Turf Talk Newsletter – 26 May, 2026

Viva’s Liberte won his first two career starts and has never been out of the frame in seven career starts (Picture: Wayne Marks)

Viva’s Liberte seemed to settle a touch better than usual in the Gr 3 Legal Eagle Stakes over 1800m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on May 3 and stayed on well for a 0,30 length second to La Pulga.

He was then brought to Summerveld and has just been kept ticking over in preparation for the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 on Saturday.

Trainer Candice Bass said about his apparent tendency to take a strong hold, “Craig (Zackey) seems to find that he gets a little bit strong. I don’t know because he’s never strong at home. I just think he’s got a very big action more than the fact that he’s strong.”

She said there were no specific tactics from draw five out of eleven and  added, “He will be placed where he is comfortable, where he is not pulling, and hopefully there’s a little bit of pace.”

She concluded, “He’s doing well and he will definitely get the trip, no doubt about that.”

The Lammerskraal Stud-bred and Khaya Stables-owned Vercingetorix gelding is out of Jet Master mare Viva Maria, who led from pillar to post when winning the Gr 1 Woolavington 2000 back in 2012.

Khaya Stables won the Daily News 2000 two years ago with the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Green With Envy.

Back in 2013 their Kannemeyer-trained charge Capetown Noir was beaten a long-head into third and ironically the winner of that race was Viva Liberte’s sire Vercingetorix.

So being by a Daily News winner out of a Woolavington winner, Viva’s Liberte has the perfect pedigree for Saturday’s race.

Khaya Stables are the Hollywoodbets Durban July trophy holders with  the Kannemeyer-trained The Real Prince having scored last year.

They will want to have a double hand this year and Viva’s Liberte will need a big run here to force his way into the final field.

The 114-rated horse is on the outside looking in horses on the first July log.

He will be going all out, whereas some of the runnners will just be looking for nice preparation runs unto the July.

Viva’s Liberte has plenty of class and might well take to the Hollywoodbets Greyville circuit, like his mother and father did.

Bass has two runners in the Gr 2 Lucky Fish Woolavington 2000, Rainbow Lorikeet and Beach Verse.

The former will be going for the Gr 1 Ridgemont Garden Province Stakes on July day, so is not among those horses who will be wanting to protect their merit ratings.

She ran well below par in the Gr 1 Empress Club Stakes last time at Turffontein and Candice said, “That wasn’t her run. She’s doing well, I just hope she’s not short of a run having to go over 2000m.”

She said about Beach Verse, “She was very green at Greyville first time out, she was pulling at the back of the field and I think she will run a much better race this time around.”

Bush Telegraph was eight from eight after winning the Daily News 2000 in 1987 and he made it nine from nine next time out in the July before finishing third in “The Race Of The Century”, the Mainstay International over 1800m at Clairwood, a race won by Main Man with the great Model Man, who conceded the winner 8kg, finishing a shorthead second. Model Man was also a Daily News winner.  

This year marks the 45th renewal of the Daily News 2000 Gr 1, arguably the defining classic on the South African racing calendar.

It boasts an honour roll replete with three-year-old champions of which Roland’s Song, London News, Dynasty, Irish Flame, Legislate and Eight On Eighteen were all crowned Horse of the Year at the end of their three-year-old season.

Many a winner has used the Daily News 2000 as a stepping stone to the Hollywoodbets Durban July. All of Bush Telegraph (1987), Teal (1995), London News (1996), Dynasty (2003), Big City Life (2009) and Legislate (2014) went on to add the country’s most iconic race to their Daily News 2000 success.

No winner could have been more impressive than London News in 1996. Backed as if defeat was out of the question, he utterly demolished his rivals to cross the line 4.50 lengths clear of his closest pursuer, to this day, still the widest winning margin.

As a stallion, Dynasty’s impact on the Daily News 2000 has been profound. First-crop son Irish Flame won the 2010 renewal and after Run For It was beaten a shorthead by The Apache twelve months later, Dynasty bounced back in 2012, when Jackson cruised home by 3.75 lengths. Legislate made it a treble for his sire with a shorthead victory in 2014. Dynasty was deprived of a fourth winner in 2016 when It’s My Turn failed by a diminishing neck to reel in Rabada.

There is every likelihood that this year’s renewal could yield a third-generation Daily News 2000 winner, as hot fancy Note To Self is by Dynasty’s champion son Futura.

