Turf Talk Newsletter – 21 July, 2025

Madison Valley and Shoot The Rapids finish one-two in last year’s Gr 3 DSTV Gold Vase on Hollywoodbets Durban July day and the yard will be hoping for a repeat in Saturday’s Gold Cup. (Candiese Lenferna Photography). 

Frank Robinson has a strong hand in Sunday’s headline race at Hollywoodbets Greyville, the Gr 3 World Pool Gold Cup over 3200m, with Madison Valley and Shoot The Rapids and he has another runner too, Field Marshall, whom he said would ensure a good pace.

All three horses are owned by Sid Moodley.

Frank was confident Shoot The Rapids could reverse form with King Pelles from the Gr 2 Durban Gold Vase over 3000m.

Shoot the Rapids was beaten 4,85 lengths in that race.

However, he is now 2kg better off and Frank added, “He had a flat run, he wasn’t right I should have scratched him. He hadn’t finished his food in the morning, but his temperature was fine, so I decided to run him, but he was definitely flat.”

Frank continued, “He is much better now, but I don’t think he will beat Madison Valley. That horse is flying. I can’t get him any better.”

He continued, “Madison Valley has been running against a different calibre of horse. The Gold Cup horses are generally from the Tote Derby and races like that and I don’t think any of those horses would have made the July cut.”

Madison Valley, on the other hand, finished fifth in the Hollywodbets Durban July and he proved he stays the Gold Cup trip last season by winning the Gold Vase over 3000m and then coming from way off the pace to run fifth in the Gold Cup.

Frank added, “He was eating up the ground and he has made much improvement since being gelded as he was a very coltish horse, he used to shout at the other horses and all that. He is much more focused now and in himself he looks amazing.”

Frank pointed out, “If you look at Madison Valley’s time for the July he would have won the consolation race by many lengths, he was 2,5 seconds faster than the consolation race winner.”

Last year both Madison Valley and Shoot The Rapids carried bottom weight in the Gold Cup of 54kg and Shoot the Rapids could well have won had he not been carried in at a crucial stage. He finished a neck second, while Madison Valley was stuck behind a vanguard of horses in the running and coming from a mile back ran on to be beaten just 2,30 lengths.

This year Madison Valley carries 59kg and Shoot The Rapids carries 58kg, but both are much improved. Shoot The Rapids is drawn in pole position and Madison Valley has draw two.

Frank said about the Gold Vase form, “King Pelles will have to be very good to beat Shoot The Rapids this time. He is in a different space this time.”

He said about Field Marshall, “I am going to have to maybe sacrifice Field Marshall, because I can’t have a slow pace. But he can win from the front. When he won the Lonsdale (2400m), he was sitting right up there and he took over quite early too.”

He concluded, “But they are all in a very good space.”

Frank has Cat’s Pajama’s in the Gr 1 Mercury Sprint and is surprised by his 50/1 odds.

He was beaten 16,95 lengths in the Gr 2 Golden Horse Sprint over this trip last time out at Hollywoodbets Scottsville, but Frank explained, “They were all coming over from the outside and horses drawn low were not able to get through the traffic if coming from off the pace, so we decided to go against his normal running style of leaving him alone and we sent him forward.”

Cats Pajamas clearly hated that tactic.

However, other than that run he has done little wrong. Over a trip too far in the WSB Guineas he was beaten 6,05 lengths and was only 5,45 lengths behind the probable best horse in the country, Eight On Eigteen. Before that Cats Pajamas had finished second in the Gr 2 Byerley Turk over 1400m and before that he had won two races on the trot over 1000m and 1400m respectively at Hollywoodbets  Greyville and Hollywoodbets Scottsville.

The Rafeef gelding won the Gr 2 Umkhomazi Stakes over 1200m on World Pool Gold Cup day last year and he should not be ignored in his attempt to win over the same course and distance on the same day this year.

Frank has a high regard for Mocha Blend, who finished third in the Gr 2 Woolavington 2000 last time out. He decided to leave her alone until the Gr 2 Bet With The World Gold Bracelet over 2000m to be run on Sunday as she is still maturing and he did not want to “hammer her”.

He said, “I am bringing her in without a run, but she is the sort of filly who I don’t think needs one. She has very good heart and lung capacity, you can gallop her and she won’t even blow out a candle.”

