Picture: Trompie wins impressively on Saturday under S’Manga Khumalo (Cape Racing).

Trompie Is Beaumont’s Stud’s Best Since Variety Club

The great Variety Club is the highest Timeform rated horse in SA history and his breeder Anton Shepherd of Beaumont Stud at one stage had a glimmer of hope the Vaughan Marshall-trained Trompie (Captain Of All) was going to follow in his footsteps.

Shepherd was relieved to see Trompie bouncing back with an emphatic win on Saturday, eight months after his inexplicably disappointing run in the Grade 3 Cape Of Good Hope Nursery back in February.

Trompie acquired his name in similar circumstances to Kommetdieding.

Anton and friends had gathered to watch the July and, after a number of drinks had been sunk, a discussion began about the naming of the promising son of Var.

Somebody suggested “Trompie”, a name they were all familiar with having grown up in the 1980’s at the time of the TV show, “Trompie En Die Boksem Bende”.

Anton thought the suggestion had been a joke until he received a message from the NHA saying, “The name Trompie has been reserved.”

So Trompie it was and Anton now likes it, because it is certainly a unique name and it has that touch of Kommetdieding about it.

Trompie won so easily on debut that before his next start in the Grade 3 Cape Of Good Hope Nursery in February Anton remembered the connections just talking about “how far (would he win by)?”.

Anton had also been wondering whether he had bred another Variety Club.

That was until the 400m mark of the Nursery, which became an “Oh, dear!” moment.

The T Gujadhur & R T Mattheyse-owned colt had led and was using his big stride, but he then found little extra and faded to a 6,20 length seventh.

The reason for the poor showing remains a mystery today.

Anton said, “We could only put it down to growing pains. He did return a bit unsound, but we could not find where.”

Anton does not believe it was the 1200m trip and added, “He is not built like a sprinter at all, he is a bit on the leg, and Captain Of All is also throwing horses who can stay a bit of a trip. But he is out of a Var mare. However, I am confident he will stay 1200m and don’t think that was the issue in the defeat.”

He revealed, “Ironically, Variety Club had by far the worst race of his career in the Cape Nursery too (finished 5th, the only time he was out of the first three in his career and, furthermore, he only finished third once!)

Anton continued, “So it was great to see a horse who was so highly thought of bouncing back to win so well on Saturday.”

Trompie, returning from an eight month layoff in the Need For Speed Sprint on Saturday, drifted from 3/1 out to 8/1.

However, he settled well when finding cover behind the leading line.

In the closing stages it looked like the well regarded favourite Hithemhardsunshine was going to sweep past the leaders and convert the confidence that had seen him backed in from 33/20 to 11/10.

However, instead it was Trompie who surged through on the inside with his impressive stride under S’Manga Khumalo.

He ran away from Hithemhardsunshine to win by 1,25 lengths, although he was receiving 4kg from the latter.

Trompie’s mother, the Winterbach Stud-bred Var filly Wake Up Maggie, was in fact a R2 million yearling.

She won three races from 1000m to 1200m and Beaumont Stud were fortunate to pick her up at a dispersal sale for R50,000.

“She is a beautiful looking mare, we got lucky,” said Anton.

Wake Up Maggie is currently in foal to Rafeef, so Trompie’s career will be followed closely by the stud owners and staff members.

He is in the right hands considering Vaughan Marshall’s incredible record with Captain Al and his offspring and his offspring’s offspring.

Marshall is the trainer of the best Captain Of All to date, Linebacker.

Picture: Last year in the Sophomore Sprint a Vaughan Marshall-trained sprinter, Safe Return (William Longsword), was pipped by a classic type, the Brett Crawford-trained Zapatillas (Master Of My Fate). The race was run in early September last season.

Charles Dickens Trompie, Hithemhardsunshine Might Clash In Sophomore Sprint

The most obvious next target for the talented Vaughan Marshall-trained Trompie is the Listed Sophomore Sprint over 1200m on November 19.

Charles Dickens might be seen in that race too.

Candice Bass-Robinson has divulged she was going to find a sprint for Charles Dickens to keep his fitness levels up before his ultimate target, the Grade 1 R2 million Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas.

The Sophomore looks to be the race she was talking about.

It will certainly be an intriguing clash if it happens, the classic brilliance of Charles Dickens (Trippi) against Trompie, who is looking at present to be a sprinter.

The Eric Sands-trained Hithemhardsunshine (What A Winter) might be thrown into that mix too.

Hithemhardsunshine was giving Trompie 4kg when beaten 1,25 on Saturday and although he was not returning from as long as a layoff he was coming off a rest.

Picture: Variety Club enjoying life at Beaumont Stud farm in Paarl.

Variety Club Loving Life At Beaumont Stud

Variety Club, twice Equus Horse Of The Year and the highest Timeform rated horse in SA history, is proving to be a joy to have on the Beaumont Stud farm in Paarl where he was bred.