Only three fillies have managed to win the Daily News 2000, and remarkably, in the space of just three years. First up was Roland’s Song, who fully justified her 2-1 starting price by coming home clear of her rivals in 1989 under Gavin van Zyl. She was saddled by Jean Heming, the only female trainer to date of a Daily News 2000 winner.

Twelve months later, the honours again went north when Ormond Ferraris’ SA Oaks winner St Just came from off the pace to defeat Olympic Duel on the post, with future Hollywoodbets Durban July winner Spanish Galliard back in third.

In 1991, Star Effort capped a formidable seven-win streak, her half-length victory coming on the back of success in the Cape Fillies Guineas Gr 1, Topsport Bloodline Guineas Gr 1 and SA Fillies Guineas Gr 1. Trained by Geoff Woodruff, this outstanding filly suffered defeat just once in eleven career starts.

DID YOU KNOW

Ormond Ferraris and son David both saddled two Daily News 2000 winners. Ormond sent out 1990 winner St Just, as well as Fluent Stride, who claimed the scalp of Empress Club two years later, while David tasted success in 1997 with North By Northwest and returned to the winner’s enclosure after Fiery Fred landed the 2002 renewal.

The maestro Terrance Millard trained Potomac (1986), while son Tony saddled 1993 winner Dancing Duel and Flying Duel (1998). Interestingly, the latter was out of Dancing Duel’s champion sister Olympic Duel, who had finished second to St Just in the 1990 race.

Peter Kannemeyer and son Dean have between them trained four Daily News 2000 winners. Peter saddled the Beck-owned Free My Heart to victory in 1999. Four years later, Dean celebrated his first winner with the marvel that was Dynasty, repeated five years later with ill-fated Rabiya and following a 19-year-old hiatus, registered a third winner when Green With Envy scored by a neck.

Trainer Mike de Kock holds the record of five Daily News 2000 winners, the first of which, Badger’s Coast, rang in the new millennium with a neck victory in 2000. It took a decade before De Kock notched up his second winner, but it was worth the wait, for he saddled both the winner Irish Flame and runner-up Bold Silvano, with just a neck separating the pair at the line.

Three years later in 2013, Vercingetorix triumphed in a pulsating three-way finish, in contrast to Hawwaam, who strode to a facile 1.50 length victory in 2019. Safe Passage rounded out De Kock’s quintet with a clear-cut success in 2022.

The Daily News 2000 was the last start on local soil for both Vercingetorix and 2018 winner Surcharge. Unbeaten in four local starts, Vercingetorix went on to further Gr 1 success in Dubai, whilst the latter ended up in Australia where he raced as Yulong Prince and likewise scored at the elite level.

LUCKY FISH WOOLAVINGTON 2000 GR 2

The Lucky Fish Woolavington 2000 was first contested in 2001 when it carried Gr 2 status, with victory going to New Zealand import Hoeberg in the famous Jaffee silks. She already had both the World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas Gr 1 and SA Fillies Guineas Gr 1 in the bag and was honoured with a championship at the end of the season.

That the race was upgraded to Gr 1 status in 2005 came as no surprise, given that Hoeberg was joined in quick succession by champions Ipi Tombe, Icy Air and Promisefrommyheart.

The upgrade was fully vindicated, given that 2005 winner Irridescence would go on to excel on the international stage, the highlight of which her victory in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes Gr 1 in Hong Kong, a race London News had won before her.

The 2007 victress Sun Classique likewise flashed her prowess overseas and put an exclamation mark on an unbeaten treble of wins with a comprehensive three-length score in the Dubai Sheema Classic Gr 1 to become its first female winner.

Furthermore, the Lucky Fish Woolavington 2000 Gr 2 has made a significant impact on the breeding industry, with many of its contestants going on to great success as broodmares. Remarkably, their descendants have also featured in the outcome of the race itself.

Third behind Sun Classique in 2007, Festive Occasion produced Do You Remember, who avenged her dam by defeating Blueridge Mountain and Jet Belle in a head-bobbing three-way finish to the 2013 Woolavington. In turn, Jet Belle’s daughter Silver Darling went one better when she claimed the 2022 Woolavington by a clear margin.

Little Suzie, the first foal out of 2018 winner Oh Susanna emulated her dam by claiming last year’s renewal, whilst continuing the stranglehold of owner/breeder Drakenstein on the Lucky Fish Woolavington 2000 Gr 2 as its fourth consecutive winner in as many years, having been preceded by Silver Darling, Rain In Holland and Silver Sanctuary.

