Picture: Charles Dickens and Aldo Domeyer powering home (Wayne Marks).

Charles Dickens Raised to 128

Charles Dickens’ official merit rating is now 128 after his breathtaking victory in the R2 million Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas, which makes him the third highest rated horse in the country behind Jet Dark (130) and Kommetdieding (129).

Various organisations or individuals have given their own ratings, which vary quite substantially.

However, sometimes the visual interpretation of a race says more than any rating ever will.

Those who had taken the 46/100 odds about Charles Dickens would have been thought by more than a few pundits to be crazy, because on formlines there was nothing separating him from the 11/2 second favourite Cousin Casey.

The said punters might also have thought themselves crazy shortly before the Guineas field turned for home.

At that stage the Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Drakenstein Stud homebred Trippi colt was near the back on the inside rail and had a wall of horses in front of him.

Aldo Domeyer extracted him from that situation with ease, but he had the help of an exceptional horse to do it.

He eased the brilliant chestnut outward, without a hint of panic or rush, until he had found daylight towards the outside.

Charles Dickens still had an enormous amount to do at that point.

However, any panic among his backers would have dissipated by the 300m mark.

The acceleration he displayed was palpable even to those watching on TV, which is unusual because one normally has to wait for a while to get an angle on the outside horses’ progress.

He crossed the line 4,25 lengths clear and although Cousin Casey has had accolades accorded to him like “July winner written all over him”, he was on this occasion made to look positively ordinary while running on for second place.

It was a performance which will live in the memory forever – like Horse Chestnut’s Met win in 1999 and Politician’s Met win in 1979.

Richard Fourie summed it up later by saying he had never before been in a race where a horse had won in such a manner.

Piere Strydom embellished by saying the last time he had seen such a performance from a jockey’s perspective was when racing against Horse Chestnut.

Fourie then quipped to Strydom, “You lucky to have seen two such horses in your career!”

It was the first ever Cape Guineas win for the Bass family, who have won every other big race in Cape Town, most of them multiple times, as well as many other big races around the country.

Candice touchingly dedicated the win to her father Mike.

Gaynor Rupert, whose Drakenstein Stud bred and own Charles Dickens, described it as her best ever day on a racecourse.

Ricky Maingard is back at his old stamping ground (Picture credit: Le Mauricien).

Ricky Maingard Building Up A String In Cape Town

One of Southern Africa’s finest trainers Ricky Maingard is back at one of his old stamping grounds, Cape Town, where he is hoping to build up a stable big enough to be competitive.

He retains a yard in his home country, Mauritius, and has opened one at Milnerton.

He was attracted by the dynamism of Cape Racing brought about by the drive and astute business sense of Greg Bortz.

Therefore, it was fitting to hear Bortz mentioning Wolf Power as one of the greats who had inspired his own passion for the sport when speaking on Saturday of his hopes that the brilliant Charles Dickens would inspire newcomers to become racing fans.

The famous grey Wolf Power was trained by Maingard and among the big races he won was Cape Town’s flagship race, The Met.

Asked to confirm Wolf Power was the best he had ever trained, Ricky replied, “Yes, by far. I have trained many good horses but he was world class, he was a once in a lifetime horse and was in a class of his own.”

Ricky has about 45 years of experience as a trainer and said he was never going to retire.

He said, “I have been blessed with good health. Racing has been my livelihood for close to 50 years and I still enjoy getting up in the mornings and being around horses. I am happy. Why would I want to retire? I would be bored watching TV at home and my wife would chase me out of the house!”

Ricky has won all of Mauritius’ biggest races since opening a yard there just over a decade ago, including the island’s flagship race, The Maiden Cup, three times.

However, the stakes money in Mauritius went down by 60% during Covid and, sadly, the prospects of it recovering do not look good.

Ricky’s interest was thus piqued by the positive news coming out of Cape Town and he made the decision to open a yard here.

He said, “Cape Town is very familar to me, I lived here for six years previously and loved it. The situation in racing here is changing dramatically and I am delighted and very excited to be given an opportunity to be part of it. My object is to have a few horses to train and enjoy it. I fully realise it will take some time to build up and the big yards here are very strong, so it is difficult to compete. A trainer can’t do without support. Quite a few owners in Mauritius have become despondent with what is happening there, so I will get some support from them. I hope to also attract some local owners and also some owners from overseas. Covid has now eased so the overseas supporters of racing will be returning.”

