced the Champion 3yo filly Kiss Of Peace and Graded stakes winners At The Savoy and Magnolia King, whilst her descendants also include Gr1 Cape Guineas winner Kilindini.

Palace of Dreams’ dam Cheery Berry Bim is out of Pax Romana’s unraced daughter Via Condotti, as are Gr2-placed La Boutique and Roman Dream, the dam of Bauhinia winner Onehundredacrewood and grandam of Gr3 Victory Moon Stakes hero Christopher Robin.

Currently South Africa’s dominant stallion, Vercingetorix has just notched up a second successive Champion Sire title, whilst three of his progeny scooped an Equus award on the night: Palace Of Arvernia, Champion Stayer Holding Thumbs and Double Grand Slam, who repeated as the Champion Older Filly/Mare.

Interestingly, both Palace Of Arvernia and Holding Thumbs are out of mares from the Sadler’s Wells sireline, as are the Vercingetorix champions Cousin Casey (out of a mare by his son Casey Tibbs) and Gladatorian (dam by Dynasty, a son of Fort Wood, the damsire also of Holding Thumbs).

Palace Of Dreams’ fifth foal is a Vercingetorix yearling colt.

Vercingetorix mare Double Grand Slam retained her Champion Older Female title (Picture: Wayne Marks)

Cape Breeders

Maine Chance Farms’ champion sire Vercingetorix dominated proceedings at the Equus Awards, which took place in Kramerville on Tuesday.
Not only was Vercingetorix once again crowned Champion Stallion, but his offspring claimed three Equus Awards on the evening.

Vercingetorix filly Palace Of Arvernia was named Equus Champion 2YO Filly of 2025-2026 on Tuesday evening. The Al Adiyaat bred filly, whose dam Palace Of Dreams was named Equus Champion Broodmare on the same evening, won three of just four starts last season including the G2 Amusnet Golden Slipper and G2 World Pool With Race Coast Debutante Stakes.

Palace Of Arvernia is the second daughter of Vercingetorix to be crowned an Equus Champion at two, with Mrs Geriatrix crowned champion in 2022-2023.

For a second year in a row, Vercingetorix mare Double Grand Slam was crowned Equus Champion Older Female. The Varsfontein Stud bred champion won three races during the past season with her tally including impressive victories in both the G1 Maine Chance Farms Majorca Stakes and G1 TAB Empress Club Stakes. Out of the Captain Al mare Princess Peach, Double Grand Slam has won 11 of 24 starts, with her victories including no fewer than seven graded races.

Vercingetorix’s gallant son Holding Thumbs, an impressive winner of the 2026 G3 World Pool Gold Cup, was another Equus Champion for his sire on Tuesday. The Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein bred gelding was crowned South Africa’s Champion Stayer for 2025-2026, with Holding Thumbs having also triumphed in last season’s G3 Cape Of Good Hope Chairman’s Cup.

South Africa’s Champion Sire for the past two seasons running, Vercingetorix has eight lots on offer at this week’s August Two Year Old Sale, including a full-sister (Lot 130) to Palace Of Arvernia.

Andrew Balding’s Dante winner (pink, white and green colours) just edges Almaqam at York (Picture: Sky Sports Racing) 

At The Races

Item delivered for Andrew Balding and the sponsors to land a 10-1 surprise in the Juddmonte International at York – with the big two of Constitution River and Ombudsman only third and fourth respectively.

Hawk Mountain rather unexpectedly set the early pace, with stablemate Constitution River tucked in keenly behind him and odds-on favourite Ombudsman at the rear under William Buick, kept company by another Aidan O’Brien runner, Action.

Hawk Mountain was still in front as they moved to the top of the long Knavesmire straight, with Buick beginning to make headway on the inside rail, as Ryan Moore and Constitution River kicked for home over two furlongs out.

Ombudsman kept making ground on the inside, but the dangers were coming on the outside and it was Ed Walker’s Almaqam who pulled away with half a furlong to run, only for Item to arrive in full flight, just getting his head down on the line in the hands of Colin Keane.

Balding has now achieved something his later father, Ian, the trainer of Mill Reef, never managed. He said: “I don’t think he had many goes at it, though, in fairness. It’s always one of the most important races of the year. So it’s lovely to win it with a horse like this.

“We’ve pitched him in some good races with the belief that he will do well in them, but he’s kept improving and improved physically. That’s the most important thing.

“He’s really a very different horse than the one that ran in the Dante, physically.”

He added: “I think anything is possible, he certainly has no problem staying a mile and a half if he wanted to.

“I just want to say a big thank you to the team at home because it wasn’t straightforward getting him here. Everything had gone great up until about declaration time and we had a little hiccup there with his feet.

“Thankfully everyone who looks after him have worked overtime to get it right, and happily it was a 5am decision that he got on the box to come up here. I’m very relieved.”