Frank is looking forward to the day as he reckons he has a fine team of five  representing his Summerveld stable.

Andrew Harrison (Gold Circle)

Dean Kannemeyer did a masterful job to get The Real Prince to stay the Hollywoodbets Durban July trip after just one warm-up run and there was many doubters. But Kannemeyer is rather set in his ways as he likes his horses to quicken from off the pace and finish off their races.  He learnt well from his father, the legendary Peter ‘PK’ Kannemeyer and PK’s long-time stable jockey Garth Puller who had many a supporter reaching for their blood pressure pills after a tight finish.

Kannemeyer’s colt Green Gateway was given a copybook stable introduction in the first at Hollywoodbets Scottsville yesterday. The opposition will probably not go to ‘Hollywood’ so the win is taken with a pinch of salt but the eye-catching son of Gimmethegreenlight did everything that was asked.

Bringing up the rear for much of the race, he quickened past his rivals when asked by title-chasing Gavin Lerena to win rather cozily from Mohave Prince who tried gallantly to stay with the winner. Interesting is that Green Gateway cost R2.2 million as a yearling, Mohave Prince R140k demonstrating they run in all shapes and sizes no matter their price tag.

Lerena has the Jockey Championship all but sewn up after today’s meeting. He was 12 winners clear of current champion Richard Fourie at the start of the day and extended his lead by another three by the time that he coaxed Vision To Achieve home in the sixth after making most of the running to win on  Bad Medicine in the C Stakes over 2400m for Alyson Wright.

Rachel Venniker, out of action for three months after breaking her leg in an early morning fall, was quickly into the winner’s enclosure as she steered the Michael Roberts-trained Miss Kansas to victory in the opening leg of the PA. Venniker showed no signs of rustiness from the lay-off as she kept Miss Kansas hard to her task in the face of stiff opposition from Blazing Beauty and 4kg claimer Jacey Botes as Tienie Prinsloo’s filly made a smart debut for the stable.

Next Of Kin started favourite in the opening leg of the Pick 6 but the grey hardly raised a gallop as Meerkat Moon and the filly Catch A Penny fought a bruising duel up the straight with Mark Dixon’s charge scraping in by the narrowest of margins. Lerena looked to have his second winner on the card in the bag as Catch A Penny eased clear of her rival, but Calvin Habib was not looking to go away easily and Meerkat Moon stuck to his rival and came back to snatch it on the line.

As former top rider MJ Odendaal has often alluded to the fact that a jockey never forgets the name of his first winner and the name of Sneeuwitjie will be forever etched in the memory of Dezahn Louw. It was not a polished ride as the filly took a hold of the bit and dragged him off to the front, but Tienie Prinsloo’s filly kept finding in spite of drifting under pressure. Lerena did not have it all his own way as favourite Flying South encountered a few traffic problems at the top of the straight but stormed home late only to be denied by under a length.

But Sneeuwitjie dropped the Pick 6 bomb, starting at 100-1 she paid nearly R40 on the tote.

Paul and Beth Gadsby battle along with a small stable of mostly modest horses but the filly Vision To Achieve is testament to their ability as trainers. A three-time winner and two seconds from her last five starts with Gavin Lerena aboard in her last three wins, he has worked her out that the filly does not respond to the stick. Punching her under hands out over the final 400m, Vision To Achieve responded to the kid-gloves and went on to win the fifth race of her career.

Lerena flew home to Jo’Burg happy that he almost has the championship title in the bag as he rounded off the meeting with his fourth winner of the afternoon, 16 clear of Fourie, on the Justin Snaith-trained Dafnes Daughter. It was anyone’s race coming through the final furlong with a wall of horses in contention, but Dafnes Daughter powered home to put the race to bed in a matter of strides and give leading owner Nick Jonsson his second winner of the afternoon after Miss Kansas.

Isivunguvungu (no. 6) is a disappointing sixth out of seven runners in the Wolf Hill Stakes. (via youtube).

The strongly built Isivunguvungu dwarfed his rivals in the Wolf Hill Stakes over five-and-a-half furlongs on Saturday at Monmouth Park on the turf and started 9/5 second favourite.

