Picture: Tempting Fate (Master Of My Fate) won his first race as a gelding over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday, beating the classy Captain Fontane (Captain Al).

Drier’s Cape String Includes Back-On-Track Tempting Fate

Who can forget the words of jockey Sean Veale after he had won the Grade 1 Gold Medallion on the Dennis Drier-trained Master Of My Fate colt Tempting Fate back in July 2020, “This horse gives me gooseflesh every time I get on his back. He is the best horse I’ve ever ridden.”

The big horse was unbeaten in three starts at that stage, but then went off the boil and took more than a year to win his next race.

He was finally given the operation he needed, gelding, at the end of last season and this has produced immediate dividends.

Yesterday, he found a nice handy position with cover from draw five under Veale and accelerated well to take the lead.

He did not appear to be letting himself down fully and was said by the yard to have probably still needed the run.

However, he did enough to hold off the classy Captain Fontane, who was dropped out from a wide draw and had to come from last.

Tempting Fate thus landed his fifth career win just over a year after his fourth win.

Tempting Fate was running off a 108 merit rating in the Pinnacle Stakes event and was at level weights with 106-rated Captain Fontane, He beat the latter by a neck, so has not been given any merit rating raise.

Rated 108 he still has some way to go to be considered a Grade 1 Cape Flying Championship contender, but his next few runs will tell whether he is able to fulfill the exciting potential he showed as a two-year-old.

Drier will be sending down a string of 13 or 14 horses, most of them youngsters.

The yard made no secret of the fact that the best of them was an unraced three-year-old Pathfork colt called Servilius.

They yard said with the incentives put in place by Cape Racing, there was very little to lose.

They would aim some of the horses at features, but if they did not succeed they would still be able to pay their way due to those incentives.

The Golden Grooms Initiative has an added incentive this season, a R500 Studio 88 shopping voucher for every prize-winner. (Picture credit: 4Racing)

Studio 88’s Golden Grooms Initiative Kicks In This Saturday

Initiative Starts At Topbet Spring Challenge Meeting

4Racing were happy to announce last week that the Studio 88 Grooms Initiative, which started in 2020 with major fashion retailer Studio 88 has been renewed for the 2022/2023.

The sponsorship will see Grooms of the top five runners in every Graded race of the Highveld season receive a cash incentive of up to R2,500, and this season there will be an an additional R500 Studio 88 shopping voucher for every prize winner!

Ryno du Plessis, Head Of Marketing at Studio 88, said it was important for the brand to recognise the Grooms and the critical part they play in racing.

“These are the guys who make the wheels turn. They tend to the horses behind the scenes and without them racing couldn’t exist, ” said Du Plessis.

Colin Gordon, CEO of 4Racing, expressed his gratitude to the Studio 88 team and especially to Chairman Laurence Wernars, who has been a long-time supporter of the sport of horse racing.

The Studio 88 Golden Grooms Initiative kicks off this Saturday October 1 at the Topbet Spring Challenge meeting at Turffontein.

The prizes awarded to each groom for each Graded race as part of this initiative will be as follows:

1^st R2,500 + Studio 88 Voucher.

2^nd R1,000 + Studio 88 Voucher.

3^rd R750 + Studio 88 Voucher.

4^th R500 + Studio 88 Voucher.

5^th R250 + Studio 88 Voucher.

For more information on Studio 88 visit www.studio-88.co.za

Picture: The unbeaten Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Charles Dickens (Trippi) has become one of the early season three-year-old talking points. (Chase Liebenberg).

Trippi Steals The Show At Dramatic Hollywoodbets Durbanville Meeting

The Hollywoodbets Durbanville racemeeting on Saturday proved a huge success as a crowd of over 1000 people attended and the Tote pools were good, including a Pick 6 pool of R 1,475,112.64.

Super stallion Trippi showed why he is so revered by Drakenstein Stud as he produced three of the eight winners at the meeting.

Drakenstein recently unveiled a magnificently sculptured statue of Trippi on their farm.

Trippi’s three winners included the full-brothers Somerset Maughan and Charles Dickens, both who are both Drakenstein Stud homebreds.

The former was declared the winner of the Listed Hollywoodbets Settlers Trophy over 2000m after an objection placed on his behalf was upheld.