Ricky said a Milnerton barn contained enough stables for 32 horses, which would likely be a perfect number for him.

He said he was fortunate to have two fine assistant trainers in Mauritius and Cape Town respectively, which would enable him to spend the large part of the summer in Cape Town and the large part of the winter in Mauritius, which would coincide with their big race seasons respectively.

He said, “Jevin Awotar is my assistant trainer in Mauritius, he worked for Brett Crawford and has experience in Dubai and England. Kitt Kensley, who has worked for me before, is my assistant in Cape Town.”

Maingard currently has 12 horses at Milnerton and obviously needs more than that.

Mauritian owners bought six for him at the Ready To Run Sale.

He has also bought a couple of good horses in training i.e. Grade 1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge winner Al Muthana (Deep Field) and Street Outlaw (Master Of My Fate), whom he has always owned but who was was formerly trained by Vaughan Marshall.

Ricky felt Saturday’s Grade 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas was the best race to test whether Street Outlaw would stay a mile, because of the stronger pace of a Grade 1 event. He clearly did not see it out.

He said Al Muthana had one or two issues, but hoped he will have solved them by the time of the L’Ormarins King’s Plate on January 7, which is his first big target.

Ricky, born and brought up in Mauritius, is an aeronautical engineer by profession and after studying in England he worked for a French company and ended up in South Africa.

When they asked him to return to France, he decided to resign and try his hand at training racehorses.

He started out at The Vaal in the 1970s.

Eric Sands was one of his assistants in his early days.

Success came quickly and he was soon given an opportunity to move to Summerveld, which he jumped at and stayed there for some 20 years.

Wolf Power was the horse who well and truly put Maingard on the map.

He had wanted to buy the imposing grey as a yearling.

He received a phonecall one day from bloodstock agent Mickey Louw telling him Godfrey Kuter had decided to liquidate his equine holdings and Wolf Power, who was trained in his first three races by Herman Brown, was for sale for R100,000.

It took Maingard ten minutes to say yes.

He recalled, “That was a huge amount of money in those days, and a lot of people thought I was crazy. He had only won one Maiden Juvenile Plate by that stage.”

Denham Rodwell and the Birch Brothers (who bred him) took the majority of the shares and Louw took a small share.

Wolf Power was a good two-year-old and three-year-old but blossomed into a legend as a four-year-old.

He broke four course records, two race records and set two SA record times. He was the first SA horse to go under 94 seconds for a mile.

Wolf Power won 18 races, 17 of them features and retired with record earnings of R729,037.

Ricky believed Wolf Power to essentially be a miler, who was at his best at 1400m.

During his Summerveld years Maingard used to spend three months in Cape Town in the summer.

When he bought into Capstone feed company, whose main factory was in Cape Town, he moved from Summerveld to the Cape and stayed there for about 5 to 6 years.

He felt there was a downturn in SA racing about 12 years ago and decided to move to Mauritius.

He is now back in the city where he won the Met once and the Queen’s Plate twice with Wolf Power and the Cape Derby with both Impressive Style (Sea Cottage) and Shah’s Star (Foveros), among other big wins.

Maingard rates Kenilworth one of the best racecourses in the world.

Maingard won the July in 1994 with Space Walk, who was the beneficiary of an objection by fifth-placed Pas De Quoi against the winner Surfing Home.

He has trained many other top horses and some who South African fans will remember include Bodrum, Respectable and Jungle Sands.

Picture below: Ricky Maingard and the great Wolf Power (Flirting Around).

Make It Snappy has been entered at the first supplementary stage of the WSB Met (Picture: Wayne Marks).

R2 Million World Sports Betting Cape Town Met Entries

Make It Snappy Has Been Supplemented

4Racing

Charles Dickens has already been named alongside the greats such as Horse Chestnut and Sea Cottage and it is amazing to see his name amongst the Entries for the World Sports Betting Cape Town Met – keep a close eye on his next races – you might not see this horse in the country again! Also, interesting to note impressive Cape Fillies Guineas winner Make It Snappy is a supplementary entry. Exciting times for South African racing fans!