Stud-owner Anton Shepherd said the chestnut had looked as proud as punch recently when receiving a rosette at his first show.

Most of the showjumping fraternity present were oblivious to the fact that the previous prize the good looking chestnut had won was the lion’s share of R23 million for winning the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile!

However, Anton said at his second show one or two had cottoned on to who he actually was.

Variety Club was trained by Joey Ramsden except for his last start in the Hong Kong Mile of 2014 where, trained by Mike de Kock, he beat a world class field by five lengths and recorded a Timeform rating of 131.

No other South African horse has been given a Timeform rating as high or even close to that.

Variety Club was known for his incredible gatespeed, his lovely relaxed machine-like action and his superb turn of foot.

Unfortunately, the five-time Grade 1 winner proved to be infertile at stud.

He was eventually gelded as he had become a bit of a handful.

However, it has turned out for the best.

“He is really, really the most fantastic horse to have around. My daughter goes on outrides on him for two or three hours. These top horses are absolute professionals in everything they do. He is still like that now. He also still knows he’s the best!”

Pictures of Variety Club on the farm and at a show:

Picture: Trainer Wayne Hawkes after Pesto won Race 1, the Fanfave Handicap, during Melbourne Racing at Flemington Racecourse on May 21, 2022 (Getty)

Farcical Barrier Draw For $1 Million Empire Rose Stakes

Trainer Wayne Hawkes made a complaint to stewards after a farcical barrier draw, televised live via racing.com, for the $1 million Empire Rose Stakes to be run on Derby Day (Victoria Derby at Flemington in Melbourne on Saturday).

The Hawkes-trained Yearning was initially left without a barrier at the end of the draw after the barrel of balls with barrier numbers on them was found to be one ball short.

The missing ball represented barrier 14, with the stewards then deciding Yearning would be forced to take that barrier despite not having officially drawn it.

Speaking to Gerard Whateley on SEN’s Whateley show soon after the botched draw, Hawkes explained that his phone then went “ballistic”.

“The owners’ racing manager was watching and he’s tried to ring me … so I’ve rung him back, my father’s (John Hawkes) rung me and I’ve hung up from both of them, long story short I’ve rung the aficionados and said ‘I’m getting pressure here, so where do we stand?’

“I said it’s not your fault but I need a comeback so I can go back to people and tell them.”

After Hawkes’ call to stewards it was determined that all 18 balls would be put back in the barrel to draw Yearning’s barrier, with the horse that drew its number in the initial draw to move to the barrier outside it, shuffling each horse drawn outside Yearning further wide by one barrier.

Whateley suggested it would be “simpler to redo the whole thing”.

“To be honest, I said I hope we’re video taping this so we can all see it – because it was on racing.com on live stream – so we can all have a look at what has happened,” Hawkes added.

“I don’t want to draw barrier one with Yearning, cause she’s drawn inside both times and been four back the fence, so 14 was not a bad barrier theoretically.

“But you know what, the bottom line is I just want fairness. One rule book and fairness and they’re doing the right thing, they’re re-drawing the horse.”

When the 18 balls went back into the barrel and Yearning’s barrier was eventually drawn, by a remarkable twist of fate, the ball with the No.14 on it was drawn for Yearning, meaning the status quo remained.

That came after Hawkes had added on Whateley that the other issue surrounding the original draw was that the barrel that it was conducted out of was made of perspex – a clear material – so the steward drawing the balls could in theory see what ball he was drawing for each horse as it was plucked from the barrel.

“I don’t know, it’s been a hell of a day for Racing Victoria and Racing NSW,” Hawkes said.

“It’s not good on all counts when something goes wrong … I’m sweating here Gerard.”

“Where was ball No.14?” Whateley asked.

“I don’t know. No one seems to know,” Hawkes responded with a chuckle.

The four-year-old mare Yearning won the Group 1 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield last Spring and ran a place in the Group 2 Let’s Elope Stakes at Flemington two starts back.

The Empire Rose Stakes will jump at 5pm (AEDT) at Flemington on Saturday, with Yearning a $21 outsider to win.

La Crique will start the race as a hot favourite.

FULL BARRIER DRAW

Barrier 1: 4. Kiku

Barrier 2: 13. Daisies

Barrier 3: 10. Hinged

Barrier 4: 9. Belle Plaisir

Barrier 5: 11. Fangirl

Barrier 6: 16. She’s Licketysplit

Barrier 7: 8. Chaillot

Barrier 8: 14. La Crique

Barrier 9: 17. My Whisper

Barrier 10: 5. Excelida

Barrier 11: 2. Nimalee

Barrier 12: 20. Cliff’s Art

Barrier 13: 6. Mirra Vision

Barrier 14: 12. Yearning

Barrier 15: 19. Pride of Jenni

Barrier 16: 18. Atishu

Barrier 17: 15. Elusive Express

Barrier 18: 1. Icebath

Picture: Devin Heffer, brand and communications manager of Hollywoodbets, was thrilled somebody had landed the Hollywoodbets Punters Challenge bonus prize.