In the next race the Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Charles Dickens remained unbeaten in three starts when slamming a Graduation Plate field over 1250m in impressive style under Aldo Domeyer.

He jumped from pole position and sat about four or five lengths off a good pace in fourth place.

He crept up and quickened superbly at the 300m mark before drawing off to win as he liked under hand and heels.

Domeyer eased him some way before the line and yet he was still 3,25 lengths clear of a decent field at the line.

It was his first run since June 5 and the yard felt he would need it, whilst at the same time hoping he would be good enough to win.

He more than fulfilled the latter hope and has an exciting season ahead of him.

He might be given one or two points because off his 107 merit rating he gave 96-rated Iconic Destination (Gimmthegreenlight) 3kg and a 3,25 length beating (Update: He has remained on 107).

However, his merit rating is unlikely to be of any significance at this stage because he will surely be aimed at three-year-old level-weights races.

His full brother, the Justin Snaith-trained Somerset Maughan, had earlier given an indication of how far Charles Dickens will stay by finishing a narrow second in the Listed Hollywoodbets Settlers Trophy over 2000m, before being awarded the race after an objection.

It was a difficult decision by the stipendiary stewards because the first accross the line, the Glen Kotzen-trained Han Solo, came from last and overtook Somerset Maughan.

However, in so doing he continually hung inward and carried Somerset Maughan with him and also appeared to bump him once.

Punters who were on Han Solo would have been asking, “Would Somerset Maughan definitely have beaten Han Solo but for the interference?”

However, there is no doubt that the movement made by the latter was unfair on Somerset Maughan and might have hampered his momentum.

Perhaps the objection question should be changed to, “Did the interference caused by the winner enhance his finishing position?”, and if there is any doubt it should be awarded to the objecting horse. This would put an end to winners of big races benefitting from unfair interference.

In yesterday’s case the interfering horse was punished and had the race taken away.

The official stipendiary steward report stated, “At the 100m SOMERSET MAUGHAM (R Fourie) changed stride and became momentarily unbalanced when brushed inwards by HAN SOLO (C Habib), which was hanging in and shifted in. After being straightened HAN SOLO (C Habib) continued to shift in slightly and brushed SOMERSET MAUGHAM (R Fourie) shortly before the finish. Trainer SJ Snaith called a race review regarding this incident, which was followed by an Objection being lodged by Jockey R Fourie, the rider of the 2nd placed horse SOMERSET MAUGHAM against the winner HAN SOLO (C Habib) on the grounds of interference in the latter stages. The Objection Board, after giving due regard to the evidence put forward, reviewing the patrol films and giving consideration to the margin of 0,05 of a length between the two horses concerned, was of the opinion that but for the interference SOMERSET MAUGHAM would have finished ahead of HAN SOLO had this incident not occurred and therefore upheld the Objection. Jockey Fourie’s deposit was refunded.”

Richard Fourie paid a R2500 fine for a whipping offence, as he struck Somerset Maughan more than 12 times in the entire race.

The first Trippi winner on the day was also a Drakenstein Stud homebred Snaith-trained horse ridden by Fourie, Hunting Trip, who won a Maiden over 1250m by 3,75 lengths albeit in a time 1,59 seconds slower than Charles Dickens.

Bass-Robinson also had a double as the Master Of My Fate filly Echo Of Life won first time out the maidens over 1400m under Gareth Wright off an 85 merit rating.

Another interesting winner was the Eric Sands-trained British import, Different Face, who had earned a cheque in 11 of her 12 starts in South Africa, before finally getting it right over 1000m on Saturday having dropped from a initial mark out here of 91 down to a 77. This Exceed And Excel filly was imported from Britain by Nick Jonsson after she had recorded a win and three seconds in five starts in England. She was bought by Canine Solutions CC (Nom: Mr D C O’Driscoll) earlier this year and moved from the Snaith yard to Eric Sands, for whom she has had four starts.

Pictures: The rail was lined by spectators at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on Saturday (Cape Racing).

Cape Racing Reports September Upturns

Cape Racing is on the right road towards their goal of reinvigorating racing in Cape Town and immediate upturns have happened.