WORLD SPORTS BETTING CAPE TOWN MET (Grade 1)(Open to horses at Weight

For Age) R2000000 2000m

0 AIRWAYS LAW (W A Nel) 0.0
0 AL MUTHANA (R Maingard) 0.0
0 BARATHEON (P Botha) 0.0
0 BELGARION (J S Snaith) 0.0
0 CHANSONETTE (W A Nel) 0.0
0 CHARLES DICKENS (C Bass-Robinson) 0.0
0 COUSIN CASEY (G S Kotzen) 0.0
0 DO IT AGAIN (J S Snaith) 0.0
0 GEM KING (P Steyn) 0.0
0 GOLDEN DUCAT (A E Sands) 0.0
0 JET DARK (J S Snaith) 0.0
0 KOMMETDIEDING (H/M Crawford/Rix) 0.0
0 LINEBACKER (V H Marshall) 0.0
0 MAKE IT SNAPPY (B Crawford) 0.0
0 MARINA (C Bass-Robinson) 0.0
0 PACAYA (J S Snaith) 0.0
0 POMP AND POWER (J S Snaith) 0.0
0 RAIN IN HOLLAND (S G Tarry) 0.0
0 RASCALLION (V H Marshall) 0.0
0 SAFE PASSAGE (M F De Kock) 0.0
0 SILVANO'S TIMER (D Kannemeyer) 0.0
0 SPARKLING WATER (M F De Kock) 0.0
0 UNIVERSAL (A N Marcus) 0.0
0 WATERBERRY LANE (D Kannemeyer) 0.0
0 WINCHESTER MANSION (B Crawford) 0.0
0 ZAPATILLAS (B Crawford) 0.0

Final sup Entries: 11:00 Monday 9 January 2023

Weights Published: Monday 9 January 2023

Declarations: 11:00 Wednesday 18 January 2023

Raceform gave Double Superlative (abive) a higher ability rating for his win in last year’s Cape Guineas than they did for Charles Dickens this year. (Picture: Wayne Marks)

Not All Analysts Are Convinced By This Three-year-old Crop

Karel Miedema’s Raceform ratings are kept on a level consistent with international ratings (Timeform & Raceform UK). They are therefore always going to be lower than the SA merit rating system ratings, which do not pretend to be consistent with international ratings, although our handicappers do calculate international ratings for our horses too.

However, it is interesting to note Miedema rates last year’s Cape Guineas as superior to this year’s. He gave Double Superlative a 113 ability rating for his Cape Guineas win last year and only gave Charles Dickens a 110 for Saturday’s win, which was viewed by almost all and sundry as a performance for the ages.

Below are Raceform’s ratings for the respective races:

2021 Cape Guineas:

AR	finish	lbh	horse	draw	mass	jockey	odds	sire	dam	damsire
113	1st	0.00	Double Superlative 3 b c	(12)	60.0	A Marcus	10/1	Twice Over	Come Fly With Me	Jet Master
111	2nd	1.25	Pomp And Power 3 ch c	(14)	60.0	C Bantam	14/1	Vercingetorix	Peru	Candy Stripes
108	3rd	2.50	Cosmic Highway 3 b c	(11)	60.0	K de Melo	11/2	Gimmethegreenlight	Cosmic Dream	Silvano
107	4th	2.80	Zapatillas 3 b c	(13)	60.0	L Mxothwa	10/1	Master Of My Fate	Moggytwoshoes	Mogok
105	5th	4.05	Never Ending Rain 3 b c	(2)	60.0	D Schwarz	100/1	Soft Falling Rain	Distance Done	Dynaformer
104	6th	4.10	Universal 3 b c	(7)	60.0	C Zackey	14/1	Gimmethegreenlight	Cupid	Jet Master
102	7th	5.10	Trip Of Fortune 3 b c	(8)	60.0	A Domeyer	4/1	Trippi	Louvre	Doowaley
100	8th	6.10	Pacaya 3 b c	(10)	60.0	G van Niekerk	11/2	Trippi	Ash Cloud	Black Minnaloushe
99	9th	6.60	Waterberry Lane 3 b c	(6)	60.0	G Behr	10/1	Soft Falling Rain	Gain Ground	Fort Wood
97	10th	7.35	Surjay 3 b c	(3)	60.0	R Khathi	100/1	Vercingetorix	Something Of Value	Badger Land
95	11th	8.60	Xavion 3 b c	(16)	60.0	A Andrews	33/1	Futura	Sharp Mistress	Tamburlaine
88	12th	9.10	Marigold Hotel 3 b f	(1)	57.5	G Cheyne	33/1	Querari	Indira	Tiger Ridge
91	13th	10.35	Mr Master Starter 3 b c	(9)	60.0	B Fayd’Herbe	25/1	Master Of My Fate	Wild Liasion	Captain Al
85	14th	12.85	Chollima 3 b c	(15)	60.0	M Winnaar	100/1	Pathfork	Chillon	Silvano
82	15th	14.10	Good Traveller 3 ch c	(5)	60.0	R Fourie	7/1	Visionaire	Skylar Lane	Western Winter
80	16th	15.10	Bush Tracker 3 b c	(4)	60.0	R Munger	100/1	Elusive Fort	Al Farabi	Tiger Ridge