However, his chances of taking up his favourite front-running or front-line role were scuppered when he did not break well.

He was then four wide as he tried to make up the ground and although just off the pace turning for home his early exertions had taken their toll and he could not find his usual extra in the straight and finished sixth out of the seven runners.

Click here to watch the replay

This was not the Narrow Creek Stud-bred What A Winter gelding’s run and a line can likely be drawn through it.

The Graham Motion-trained bay is capable of bouncing back and carrying Hollywood Racing’s yellow with purple stars colours to more wins in the USA.

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Gimme A Nother in the familiar Mauritzfontein yellow and black colours is pipped on the post by Ready For Shirl. (via youtube). 

The Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein-homebred Gimmethegreenlight filly Gimme A Nother has had a problem in the USA as the late burst she became famous for in the last half of the Turffontein straight was coming too late on the tighter USA tracks and didn’t come at all when she attempted to begin her run early in the first Gr 1 she raced in over there.

However, wily trainer Graham Motion has managed to successfully change Beach Bomb’s running style from off the pace to front-running and he tried the same with Gimme A Nother in her fourth start overseas in the Gr 2 Canadian Stakes over one mile and one furlong on the turf at Woodbine on Saturday.

She was ridden by South African Ryan Munger, who now resides in Candada, and it could have easily been mistaken for a South African race as Gimme A Nother broke well from draw two and was allowed to lead at a snail’s pace.

Munger quickened the pace around the final turn and stole a march at the top of the straight.

She maintaned a good gallop down the straight, but was caught on the line by the Roger L Attfield four-year-old filly Ready For Shirl and lost on the headbob to heap more disappointment on Gimme A Nother’s connections.

A Gr 2 win overeas would have read very well on her CV.

Click here to watch the replay

More Than Shirl is by the same sire as Gimmethegreenlight’s sire, More Than Ready.

Gimme A Nother has not reached the heights expected of her in the Americas but has been prominent and is still a fine avertisement for South African breeding.

A black type win over there must be just around the corner.

The powerful Diego Velazquez wins a third career Gr 2. (via youtube).

Cape Breeders

Maine Chance Farms’ exciting young stallion Point Lonsdale gained a handsome boost to his pedigree page when his three-parts brother Diego Velazquez won the G2 Romanised Minstrel Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday.

Dropping back to seven furlongs for the first time since making a winning debut over course and distance as a two-year-old, Diego Velazquez ran out a gutsy winner of the Group 2 Romanised Minstrel Stakes at the Curragh.

Aidan O’Brien‘s four-year-old son of Frankel, who was winning for the fifth time in his ten-start career, was forced to pull out all the stops under a strong front-running Ryan Moore ride to get the better of East Hampton by a neck.

Mutasarref finished a length and a half back in third.

“We’re delighted,” said O’Brien on Racing TV. “Obviously, up to now it has been a bit of a mess this year. We went to Leopardstown to give him a run for Ascot, and it went wrong, he got upset in the stalls and had to be withdrawn. Then because of that, I wasn’t confident enough to tell Ryan (Moore) to ride him forward in the Queen Anne and then they hacked for the first half of the race. It was over straight away after a couple of furlongs.”

On future plans, a step back up in trip looks on the cards for Diego Velazquez, with O’Brien pinpointing the Group 1 Sussex Stakes or Prix Jacques le Marois as possible targets.

Diego Velazquez was purchased by MV Magnier and White Birch Farm for 2.4million guineas from the Croom House Stud draft at the Tattersalls October Book 1 Yearling Sale where he was the second highest priced horse of the sale.

He is one of three multiple group winners produced by Acclamation’s dual stakes winning daughter Sweepstake. The latter is not only dam of Maine Chance’s exciting young prospect Point Lonsdale but also the latter’s champion full-brother Broome.

Point Lonsdale’s dual Derby winning sire Australia has been in excellent form in 2025. Not only is Australia the sire of this year’s dual Derby winner Lambourn and G1 Coronation Stakes winner Cercene, but his daughter Wemightakedlongway ran second in Saturday’s G1 Juddmonte Irish Oaks.

Point Lonsdale, a group winner at two, four and five, stands his first season at stud in 2025.

The US Of A has been tipped to win the sixth race (Picture: Chase Liebenberg).