This once revered fillies classic suffered a downgrade to Gr 2 status in 2025 and is no longer reserved strictly for three-year-olds.

Star Major is the second favourite for the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 and this progressive Querari colt has been in fine fettle at Randjesfontein after his superb win in the Gr 2 WSB Guineas.

Tim Woodruff is the Randjesfontein assistant to trainer James Crawford and he said about the Maine Chance Farms-bred bay, who is owned by passionate Durban-born owner, Ravi Naidoo, together with Neville Isdell, Mr J I Bloch and Mrs Prakashni Pillay.

Tim said, “He is all good, we have just tried to freshen him up because it is a quick turnaround between races, but he is doing good. You do get your things between races you sometimes have to deal with, but I do think he will be alright for the Daily News.”

Star Major jumped from a wide  draw in the WSB Guineas and was dropped out.

He turned for home in last place with a number of lengths to make up, but then produced a good turn of foot followed by an impressively resolute finish coupled with an eyecatching late gear change that saw him surging to a 0,90 length victory over the hot favourite Tin Pan Alley.

Of course sectional timing invariably shows that apparent late surges or apparent flying finishes are usually an optical illusion caused by the other horses slowing down at a more rapid rate than the apparently strong-finishing horse. Invariably the surging horse is actually also slowing down.

Indeed the sectional timing of the WSB Guineas shows Star Major’s 100m to finish time to be his slowest sectional of the entire race.

However the fact that he was able to have the fastest 100m to finish time of the whole field, despite having had to make up many lengths to get there, seems to show that he has got some stamina.

He did win the Gr 3 Politician Stakes over 1800m and finished a fair 3,20 length fourth in the Gr 1 Lucky Fish Cape Derby over 2000m, both at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth. In the latter race he ran on despite having been a bit keen in the running.

That would illustrate he has tthe stamina, but hopefully he wiill be able to settle better this time.

He settled very well in  the WSB Guineas and due to his wide draw Tim Woodruff said the same tactic of being dropped out will be employed.

He added, “Obviously it’s a short straight so it’s obviously not ideal. But just looking for a good run  and then obviously the July afterwards.”

He gave his opinion on the 2000m distance, “He should get the trip.”

Querari won a Gr 1 over 2000m and Star Major is out of a mare by stamina influnce Silvano and this mare not only won over 1900m, but was an own siater to Follow The Star, who won the Listed Glenair Trophy over 2800m.

So on pedigree he will easily stay the trip.

Mickaelle Michel retains the ride and if winning it she will become only the second woman in SA history to win a Gr 1, the only one to date to have won one being Lisa Prestwood on the Buddy Maroun-trained Al Nitak in the Golden Horse Sprint on June 1, 2023, almost exactly 23 years ago.

Mickaelle has been in excellent form and Tim confirmed that if everything went well in the Daily News she would keep the ride for the Hollywoodbets Durban July too.

Tim agreed she had been outriding many of her male weighing room colleagues and added, “She has got the touch.”

But back to Star Major, who is still a colt meaning a Daily News win will look very good on his stallion CV.

Tim said, “If you win the Guineas and the Daily News it is just next level.”

Tim said Star Major had a fine chance of realising the dream of Ravi Naidoo and no doubt all the other owners too, a win in the R10 million Hollywoodbets Durban July.

He concluded, “He is ticking all the boxes, He’s a machine.”

Future Free (no. 6) just gets up in the Pocket Power Stakes (Picture: Wayne Marks)

Cape Breeders

Drakenstein Stud’s inform stallion Futura is enjoying a wonderful season in 2025-2026.

The Horse Of The Year enjoyed yet more feature race success on Sunday, when his progressive son Future Free won the Listed Pocket Power Stakes (1950m) at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth.Trained by Justin Snaith, the three-year-old came into Sunday’s Listed feature off a third place finish in the G3 Legal Eagle Stakes.

Future Free received a superb ride from the unstoppable Andrew Fortune in the Pocket Power Stakes.

Fortune settled Future Free three lengths off the front runners, before bringing his mount with a run down the middle of the track. Future Free just outgamed runner up Otto Luyken to score by a short-head.

In the process, Future Free became the 21st stakes winner for his sire.

Bred by Drakenstein Stud, Sunday’s winner races for his breeder in partnership with Bernard Kantor.