Time: 99.29s (62.06s avg/1000m, or 58km/h) SP Total: 116%
Trainer: J Snaith
Owner: Mr N Jonsson
Breeder: Patricia Devine Inv

2022 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas:

AR	finish	lbh	horse	draw	mass	jockey	odds	sire	dam	damsire
110	1st	0.00	Charles Dickens 3 ch c	(11)	60.0	A Domeyer	9/20	Trippi	Demanding Lady	Dynasty
101	2nd	4.25	Cousin Casey 3 b c	(14)	60.0	G van Niekerk	11/2	Vercingetorix	Bretton Woods	Casey Tibbs
101	3rd	4.35	At My Command 3 b c	(1)	60.0	K de Melo	10/1	Querari	Imperious Girl	National Emblem
96	4th	6.35	Royal Aussie 3 b c	(6)	60.0	R Fourie	80/1	Royal Mo	Abelia	Smart Missile
95	5th	6.85	Dave The King 3 b c	(12)	60.0	C Orffer	100/1	Global View	Touche	Jet Master
95	6th	6.90	Money Heist 3 b c	(10)	60.0	P Strydom	80/1	Gimmethegreenlight	Copper Jet	Lecture
94	7th	7.65	Union Square 3 b c	(4)	60.0	R Simons	33/1	Rafeef	Square Dance	Oasis Dream
88	8th	10.40	Le Morne 3 b c	(15)	60.0	L Mxothwa	66/1	Futura	Khonza	Kahal
86	9th	10.90	Shoemaker 3 b c	(7)	60.0	B Fayd’Herbe	20/1	Gimmethegreenlight	Moggytwoshoes	Mogok
85	10th	11.65	Port Louis 3 b c	(2)	60.0	K Matsunyane	100/1	Gimmethegreenlight	Winning Eyes	Qui Danzig
84	11th	11.95	Anfields Rocket 3 ch c	(13)	60.0	G Lerena	40/1	Coup de Grace	Milla’s Rocket	Galileo
75	12th	15.95	Lord William 3 ch c	(9)	60.0	J Jacobs	100/1	William Longsword	Lady Seymour	Silvano
73	13th	17.20	Street Outlaw 3 b c	(5)	60.0	S Veale	80/1	Master Of My Fate	Miss Varlocity	Var
52	14th	26.45	Famous And Rich 3 ch c	(8)	60.0	C Habib	100/1	Visionaire	Gathering Fame	Jet Master
52	15th	26.65	Canford Lights 3 b c	(3)	60.0	G Wright	100/1	Canford Cliffs	Diamond Emblem	National Emblem

Time: 97.69s (61.06s avg/1000m, or 59km/h) SP Total: 112%
Trainer: C Bass-Robinson
Owner: Drakenstein Stud (Nom: Mrs G A Rupert)
Breeder: Drakenstein Stud

Picture: Charles Dickens comes home lonely on Saturday (Wayne Marks).