Over 1000 people attended the Heritage day meeting on Saturday.

The crowd enjoying the racing and looking forward to the rugby (Boks vs Argentina), which was screened on course and was advertised as part of the day’s entertainment. (Cape Racing).

Cape Racing Field Size Report:

September 2021/22: 8.7 runners per race. September 2022/23: 10.17 runners per race

Cape Racing Turnover Report:

September 2022 vs 2021: Total turnover up 31% On course turnover up 164%

They added:

Massive wins for :
1) RaceCape powered by @hollywoodbets
2) Improved on course experience
3) New saddle cloth and starting gate system

Welcome to the new Cape Racing … Best is yet to come!

Picture: Captain Fontane (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Puller Not Sure Whether Captain Fontane Will Be Cape Town Bound

The Garth Puller-trained Captain Fontane (Captain Al) arrived for the Cape Summer Season last year unbeaten in four starts and with a big reputation, but he has not won a race since.

However, he was desperately unlucky in his cape Town debut as he clearly stood in a hole just as he was moving up with a winning looking run.

That incident set him back in his Cape campaign and he never recovered.

He only had one run for Paul Peter before re-joining Puller and is now back on track.

Puller felt he should have won both of his last two races.

He said he had asked jockey Serino Moodley to sit behind Coin Spinner in his first comeback start at Hollywoodbets Scottsville over 1200m and he said the latter admitted straight afterwards that he had made a mistake by leaving too big a gap which saw Muzi Yeni squeezing into it on Bowie and getting the tow from Coin Spinner.

Captain Fontane was thus too far back and ran on to deadheat for second, 0,40 lengths behind the classy Coin Spinner, to whom he gave 2,5kg.

On Sunday Moodley dropped Captain Fontane out to last from a wide draw, but found himself too far back again.

He was still last at the top of the straight but ran on well to be beaten just a neck by Tempting Fate.

David Ferraris and CW Hui are the connections of Tempting Fate and last season’s Cape campaign might have soured them too attempting that route again.

They might be looking at some of the big Johannesburg sprints.

Picture: Aquitaine (Al Mufti), pictured as a yearling, is a three-parts-sister to the multiple Grade 1 winner Captain America (Captain Al). Their dam Requista (Fort Wood) is a half-sister to twice Listed Prix du Cap winner Dacha (Russian Fox), whose Captain Al daughter Adorable is dam of Kommetdieding.

Kommetdieding Relative’s Sensational Feat Approaches 15th Anniversary

In October 2007 a horse called Acquitaine, trained by Dianne Stenger, won her maiden over 1600m on Turffontein Standside by no few than 17,5 lengths and there was a further 5,5 lengths back to the third horse while the favourite Cresta was beaten 26 lengths.

Her time was exceptional too.

The result in retrospect highlights the fact that thoroughbreds, like professional athletes, are probably able to produce a performance to match their inherent ability only once in their careers.

This in turn highlights how tough the job of the handicapper is, especially when one considers the definition of the respective entities “merit rating” and “ability”.

Handicapping guru Karel Miedema’s definition of merit rating is “A measure of ability expressed in terms of weight, showing the ability of a horse compared to that of the average horse in a population of the same age and sex.”

Miedema’s definition of ability is “Athletic ability is innate (you either have it or you don’t), and it is measurable. There are parallels in this between human track athletes and racehorses. Once the inherent level of ability has been established it cannot improve.”

In the athletic world the best example of an athlete actualising his inherent ability was provided by long jumper Bob Beamon, who in 1968 at the Mexico Olympics bettered the world long jump record by close to two feet, an achievement regarded by many as the greatest single performance in sporting history.

Chief handicapper Mike Wanklin said after Aquitaine’s performance, which came in her fourth career start, “I would defy anybody to quantify that performance. Mathematically she has run to a rating of 113. Hopefully she is that good, who knows she might even be the next Ipi Tombe. But, although we know she is decent, it would be within the realms of the ludicrous to base her Merit Rating on just one maiden win. We will rate her in the high 80’s and let her prove that she is better than that in her next start.”

In the end she was given a 93 merit rating.

One ruling that helped the handicappers was that a three-year-old winning a maiden could not at the time be rated higher than ‘D’ Division standard which quantified to a maximum of about 94.