A half-brother to champion Eight On Eighteen, Future Free is out of the Captain Al mare Sempre Libre.

His win on Sunday took Future Free’s tally to four, from 11 starts, with the three-year-old having earned R469894 in stakes.

His four time G1 winning sire Futura is also responsible for this season’s G2 TAB SA Derby winner Curious Girl, this season’s Zimbabwe Derby hero Robin Of Locksley, and the exciting three-year-old Note To Self.

The latter, runner up in the G1 Lucky Fish Cape Derby, looks to be a big player in this Saturday’s G1 Daily News 2000.

Carol Woodruff and her daughters Lucinda (left) and Jessica (right)  

It would be somewhat ironic if Mickaelle Michel wins the Daily News 2000 with a horse conditioned at Randjesfontein by James Crawford’s assistant trainer Tim Woodruff, because Tim’s mother Carol (nee Millard) was the first woman to have a professional license in SA.

However, she can’t really claim to be the first professional woman jockey in South Africa, because, as she laments, “They wouldn’t let me ride! I was the first woman here to be qualified to ride having come back from England as an apprentice, but they wouldn’t let me ride! It was disgusting, it was absolutely shocking. What they were doing was completely and utterly illegal! I had ridden in professional races in England and Germany and they were short of jockeys in Zimbabwe, so I rode over there too, but I was riding on a “Day” license in Zimbabwe, I was not riding on a professional license.”

She explained, “A ‘Day’ license is granted if they don’t have enough jockeys, so they allow amateurs to ride against the professionals, but I wasn’t an amateur, I held an apprentice license from England. It was shocking what they did to me!”

She added, “I am so happy that the girls are doing so well now.”

She continued, “What was even worse in my case was they wouldn’t let me ride in professional races in Cape Town, DESPITE me having an apprentice license from England, and they wouldn’t let me ride in the ladies races, BECAUSE I had an apprentice license from England. So the only races they would let me ride in was in hurdles races, so I rode against the professional jockeys in hurdles races which were far more dangerous races than flat races.”

She continued, “They just simply refused even when it was pointed out to them that this was not in keeping with the rules.”

Carol said, “But then what they did which was so funny was they passed a rule that no rider who held an apprentice license from overseas could come over here and ride in races. And they left that rule in there for years. But then what happened was one of the apprentices came over here, a top class jockey from overseas, and he couldn’t ride because of me!”

She added, “They eventually changed the rule, but by that time I was married with children and there was no chance I was going to be making that call again.”

She lamented, “It was absolutely shocking, I was 19 years old and I just wanted to be a jockey … no, you can’t, they said.”

She said about riding in England and Germany, “It was hard to get rides in England, I had a few rides and it was the same in Germany. In those days it was very hard for woman, they never accepted us, and when you were a foreigner in England and Germany it was impossible, we were like cheap labour, you just did your horses and were then given these token rides.”

So she never rode a winner as a professional on the flat, although she did finish second in the “Schweppes Challenge” in Zimbabwe.

She lamented, “But in South Africa I was known here, so I would have been able to have a go. It would have been fantastic to have been a jockey in South Africa, but it never happened.”

Carol also had a stint in the USA where she rode for a trainer at Belmont Park, but it was difficult to get going there with all the red tape.

She was there when her sister Jennifer died tragically in a windsurfing accident so came home and never returned.

Carol had been a prolific winner in amateur races and ladies races and won Cape Hunt races, including winning the Champion Hurdle on Hawkins, a former Gold Cup winner trained by Carol’s legendary father Terrance Millard.

She said, “Hawkins was always my horse, I loved him from when he was a baby, so it was nice that he came back to me when he retired.”

Carol began workriding for her father at the age of 12 and she was able to ride in amateur races at the age of 14.

She won her first ever amateur race for a trainer called Gersner who trained off his chicken farm in Philippi and history was to repeat itself when Jennifer won with her first ride, also at the age of 14 and also for Gersner.

Carol recalled, “I won on a horse my Dad sent to Gersner and Jennifer’s winner was a polo pony my Dad wanted to get out of his yard for a few weeks, so he also sent him to Gersner.”

Carol instilled a love of the horse in her children and had wanted them to ride but her daughter who was small enough didn’t want to and her other daughter was too big. Timothy did ride in a few point to point races in England.

