Turf Talk Newsletter – 23 October, 2025

Racing fans who attended Gold Cup Day will attest to the fact that, among a number of exhilarating races, one stood out. The likes of Princess Of Gaul, Jan Van Goyen, King Pelles and Gladatorian all posted impressive and memorable wins, but one winner made onlookers gasp for breath – Golden Palm!

That she overcame a poor start in the Grade 1 Douglas Whyte Thekwini Stakes over 1600m – one that nearly sent jockey Richard Fourie over the rail – then recovered with gallant ease to clock a faster time than the smart Jan Van Goyen managed in the Grade 1 Premiers Champion Stakes, just about tells the story. But not quite all of it. Do yourself a favour and watch the race replay below. See how Golden Palm ignites the engines and sweeps past her rivals. Watch her stride ­– the power, the rhythm, the sheer ease of her victory.

Owner Peter Moor’s hugely talented filly returns to the track for the first time at Fairview on Friday after her Thekwini success. Her legion of fans will be glued to their television sets for another ‘fix’ of Golden Palm (which sounds like something you can buy at one of those shops with a Leaf on the door), and is perhaps just as intoxicating.

Golden Palm will line up in the Listed Racehorse Owners Association Stakes over 1600m and, for punters, this looks like the proverbial ‘slam dunk’. Stranger things have happened, and she does face a few useful stable mates, but it will come as a real surprise if she fails to deliver after her break.

Moore, the modest Zimbabwean who bred Ipi Tombe – arguably the greatest filly in South African racing history – noted after the Thekwini that ‘some two-year-olds don’t train on’ – but we’d venture to say he expects this one to go all the way. On what she’s shown, Golden Palm has ‘Cape Fillies Guineas’ written all over her (and that is said with the acknowledgement that her stablemate Anotherdanceforme may be just as good and will be presenting Greeff with an interesting series of conundrums this season). The sky is truly the limit.

Greeff said in a 4 Racing ‘Track Talk’ interview with Nadine Low Ah Kee yesterday: “The Racing Association Stakes is a good starting point for Golden Palm’s three-year-old career. We hope to get her on the boil and head for bigger fish afterwards. (I suppose) she is hard to oppose.”

The racing public will ‘suppose’ so too, but even if Golden Palm gets beaten today, she’ll be forgiven, because everything points to her being a filly on her way to superstardom, and many champions have tasted defeat after a rest.

But this one, she is special!

Racehorse Owners Association Stakes is off at 15:30 on Friday.

4Racing Announcement

FAIRVIEW: FRIDAY
In honour of top horseman Gavin Smith, who passed away last week, we will be observing a minute’s silence ahead of the first race at Fairview this Friday and jockeys will be riding with black armbands.

RCS OCTOBER 2-y-o SALE

Here is the link for the live stream for the sale on Saturday, 25 October:

https://youtube.com/live/R6tfC_fdrF0?feature=share

Itsnowornever and trainer Jannie Borman (with his arm around William Kapele), and some friends alonside to cheer them on. (JC Photos)

It is always heartwarming to see a small stable enjoy a rare winner, and trainer Jannie Borman seems to pop up every year around this time with a winner from a handful of battling runners that invariably seem to end up in his yard at the Vaal.

Jannie saddled owner Shaun Potgieter’s Itsnowornever, a problem-plagued five-year-old gelding by Global View, to his Maiden win in a 2400m race at the Vaal on Thursday, expertly guided by title-chasing Craig Zackey.

“I only got Itsmowornever into the yard three weeks ago,” said a jubilant Jannie, who praised Zackey for his well-judged ride and gave compliments to William Kapele, a groom who has worked for him for 15 years.

“I hope I get something for Christmas from a new owner or two,” quipped the affable 73-year-old trainer, a loner since his divorce almost 30 years ago, and a horseman who has survived several hard decades in the game but has yet to find the support he deserves. Only three of his 14 stables are occupied, and Jannie literally holds back tears when he explains what a difference just three or four extra runners would make in his life.

Jannie took out his own trainers’ licence in 1997, starting with 18 horses based alongside Bertie van der Merwe, Mike McLachlan and Kevin Coetzee at the old Bloemfontein track. He was initially supported by the late Stefaan Botha and Faan Mynhardt and got going well with horses like Pounds For Pennies (Shalford) and Enchanted Angel (Dolpour), who won several races between them.

Jannie moved to Kimberley in 2005 and was a regular in the winner’s enclosure with up to 40 horses. “Those were good days because Kimberley was flourishing and there was a spread of horses between trainers. I had winners almost every week.” His best horse was a reject, Beach Flight (Jet Master) a colt bought for just R5,000 at the pre-July Sale in KZN in 2010. “Beach Flight was troublesome, but talented and I got him right. He won four races in a row at Flamingo Park between March and May 2011. He was improving so much I took him to the Vaal on 19 May of that year and he ran away from them, won by five lengths for jockey Marthinus Mienie. Beach Flight won seven of 15 starts.

When Flamingo Park was closed, Jannie moved to the Vaal just before the onset of Covid, and lost horses and patrons as a result. “I am here for the love of my horses and the game, I have a happy stable and I am capable of training a good horse. It’s not easy to train moderate horses, one goes much faster driving a Mercedes Benz than a Tata!”

Even moderate acquisitions are helpful when you’re training downright average horses, and veteran owner Gerald Sadlier has extended a hand – they’ve won four races with Vava Vegas – but one small owner can only do so much. Jannie is the kind of industry faithful we need to assist and protect, for the sake of preserving the hopes and dreams of racing’s remaining ‘ordinary’ folk, people who will give their last drops of blood to stay involved in the game.