On Item’s next assignment, the Kingsclere handler said: “I just do not know at this moment in time. I think we’ve got to sit down and let the dust settle. We’ve just won a Juddmonte International, that was the plan.”

Star Major provided one of the stories of the season as visiting jockey Mickaelle Michel landed her first ever Gr 1 and became only the second female in history to win a South African Gr 1 race (Picture: Race Coast) 

Cape Breeders

Maine Chance Farms’ top class stallion Querari made headlines at Tuesday night’s Equus Awards ceremony.

The champion son of Oasis Dream had two G1 winning sons crowned Equus Champions at Tuesday night’s ceremony.

Querari’s son Star Major was named Equus Champion Three-Year-Old Colt/Gelding for 2025-2026, while his outstanding son Questioning was crowned Equus Champion Miler for the same period.

Bred by Maine Chance Farms, the James Crawford trained Star Major won a trio of graded stakes during the 2025-2026.

After winning the G3 HKJC World Pool Politician Stakes, Star Major went on to finish fourth, behind champion Wish List, in the G1 Lucky Fish Cape Derby. Sent to KZN, the son of Querari won his final two starts of the season, landing both the G2 World Sports Betting Guineas and G1 Daily News 2000.

Star Major is out of the Silvano mare Star In The Sky and is thus bred on the same cross as fellow G1 winners Bavarian Beauty and Cosmic Speed.
The son of Querari was a R500 000 buy from the 2024 National Yearling Sale.

Querari is also responsible for Champion Miler Questioning, with the latter capturing no fewer than four graded stakes races during the season headed by a victory in the G1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge.

Bred by Alec Foster, the gelded Questioning has won 11 of 27 starts, with his wins including six graded triumphs.

Also runner up in the 2026 G1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate, Questioning has earned R3 910 586 in stakes.

His sire had an outstanding year in 2025-2026, with Querari responsible for seven stakes winners in South Africa during that period.

Querari has six lots on offer at the 2026 August Two Year Old Sale.

Ormond Ferraris on the day of his induction into the National Hall Of Fame (Image: JC Photographics)

Ormond Ferraris
A portrait assembled from moments (by Charl Pretorius for his Off The Record column)

There are some people in racing whom you simply assume will always be there.

For me, Ormond Ferraris was one of them.

As a young boy growing up in the 1970s, I knew Ormond Ferraris’ name long before I knew the man.

My journey as a racing fanatic was probably not that different to that of thousands of others who crossed paths with him over the decades.

They watched him as children.

Then as punters.

Then as owners.

Then as fellow trainers.

Then, as old men looking across the parade ring at another old man.

The racing industry changed. Racecourses disappeared, one after the other. Owners came and went. Jockeys came and went. New generations arrived.

Yet Ormond Ferraris remained.

He was part of my own life and career for the last 50 years, and a rare constant in South African thoroughbred racing for more than 70. In this time, I was fortunate enough to accumulate a collection of memories involving Ormond Ferraris. Some found their way into our book, Thoroughly: Seven Decades in the Sport of Kings and Crooks, while others remained untold. In the days following his passing, a few of them seem worth sharing.

August 1982

Ormond Ferraris in winner’s enclosure at Turffontein. (Image: Beeld)
I had an uncle who showed an interest in my racing activities. He took me to Turffontein one day in August 1982, when I was 14 years old. Youngsters under 18 weren’t allowed on the track. But I snuck in, I was allowed through the turnstiles.

My uncle dared me to approach Mr Ferraris and ask him if his sprinter King Of Jazz would win the big race. I followed the trainer from the parade ring to the escalator that led up to the grandstand. I stepped on, just behind him. He was dressed in a grey suit and a hat, with a pair of binoculars over his shoulder. I looked up at this much-admired man and said, ‘Hi sir, can King Of Jazz win?’

Mr Ferraris saw that I was a young guy probably not allowed on the track, seemed bemused and paused a while. He may have frowned. Then he said, ‘He’s fit, boetie. Ta.’ We told everyone who wanted to hear that we had ‘inside info’. We backed King Of Jazz and he won handsomely.

May 1989
When I was 22 and working as a junior racing reporter for Beeld in Johannesburg, I was asked by Dr Hilda Podlas to write a report on their new imported stallion, Formaz (Forli), who stood at Ormond Ferraris’ Rooispruit Stud outside the Karoo town of Middelburg. She asked me to take photos, so I borrowed a fancy camera from the newspaper’s photographic division and was given two rolls of 35mm film and a crash course on how to use it.

I was a member of a group including Podlas and Emmanuel Cambouris, and veterinarian, Dr Tim Roberts. We flew to Bloemfontein and hired a kombi for a four-hour drive to Middelburg, where Ferraris, a few other Karoo breeders and some townsfolk awaited us.