Meanwhile, Lucinda is following in her five-times South African champion trainer Geoff Woodruff’s footsteps as one of the best up and coming trainers in the country and she failed narrowly on Saturday to win the iconic Gr 2 Golden Horse Sprint with Cafe Culture, who had won the Gr 3 Champagne Stakes at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth in his previous start.

Geoff won the Golden Horse with top horses like Jet Master, Earl Of Surrey and Shea Shea.[

Tim will surely also follow in his father’s footsteps one day, as he is clearly a valued assistant trainer to the powerful Crawford Racing operation.

Jack Milner (Tab4Racing)

Racing is on the Polytrack at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Wednesday and as is so often the case with a midweek meeting, winners do not look easy to find.

Generally, I am not a fan of maidens who keep running second because they often go off at very short prices and more often than not still find something to beat them.

However, there are times when one of those runners does look to have found the right race and that appears to be the case with Menagerie who lines up in Race 3, a Maiden Plate for fillies and mares over 1200m.

For a start, this two-year-old daughter of Rafeef has only raced twice, finishing second on both occasions. The two runs were at Hollywoodbets Scottsville over 1200m and 1100m respectively, and was beaten just 0.40 lengths on debut after losing two lengths at the start and then 0.30 lengths in her following race.

Most importantly, her last run was in the Grade 3 Strelitzia Stakes where she was touched off by Justin Snaith-trained Querari Dancer.

Trained by Stuart Ferrie, Menagerie is out of Variety, which makes her a half-sister to the likes of five-time winner Smorgasbord, nine-time winner Afraad, as well as Barry’s Boy and Hodgepodge, who will be in action in Races 4 and 5 respectively.

She will be taking on some well-worn older maidens, but she does have by some way the most scope for improvement in this field, and we are starting to see two-year-olds winning in open company.

While she is obviously an unknown factor on the Polytrack and will be racing around the turn for the first time, she does have the benefit of jumping from No 2 draw and having Sean Veale in the irons.

It could turn out to be a great day for the family if her two half-siblings Barry’s Boy and Hodgepodge can win their races.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 1 Bison Warrior, 8 Kiki U Beauty, 5 The Swan Song, 2 Asheef

Race 2: 5 Liz Hurley, 6 Sei Bella, 7 Floral Kingdom, 10 Lady Jerome

Race 3: 2 Menagerie, 3 Legal Tango, 7 Dancing Party, 1 Boogy

Race 4: 4 Ka Chow, 7 Barry’s Boy, 8 Donmagoo, 2 Highveld Storm

Race 5: 3 Arctic Fury, 5 Zena Rose, 8 Fine Wine, 2 Hodgepodge

Race 6: 7 Act Of Grace, 2 Happy Fortune, 3 Flying Fate, 8 Izibulo

Race 7: 1 Axis Power, 2 Sugarbush, 3 Cappellino, 8 Sun In My Pocket

Race 8: 8 Catch A Penny, 2 Military Command, 1 Mojo Man, 5 Mighty Zambezi

BEST BET

Race 3: 2 Menagerie

VALUE BET

Race 5: 3 Arctic Fury

BEST SWINGER

Race 8 2×8

BIPOT

R288

Leg 1: 1, 8

Leg 2: 5, 6, 7

Leg 3: 2

Leg 4: 4, 7, 8

Leg 5: 2, 3, 5, 8

Leg 6: 2, 3, 7, 10

PLACE ACCUMULATOR

R324

Leg 1: 5, 6

Leg 2: 2

Leg 3: 4, 5, 8

Leg 4: 3, 5, 8

Leg 5: 2, 3, 7

Leg 6: 1, 2, 3

Leg 7: 2, 8

PICK 6

R1080

Leg 1: 2

Leg 2: 4, 7, 8

Leg 3: 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9

Leg 4: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10

Leg 5: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8

Leg 6: 2, 8

JACKPOT 1

R450

Leg 2: 4, 7, 8

Leg 3: 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9

Leg 4: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8

Leg 5: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8

JACKPOT 2

R300

Leg 1: 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9

Leg 2: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8

Leg 5: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8

Leg 6: 2, 8

UPDATE – INQUIRY JOCKEY S’MANGA KHUMALO

Further to the press release issued yesterday, please be advised that, due to logistical considerations, the Inquiry Board will reconvene on 10 June 2026 for judgment on sentencing and the matter.

Mr Khumalo’s interim suspension remains in place pending the finalisation of the Inquiry.

 Michael Shackleton