Punter Collects R2 Million For Perfect Eight In The Hollywoodbets Punters Challenge!

A Hollywoodbets client whose pseudonym is “Devo” had a massive R2 million pay day today after successfully predicting all eight winners at the eight race meeting on the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly.

Keagan de Melo and the Dennis Drier-trained Pathfork gelding Priceless Ruler will be the hero of Devo’s household tonight.

De Melo gave the seven-year-old a peach of a ride in the last race over 1400m.

The big horse sauntered to a comfortable win after coming from off the pace.

The meeting always looked to be one in which the rolling bonus could be landed as there were two or three stand out favourites who looked hard to beat.

There were in fact four punters who predicted seven winners.

The Punters Challenge is free to enter and as well as KZN meetings it now includes meetings from Cape Town, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Congratulations Devo!!

The Sporting Post spoke to the elated winner after the meeting:

CLICK TO READ THE STORY ABOUT THIS DESERVED WINNER

Picture: Candice Bass-Robinson scored the second five-timer of her career on Saturday.

Candice Bass-Robinson Has Great Expectations For The Season

Mike Moon (The Citizen)

Candice Bass-Robinson sent the local racing world a reminder of her talent and tenacity at Kenilworth on Saturday, when she saddled five winners on the nine-race card.

Candice Bass-Robinson comes across as a bubbly blonde, but racing folk are well aware this determined woman is anything but ditzy. She inherited a racing dynasty from one of the modern legends of the game, but there’s no hint that she doesn’t have the skill, knowledge and nous to be every bit as good a trainer of racehorses as her father Mike.

Bass-Robinson sent the local racing world a reminder of her talent and tenacity at Kenilworth on Saturday, when she saddled five winners on the nine-race card, including in three of the features.

Defining Moment (16-1) won the fourth race, Golden Hostess (12-1) the Prestige Plate, Resonate the Southeaster Sprint, Charles Dickens the Cape Classic and Sun Dazed the last race.

Most notable was the facile victory of Charles Dickens in the Grade 3 headline event – a performance which extended the three-year-old colt’s unbeaten run to four and should see him start at short odds in the upcoming Grade 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas.

“I thought we might have a good day on Saturday, but you don’t ever really expect that many wins!” she laughed on Monday. “We had some very nice runners, but they weren’t in easy races – with the exception of Charles Dickens.”

Bass-Robinson has had a five-timer before – at the country course in Durbanville – but this was her biggest haul to date at Cape Town’s premier track. She is quick to recall another red-letter day at Kenilworth, when she landed two Grade 1 trophies and another race on Cape Town Met day a couple of years ago.

Of course, her Durban July triumph with Marinaresco – making her the first female to train a winner of South African’s biggest race – will always be a special memory. But you wouldn’t bet against a whole lot more big moments for the 48-year-old Queen of Milnerton.

For one thing, she is confident 2022/2023 will turn out to be her best season to date: “We have a lot of good horses at present.”

And the Western Cape trainer championship “is always one of my goals”. Watch your back Justin Snaith.

Charles Dickens is likely to be key ammunition in the Bass-Robinson assault on the season. The trainer is hoping that the powerful son of Trippi will prove capable over a lot more ground than the 1400m of Saturday’s Cape Classic.

“His full brother Somerset Maugham won recently over 2000m and has also won over 1800m,” points out Bass-Robinson.

Both Somerset Maugham, trained by aforementioned Cape Town supremo Snaith, and Charles Dickens are out of top-class race-mare Demanding Lady, who is by Dynasty, a font of stamina blood. Both were bred and retained in ownership by Gaynor Rupert’s Drakenstein Stud.

Bass-Robinson is considering giving Charles Dickens another outing before the 1600m Guineas, which is contested on 17 December – for a much-boosted stake of R2-million, courtesy of sponsor Hollywoodbets. The Queen’s Plate is also on the drawing board thereafter.

“I’ll play it by ear, but I’d like to give him a warm-up before the Guineas. There’s a 1200m race in mid-November which I’m looking at.”

“Charles” is clearly the apple of his trainer’s eye, with no challengers for “No 1” in the yard – though she does mention six-time-winning four-year-old gelding Trip Of Fortune and brilliant four-year-old filly Marina as horses who will be spearheading the challenge this term.

Serious illness might have sidelined Mike Bass for a while, but he is back working in the Bass Racing stables every day – doing the job his daughter did for him for more than 20 years. Not a bad stable assistant to have around for the odd bit of consultation.