Graeme Hawkins (Race Coast)

The R135 000 Turf Talk Syndicate B Stakes over 1000m tops the bill for a largely “bread-and-butter” 9-race programme under hopefully sunny skies at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on . Cape Town has enjoyed a break from the heavy rains over the past few days, but the going remains on the soft side. Carded as the sixth race on the programme, the headliner has attracted a small field of only seven runners, but there are several with winning claims, none more so than The US Of A whose form since being gelded is most encouraging.

Last time out The US Of A made short work of subsequent winner, Escarpment, but he incurred a seven-point penalty and although a short-priced favourite in the ante-post market, it is not a foregone conclusion that the 4yo son of The United States will follow up. The Michelle Rix/Harold Crawford training partnership send out two livewires in the form of Elusive Winter and Peace Of Mind. ChampionJockey-elect, Gavin Lerena, will be aboard Elusive Winter whose last run is best ignored. He is most effective over the minimum trip and judged on his best recent form must have a chance, but at level weights with The US Of A, the latter is slightly preferred.

Peace Of Mind could be a big threat at the weights. The 3yo daughter of Var carries just 51,5kgs for the services of in-form apprentice Brevan Plaatjies, and in receipt of 7kgs from both The US Of A and Elusive Winter, Peace Of Mind would not be winning out of turn. Flying Finley was comprehensively beaten by The US Of A over track and trip on 17 June but is now 3kgs better off and could get a lot closer this afternoon. In their previous meeting on 25 May, Flying Finley finished ahead of The US OF A, but I suspect that the latter was not at his best on that occasion. Tanneron is holding from very nicely and there is little to choose between Candice Bass-Robinson’s runner and Peace Of Mind when judged on their 1-2 finish back in May. That was over 1100m, and the slightly shorter trip and revised weights may enable Peace Of Mind to turn the tables this time around.

It all adds up to being a competitive and interesting contest, but there is no lack of pace in the race and that could play into the hands of The US Of A.  Richard Fourie is likely to settle just in behind the early duel for the lead and produce Paddy Kruyer’s inmate with his customary late charge over the final 150 metres. That could prove the winning recipe and, on a day when bankers are at a premium, it may pay to throw your lot in with The US Of A, despite the open nature of the race.

A pair of Class 4 Handicaps over 1200m will close out the race meeting and upset results in either cannot be ruled out. The eighth race sees recent maiden winner, Late December, step into handicap company for the first time, off what appears to be a competitive mark of 79. There is not a great deal of solid form to work with and the quality of Late December’s impressive victory over promising subsequent winner African Memoir – his sole start this calendar year – suggests that Greg Ennion’s 3yo son of Rafeef can go back-to-back. Carriacou probably rates the biggest threat but both Honor Of Kings and Winter Pearl warrant consideration for Jackpot and Pick 6 permutations.

Rhydian has many issues but is not short of talent and Dean Kannemeyer’s charge could register his second career victory in the ninth race. Louis Mxothwa retains the ride after finishing third behind Azzurri in heavy going last time. His breathing problems are well documented but if all goes according to plan, Rhydian may carry too many guns for the in-form Firingonallengines, who steps up a division here following his narrow victory over Lover’s Lane in Class 5 last month. The unreliable but capable Paratrooper and Counter Attack make some appeal but if Rhydian fluffs his lines, the race is ripe for a surprise result.

The first race, a Maiden Plate over 1200m, is due off at 12:10 and the improving Mount Augustus could get punters off to a positive start. The 2yo son of Vercingetorix has his peak run after being rested and gelded and although the form of his last start has not yet been franked, Justin Snaith’s charge should make a bold bid for top honours. He may have most to fear from Time Honoured who ran a promising race first up as a gelding when fourth behind Late December on 12 June. The consistent but well-tried Iko Iko cannot be lightly dismissed and is a must for Exacta and Trifecta combinations. He races beyond the minimum trip for the first time in his career and may relish the extra 200m.

At what age did Allan Robertson, after whom the Gr 1 Allan Robertson Championship over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville is named, first manage a stud farm?

Picture: Allan Robertson (left), chairman of the TBA together with the secretary of the TBA, Colonel R Matthews (1955).