Formaz was taken out of his stable and paraded. I fussed around him with my borrowed camera, trying to look as though I knew what I was doing.

Perhaps I fooled the group of onlookers, but I fooled myself too. Near the end of the parade, the camera stopped working, so I took a few steps away to the shade of the farmhouse and opened the film chamber. The roll of film was not fully completed and stuck – immediately spoilt by the fact that I’d exposed it to light – and I took a walk around the wall to privacy, pulled the whole roll of film out and shoved it into my jacket. I replaced it with the second roll and asked for a few more photos, then frantically took a few new ones, again pretending to be a thorough professional.

When Formaz was returned to his barn, I told Dr Podlas and Mr Cambouris that I got some super snaps for their promotional campaign. This time, there appeared to be nothing stuck in the camera, so I was ready to remove the roll and stow it safely.

However, when I opened the camera’s latch my heart skipped a few beats. I expected it to have automatically rewound the spool for removal. But, sadly, it hadn’t. A piece of film was stuck in the rewinding mechanism and, again, the spool was exposed to light and rendered useless. At that very moment, pale as a ghost and desperately fiddling with the camera, I looked up to find Mr Ferraris standing nearby, frowning at me.

“You f****d it up, didn’t you, Boetie?” he said.

Mr Ferraris knew exactly what had happened. Thankfully, he chose not to share the embarrassing news with Dr Podlas and Mr Cambouris.

That unpleasant duty fell to me the following day, via fax, from the Beeld offices in Johannesburg.

Needless to say, I was never considered again for assignments by the Podlas crew.

November 1989

Ormond Ferraris and his first wife, Norma, with Distinctly in 1975. (Image: supplied)
The press brigade of the 1980s was formidable: David Mollett, Robert Garner, Etienne Louw, Francois Wolfaardt, Geoff Sinclair, Andre van der Kooi, Eddie Balshaw, Jeff Zerbst, Chris Oberholzer. Peter Duffield and Graeme Hawkins. There was an unwritten rule: new guys on the block had to prove themselves by interviewing the hard-nosed trainers after their favourites had lost.

Remember, there were no mobile phones, live television interviews or online archives. Every quote had to be obtained the old-fashioned way, with a pen, a notepad and a fair amount of courage.

One afternoon at Newmarket, the Ferraris-trained Fearless Spirit, everyone’s banker, was beaten for the third consecutive time. I was dispatched from the press room to intercept Mr Ferraris for a comment.

When he appeared, I nervously stepped forward and mumbled: “Mr Ferraris? Fearless Spirit, any comment?”

He stopped, gave me a curious look, paused for a moment and replied: “No comment, Boet. Ta.”

Then he walked off.

Back in the press room, I was informed that I was very lucky not to have been sworn at.

May 1992
In May 1992, while standing in for Dave Mollett at Business Day, I was given the opportunity to interview Ormond Ferraris for a newspaper profile.

David Ferraris arranged for me to visit the stable and, as instructed, I arrived at 5am.

For the next four hours I stood alongside the team as the first and second strings completed their morning work. Mr Ferraris barely acknowledged my presence.

At around 9am, I asked David whether we could begin the interview.

Something had come up, I was told. Mr Ferraris could not see me that day.

I would have to return the following morning.

So I did.

Again, I arrived before dawn. Again, I watched the horses work, and there was very little conversation.

Then, shortly after 9am, the day’s work finally complete, Mr Ferraris invited me into his office, poured us both a cup of Rooibos tea and we started talking.

Looking back, I realise the lesson was not intentional, but it was unmistakable. The horses always came first. Everything else came afterwards.

That morning marked the beginning of a friendship that lasted more than three decades and ultimately led to our collaboration on his autobiography, written between 2020 and 2022.

September 2020 – October 2022

Ormond Ferraris with Paul Peter at the TBA Sales Grounds in 2021. (Image: Candiese Lenferna)
I asked Mr Ferraris to take a few hours jotting down all the relevant issues from his life and career, starting all the way back in the 1930s. I was amazed to get back several hand-written pages with some incredible facts, figures and names from decades ago which were all spot-on when I started checking.

He had an incredible memory at age 90. He said it was not near as good as it used to be, which left me wondering what it was like in his prime. He remembered races and dates, even race times, from as far back as the 1940s, with uncanny clarity, which made my job much easier as I started dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s.

We spent many hours in his Turffontein office – the same old stable office – covering his life story, recorded in sound clips. We went to lunch a few times. He always offered to drive us, in his immaculate C-class Mercedes Benz, to Parreirinha Restaurant in the back streets of Turffontein, an institution for racing people until its closure in 2023.