“I am not tech-savvy, so I’m also hoping to find someone who can help me to do some marketing online,” said Jannie. “Perhaps we can put a few partners together and find runners that will bring us joy.”

World Of Alice stormed home to beat Elegantrix. (Picture: JC Photos.)

A quality Graduation Plate over 1450m at the Vaal on Thursday lived up to its billing of potentially one of the best races this week, when leading race filly World Of Alice (Serino Moodley) ran down her younger rival Elegantrix in the final strides.

Both fillies were returning from long periods of rest, but class told as they fought out an exciting finish, with other talented runners Salenio Peninsula and Tina Lovelace in the minor places, three lengths behind the front pair.

This was a first prep run for World Of Alice into the Betway Summer Cup, and while she drew market support, trainer Sean Tarry quipped that “people with crystal balls” – and not the stable, were behind the bets that saw her shorten from 8-1 to 7-2 (though the scratching of two good form runners would have played a role, too).

Tarry said that the moderate pace had played into the hands of World Of Alice. She was able to keep up with Elegantrix, who slowed it down after getting to the lead. “World Of Alice has a mind of her own, she does what she wants to do and not what I want her to do, so it was hard having confidence in her over 1450m. She is always way out at the back, but they went so slow and that gave her a chance to be with the field instead of a furlong behind.”

He added: “She was a bit distressed after the race, but I think she took it well and I hope she’ll be able to take her place (in the Yellowwood Handicap) on Charity Mile Day.”

A Varsfontein-bred by One World, World Of Alice races for Sandy and Eugene Arundel’s Itssa It & Business Solutions (Pty) Ltd.

Maureen Haggas and Zack Purton, at loggerheads.

A war of words has broken out between the Hong Kong champion jockey and the daughter of the legendary Lester Piggott after she labelled him “a big sissy”.

Jockey Zac Purton has responded to Maureen Haggas after she accused him of giving Lake Forest “about the worst ride I think I’ve ever seen in my entire life” in the King Charles III Stakes at Randwick last Saturday.

Trained by her husband William and co-owned by Brighton & Hove Albion chairman Tony Bloom, Lake Forest won the highly valuable Golden Eagle in Australia last year and was well fancied for the Group One at the weekend, only to finish last of 12.

Speaking to Racing TV on Wednesday evening Haggas said: “As far as I’m concerned, Lake Forest never had a race. It was about the worst ride I think I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I was appalled, absolutely appalled.

“We went all that way and, I mean I don’t know Zac Purton at all, but it was just dreadful and so disappointing. Everyone knows you have to tell him he’s got to do it and he knew that and was told it, but he just sat there. I was horrified, I really was.”

Hong Kong-based star Purton, who on the same card won the world’s richest turf race, The Everest, on Ka Ying Rising, told Nick Luck’s Daily podcast: “She’s entitled to her opinion and if she wants to wear that, that is her prerogative.”

In a further interview with RSN’s Giddy Up podcast in Australia, Purton said: “The most disappointing part is that every time William Haggas has brought a horse to Australia we have championed him. We’ve been very happy for his success, We’ve welcomed him down. We’ve rolled the red carpet out for him and made him feel like he’s loved in Australia – and then they have one bad day and she falls off the rocking horse. It’s probably a bit much. She must’ve been on the drink.”

The session-topping Candy Ride colt. (Fasig-Tipton).

A well-related colt by Candy Ride topped the third session of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling Sale on Wednesday when selling to Jon Green of D J Stables for $850,000. 

The well-related yearling was bred in Kentucky by Liberty Road Stables and consigned by Gainesway. He is out of Unrivaled Princess, a Tapit daughter of 2010 Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic winner Unrivaled Belle and a half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Unique Bella.

Green told Bloodhorse: “This colt looks more like a Gun Runner than he does a Candy Ride. He’s balanced, he’s a great mover, and he really just wowed us from really the first moment that our consultants [Kim Valerio and Lauren Carlisle] pointed him out to us. So, this colt has been on our radar almost all week.

“We kept comparing him to all the other yearlings that we were looking at, and to the Gun Runner [hip 504] we bought the day earlier. There’s a lot of nice athletes in this sale, but this colt was at a higher echelon based on his athleticism and the way he moved, and just how mentally stable and calm and collected he is.” – Racing Post.

Bless My Stars (far side) beats Feather Boa in the 2023 Grade 1 SA Fillies Classic at Turffontein (JC  Photos)

Exported South African-bred mares, Bless My Stars (Gimmethegreenlight) and Feather Boa (Flower Alley), have both been placed on the Fasig-Tipton November sale in Lexington, Kentucky, following excellent comeback runs in Graded contests, in the last few days.

Bless My Stars, trained by Brad Walsh, ran her heart out in second, in the Rood and Riddle Dowager Stakes over 2400m at Keeneland last Sunday, and Feather Boa (Todd Pletcher) finished well for third in the Noble Damsel at Belmont yesterday.

Team Valor’s Barry Irwin, who purhased both as racing and breeding prospects for Team Valor and partners in 2023, told Turf Talk: “Feather Boa and Bless My Stars both have sale entries November 3 in Lexington. If they fail to meet their reserves, they will remain in training. Bless My Stars runs in Nov in a G3 at Del Mar. There are no plans yet for Feather Boa.”

Below: Replays:

BLESS MY STARS (G3 Rood and Riddle Dowager at Keeneland)

FEATHER BOA (G3 Noble Damsel at Belmont)

How did the term ‘Sport Of Kings’ originate?

Picture: Epsom Grandstand – The Winner Of The Derby Race, James Pollard, 1908