Mark Van Deventer Rates Charles Dicken’s Performance As “Off The Charts”

Sagehorseracing.com

Charles Dickens added to his burgeoning reputation when destroying quality opposition in the G1 Cape Guineas to extend his unbeaten sequence to six victories. The truly exceptional son of Trippi is trained by Candice Bass Robinson and was ridden by Aldo Domeyer. He started deep in the red at 5/10 and won by four lengths from Cousin Casey (s/s 107), who pipped At My Command (s/s 107) for second place.

These are the adjusted speed figures the champ has earned at each successive career start, together with sectional upgrades where applicable: 101 104 89++ 112 111 + and now 120! This Cape Guineas tour-de force propels him into an elite realm of SA thoroughbred legends.

It would be fascinating to do a deep-dive into stride analysis for a freaky good horse such as Charles Dickens. Technology exists to measure both stride length and cadence which would enhance our appreciation of this world class natural talent. Based on the towering speed figures he has recorded he is already up there with greats of the SA turf, and he’s achieved these feats at two and three years of age when not yet fully mature – and without being really extended! Remarkable!!

Charles Dickens (Picture: Wayne Marks)

Jay August Was Also Impressed By Charles Dickens

Jay August, one of the top intellects in SA racing, posted this about the three-year-old crop.

My three-year-old male ratings subsequent to the first Grade 1 on Saturday (yesterday). This rating model is calibrated to the APC rating model and a racetrack performance in SAF is therefore largely confined to a max rating of 120-121. See below for further explanation.

An average Cape Guineas winner will rate at ~112 and that is almost where Cousin Casey has rated after the 2022 Guineas in finishing second. Placing that into context propels Charles Dickens to 119, but he gets an extra 1 point from me for the ease with which he won. Jet Dark is currently rated at 119.

No three-year-old has rated this highly this early in the season while I have been compiling my ratings in real-time. The highest rating for a 3yo performance in the first 5 months of the season prior to this was the 114 given to Soqrat for his 2018 Guineas win.

Why are rating performances in SAF largely contained to an upper ceiling of 120-121. I refer here to a comment made by Tony Morris in the 1999 book Champions which rated the best worldwide racecourse performances over the prior century. He stated that “……Sea Cottage (South Africa) were big fish in small ponds. They may have been great champions, but they never met the international competition that may have enabled them to prove it, therefore we cannot give them the credit for it. There is a ceiling – in rating terms about 132lbs (he used the Timeform scale which is appreciably higher than the APC scale) – above which such champions cannot rise, no matter how dominant they may be.”

This does not however imply that a SAF horse cannot attain a higher rating on SA soil, but that performance has to be something exceptional, rarely seen, and rationally quantifiable in the eyes of international observers. Horse Chestnut’s 1999 Met win would qualify as such a performance, although back then the SAF ratings internationally were still in their infancy and the ratings we now take as normal for SA horses were assessed 3-6 points lower. HC likely achieved a 123+ using today’s scale in the 99 Met.

Can Charles Dickens exceed the 120 ceiling? It is quite possible but he would need to beat Jet Dark by a couple of lengths with that horse beating his usual rivals by the margin of his currently assumed superiority – about 0.5 lengths superior to Kommetdieding at the latter’s best.

Jay’s three-year-old rating are shown below:

Picture: Piere Strydom rolled back the years with a superb ride on the Justin Snaith-trained Nexus to win the Grade 2 Ridgemont Highlands Peninsula Handicap (Wayne Marks).

Review Of All The Features On Saturday

Charles Dickens Lives Up To Expectations

Graeme Hawkins (Gold Circle)

Cousin Casey ran his heart out, At My Command gave his all, but they were blown away and made to look ordinary by the odds-on favourite Charles Dickens in the R2-million Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas at a busy Kenilworth Racecourse on Saturday afternoon.

Charles Dickens turned for home towards the rear of the field, but as winning jockey Aldo Domeyer commented afterwards, “when he powered up the turbo jets he stormed past his rivals in a matter of strides and put the race to bed even before entering the final 200m.”

Domeyer said afterwards, “Clearly the best I have ever ridden – he is an absolute freak” and later Candice Bass-Robinson echoed the sentiments, “Definitely the best I have ever trained.” There was plenty of pre-race debate as to who was the better, Charles Dickens or Cousin Casey?