Mr Ferraris always had half a peri-peri chicken with a fresh breadroll and Coke, and there were three things he spoke about at every lunch – the sad decay of the suburbs in Johannesburg, the disappointing lack of feet at racetracks, and especially the plight of retired trainers. “I have seen too many superb horsemen die without a penny to their name, even some big names. They deserved better.”

He was still very much involved in the Trainers Benevolent Fund he’d started in 1970, and looking for ways to increase its income. He said: “There is enough in the kitty to keep the fund going for several years after I’m gone. I hope someone finds a way to strengthen it and manage it into the future.”

He moved to Plettenberg Bay, but phoned often to say he missed being close to horses and Turffontein.

January 2023 – June 2025
Mr Ferraris moved back into a gated community in Mondeor, south of Johannesburg and started helping his former stable jockey Weichong Marwing, who was developing his own yard at the track. He was chuffed with Weichong’s progress, though lamented the lack of support for the stable at the time.

Mr Ferraris had a collection of every official Jockey Club Calendar published since the late 1890s, and this came in very handy in my own research for various articles, as the NHA’s electronic database only goes back to the early 1990s. He loved helping me with this, and more than once confirmed facts (like the early Derby and Oaks winners) that not even South Africa’s handful of racing historians had access to.

In his final years, he remained remarkably engaged with racing. He delighted in helping me research obscure historical details from his unrivalled collection of Jockey Club Calendars and could often recall facts that had long since disappeared from official databases.

July 2024 – May 2026

Ormond Ferraris with Luke and David Ferraris, 2023 (Image: supplied)
Mr Ferraris was becoming unsteady on his feet, and noted that in a call to me. He finally said good bye to Turffontein and moved into a retirement home in Plettenberg Bay, close to David. He enjoyed watching Luke’s success in Hong Kong and was very happy when Luke jetted in to visit him a few times.

In March 2026, I was doing some research on former star jockey Raymond Rhodes, who rode for Mr Ferraris in the 1970s and was still in good health, but not able to provide me with his riding stats. I asked Mr Ferraris to look up Raymond’s number of wins and Grade 1 successes in his racing catalogues and he checked in every few weeks with a progress report as this assignment required some extra time.

He took a fall in this time and said he was in terrible pain, undergoing physiotherapy and on medication. Then, on 17 May 2026, I received what would be a last call. He’d taken ill again, apologised for not having my information ready and said he’d resume as soon as he strengthened. By then, he’d given me enough to work with.

David Ferraris phoned me again on 20 May, saying that his Dad promised to get back onto the statistics soon, that he was sorry, and that he’d asked for that message to be relayed.

Sadly, the next call from David was last Sunday, 7 June, when I was told that Mr Ferraris was gravely ill and that Luke, Paul and granddaughter Caroline were flying in to be at his bedside.

How do I end this?

Looking back now, what strikes me most is not one of Ormond Ferraris’ great victories, his Hall of Fame induction or even the remarkable longevity of his career.

It is the fact that, in the final weeks of his life, while dealing with pain, illness and increasing frailty, he was still concerned about fulfilling a promise he had made to help me research some needed statistics.

The horses always came first, but the people around him mattered, and his word mattered.

Mine was by no means an exclusive relationship. He influenced hundreds of lives and careers, and he was blessed with a loving family and many loyal friends. Yet in the time I was privileged to spend with him, he gave me his trust, his confidence and his friendship.

For that, and for the unexpected privilege of working alongside a childhood hero, I will always be grateful.

Ta, Mr Ferraris.

Olympian Gold follow up on his last win and gives Philasande Mxoli and St. John Gray a double on the day (JC Photos) 

Keagan de Melo rode a single winner at the Vaal today to go to 24 wins for the season, which puts him 15 wins clear of second-placed Kabelo Matsunyane.

The most amazing statistic to date this season though is newly crowned champion jockey Craig Zackey yet to get off the mark after four meetings and 22 rides.

Philasande Mxoli and St John Gray combined for a double at the meeting and Tony Peter also scored a double.

De Melo is going along at a strike rate of 33.33%.

Mxoli is now on six wins for the season and has done it at a strike rate of 18.75%.

Gray is on five wins at 25%.

Peter is on eight wins at 25%.

The most noteworthy win of the day was by the Mike and Mathew de Kock Master Of My Fate first-timer Special Envoy.

He is out of a five-time winning Captain Al mare, Victorian Secret, who is a full-sister to Snowdance.

Victorian Secret won two Listed races apart from being from one of the best families in South Africa, the Mystic Spring family.

Special Envoy was largely ignored in the betting, perhaps because stable jockey Callan Murray was aboard the other first-timer in the race.

However, Calvin Ngcobo produced a late rattle from Special Envoy to win by two lengths.

The gelding had been backed to some degree late, shortening from 25/2 to 7/1.