Picture: Keagan de Melo’s win aboard Priceless Ruler (Pathfork) in the last race today secured a double for both himself and Dennis Drier and clinched a R2 million payout for a Hollywoodbets Punters Challenge player (Candiese Lenferna).

Muscutt Treble, Godden, Drier, De Melo, Puller Doubles

Peter Muscutt cored a treble on the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly today, two of them ridden by Tristan Godden.

Keagan de Melo, Dennis Drier and Garth Puller all had doubles on the day.

Muscutt goes to 17 wins for the season at a strike rate of 18.48%.

Puller is one ahead of him in the KZN Trainers Championship on 18 and has done it at 9.28%.

Drier is on nine winners at 13.43%.

De Melo is on 79 winners at 23.65% and is now 24 of second-placed Muzi Yeni on the national jockeys log.

Godden has had 14 winners at 13.73%.

Picture: Northern Dancer (Canadian Horse Journal).

Today’s Question

Which champion owner in Britain, who also owned horses in South Africa once said, “There are two types of stallion – Northern Dancer and the rest.”

Vaal Classic Fields

Picture: Robert Sangster (middle) (Alchetron)

Today’s Question Answer

Five-times British flat racing champion owner Robert Sangster made that statement.

In October 1971 at Haydock Park, where he was sponsoring the Vernons Sprint Cup, Sangster was introduced to John Magnier, a stud farmer from County Cork who was then aged 23. Sangster entered into partnership with Magnier and the legendary Irish trainer Vincent O’Brien, investing in the Coolmore Stud in County Tipperary. The trio became known as “the Brethren”. Their idea was to use Sangster’s money to buy up the best yearlings at the Keeneland Sales in Kentucky, cornering the line of horses bred from the stallion Northern Dancer. Trained by O’Brien at his Ballydoyle stables these horses would go on to success on the track and command enormous fees standing at stud.

Sangster also owned horse in South Africa with Herman Brown Snr.

Brown was introduced to Sangster at an Australian sale by the late Durban-based Bloodstock agent Chris Smith. Brown recalled that he and Sangster “took to each other immediately” and later Sangster, upon enquiring about Brown’s credentials, gave him the go ahead to buy a few horses.

Brown trained strings of between 15 to 20 horses for Sangster and one of the first things he learnt was that Sangster loved a punt.

However, he only ever considered a bet if the trainer was able to rate the chances of the horse as at least 8 out of 10.

The first horse that fitted the credentials was a colt called Seat Of Power.

Brown recalled that in those days, unlike in today’s age of transparency, the stakes money was not high and gambling played an important role in many yards.

He said, “There were eyes everywhere and many at Summerveld knew how good Seat Of Power was before he raced.”

Consequently Brown planned to debut the horse in Johannesburg. He was due to take a couple of his best horses up there for a big meeting and entered Seat Of Power in a maiden on the day.

Brown put Seat Of Power to the test beforehand and galloped him over 1400m on the Summerveld grass with one of his many Gr 1 horses.

He recalled , “Seat Of Power played with him.”

He continued, “I phoned Robert and told him I had a good runner for him. He asked me the rating and I replied nine.”

The problem now was how to get the money on, because when Sangster punted he punted big. After being advised by his father, Brown phoned one of the biggest bookmakers in Johannesburg, who confirmed that the favourite was even money and Seat Of Power was 3-1.

Brown was asked how much he would like on and after replying he added, “You will have to do the exchange rates because that’s the amount in pounds.”

After an initial pause to absorb this information the bookmaker told Brown that he would likely be able to give him even money as long as he gave him about 15 minutes to finalise it. The bookmaker then claimed all the prices around the country and secured the even money bet, although the horse opened on course at prohibitive odds-on. He won easily and the ever generous Sangster rewarded Brown by allowing him to keep the stake money.

Herman Brown Snr

The best horse that Brown ever trained for Sangster was the remarkable Turncoat.

Turncoat’s first trainer was Mark Watters, who bought him for a relative tuppence, and he was then bought into the Jean Heming yard by one of her big owners after his first couple of impressive wins. He started his three-year-old career in fine style but was then put up for auction and on Brown’s recommendation Chris Smith secured him at a sizeable price on behalf of Sangster.

Turncoat went on to win the Cape Guineas and later that year won the Gr 1 Mainstay International over 1800m at Clairwood, beating top horses like Bodrum, Rain Forest, Up The Creek, The Rutland Arms and Gondolier.

Brown said “He was nothing to look at as he was small and had one club foot. At first sight you wondered how he could run at all. He was the greatest freak of a horse I have ever known.”

Jockey Michael Roberts confirmed that Turncoat was a terrible mover in his slow gaits and would stumble virtually every second stride.

Turf Talk Newsletter – 26 October 2022