Each had won five races in a row coming into this Grade 1 Classic. Cousin Casey won a Grade 1 race as a juvenile on his way to being voted Champion 2yo of last Season and is certainly no ordinary horse, but he was left floundering in Charles Dickens’ wake, eventually finishing second more than four lengths off the winner.

There is no longer any debate – Charles Dickens is in a class of his own and the sky seems to be the limit!

Owner and breeder Gaynor Rupert described Saturday at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth as the very best day she has ever experienced on a racecourse – and that is a mighty big statement considering all the success Drakenstein Stud has enjoyed over many years. Gaynor was visibly moved by what she had just seen from her magnificent son of Trippi and it was gratifying to see such a large crowd witness Charles Dickens delivering the knockout blow. One could not help but think of the mighty Horse Chestnut as we all savoured the quality of Charles Dickens’ runaway victory.

For the Bass family, after 46 years, it was their first ever success in the Cape Guineas, a race widely considered to be the premier Classic race in the country. I have no doubt that somewhere sitting in the background, Candice’s father Mike would have had a broad smile on his face and heaved a massive sigh of relief.

For the record Cousin Casey fought on well to snatch the runner-up berth on the line from At My Command with Royal Aussie some way back in fourth. Mike De Kock’s runners fared disappointingly but as he said in the parade ring before the race, “such is the strength of this years Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas, that many a Grade 1 winner may yet emerge from those that finish downfield.”

Some forty minutes after the Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas, former Champion Jockey Piere Strydom rolled back the years by scoring a huge victory on the 7yo gelding Nexus in the R400 000 Ridgemont Highlands Peninsula Handicap for the Justin Snaith stable. Completely ignored in the betting market at 50/1, Nexus bravely fought off the attentions of Imilenzeyokududuma over the final 200m and in the end was drawing further ahead to put a comfortable margin between himself and the runner-up. Piere has over the years teamed up with Nexus on four occasions for 3 wins and a second – quite a remarkable record.

The consistent Hans Solo finished a distant third with the winner’s stable companion Warrior rounding off the quartet.

After enjoying the main course earlier, Candice Bass-Robinson relished the dessert when she landed the Exacta in the R250 000 Hollywoodbets Victress Stakes over 1800m. On paper, the race looked a match between Marina and Chansonette and they dominated the betting at 1/1 and 16/10 respectively but, after hitting the front halfway up the home stretch, Chansonette faded away tamely and clearly there is something seriously amiss with the Grade 1-winning daughter of Vercingetorix.

That left the way clear for Marina to strut her stuff and she came clear to score with a minimum of fuss. Being an own sister to Durban July winner Marinaresco, a successful future for Marina as a broodmare looks assured when she retires at the end of this season, but Candice would love to win a Grade 1 before that day comes and the forthcoming Paddock Stakes will be firmly on her radar. Stable companion Do Angels Cry (40/1) stayed on strongly to finish second with Silver Darling a nose back in third spot.

Picture: The Cape Town Parade was an added attraction at Saturday’s big Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas meeting at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth (Cape Racing).

Greg Bortz On The Amazing Turnout At Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas Day

The day featured the Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas And Die Kaapse Klopse

CLICK HERE to watch Greg Bortz interview on Cape Guineas Day

Picture: S’Manga Khumalo (Candiese Lenferna Photography).

Khumalo, Dicken Doubles

S’Manga Khumalo and Cole Dicken scored respective doubles on the Hollywoodbets Greyville turf today.

Khumalo goes to 73 wins for the season at a strike rate of 17.63%.

Dicken is on 8 wins at 7.55%.

Picture: Ribot (Timeform)

Today’s Question

Charles Dickens has three lines of the great, unbeaten twice Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Ribot in his pedigree. Which country was Ribot bred in and who bred him?

Click Here To See Turffontein Standside Fields, Tuesday

NB Please wait a few seconds for fields to appear.

Picture: Federico Tesio in discussion before a race (sporthorse-data.com)

ANSWER TO TODAY’S QUESTION:

Ribot was bred in Italy by one of the acknowledged greatest individual thoroughbred breeders in history, the legendary Italian breeder and trainer Signor Federico Tesio.

Turf Talk Newsletter – 19 December 2022