Wanklin and his colleagues also took into account the going conditions.

“In normal circumstances one length equates to two Merit Rated points,” he said. “However, in sand races, owing to the slowness of the surface, we equate one length to only one Merit Rated point. In Aquitaine’s case we decided to treat the race as a sand race due to the soft going conditions.”

Wanklin acknowledged part of a jockey’s skill-set was to try and fox the handicapper, but believed that any jockey would have been hard-pressed to limit Aquitaine’s win to less than 10 lengths on the day had he even tried.

In the case where a jockey is looking over his shoulder and winning by, for example, three lengths, a handicapper is allowed at his discretion to penalise the horse by an extra length or two but usually by no more as it is impossible to know how much more the horse would have found.

South African racing’s statistical guru Jay August provided some fascinating data to help quantify Aquitaine’s performance.

There was only one other race over the distance that day, a Progress Plate which was won by a horse rated 96, and Aquitaine’s time was 0,50 seconds quicker.

Her time of 98,49 seconds was the third fastest course and distance maiden time of the season behind the 98,01 seconds of Palikari, who only won one more race, and the 98,15 seconds of Smart Banker, who went on to become a Grade 1 winner.

However, as her race was run in soft going it was an exceptional speed performance.

The average rating awarded for a maiden back then was 74,1 and only three other maiden winners were given 90 or higher ratings that season.

Lubricator was awarded a 93 for his win at Clairwood, and went on to run third in the Grade 1 Daily News 2000; the ill-fated Warrior Man was awarded a 90 and went on to win his only race overseas, in Russia, by 12 lengths; and Causation was awarded a 90 and went on to win three more races and was Grade 3 placed.

There were five other horses who won maidens by ten lengths or more that season, Warrior Man, Ladonna, South Country, Ithala and Joyful Applause. Of them Ithala became a Listed winner and both Ladonna and South Country attained small black type.

August has noticed casually that most “outperformances” come in the opening months of the season and are by three-year-olds, which suggests they should be treated with caution and that is not to mention the other result-influencing factor of pace.

Aquitaine went on to win two more races, including the Grade 3 Jacaranda Handicap, but a couple of niggles prevented her from materialising into the Group 1 horse that her performance that day suggested she could become.

Dianne Stenger has fond memories of Aquitaine’s victory although her Grade 1-winner Jamaica toying with the boys in the November Handicap from a draw of 16 out of 16 and winning by 2,25 lengths is her career number one moment.

Dianne added, “What I remember most about Aquitaine’s win was Fransie (Naude) carrying on pushing her all the way to the line as he did not look over her shoulder, It was funny to watch!”

Picture: Muzi Yeni and Dennis Bosch scored another winner together today with Hampton Court (Var), although they had to survive an objection by S’Manga Khumalo, who rode narrow third-placed We All Chomies. The pair have combined for seven winners this season. (Candiese Lenferna).

De Melo Double – Now Ten Clear Of Yeni

Keagan de Melo was the only double scorer at Hollywoodbet’s Greyville’s poly meeting today and he stretched his lead over Muzi Yeni in the championship race to ten.

He has ridden 48 winners this season at a strike rate of 23.53%.

Today’s Question

What race was considered the ultimate target of a four-year-old’s career in Europe 100 years and more ago?

Picture: The great The Flying Dutchman won the race in question in 1850.

Turffontein Inside Fields

Picture: The 1949 Ascot Gold Cup winner Alycidon is considered one of the greatest stayers in history and yet he was also the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1955. Today, with speed being king, Ascot Gold Cup winners can expect to become National Hunt stallions. Four-times Ascot Gold Cup winner Yeats is the current National Hunt champion sire of Britain and Ireland.

Today’s Question Answer

The Ascot Gold Cup (2 miles 3 furlongs and 210 yards (4,014 metres)) was won by many great racehorses and/or sires like Touchstone (1836, 1837), The Flying Dutchman (1850), West Australian (1854), Teddington (1853), Gladiateur (1866), Tristan (1833), St. Simon (1884), Isinglass (1895), Persimmon (1897), Cyllene (1899), Bayardo (1910), Gay Crusader (1917), Gainsborough (1918), Solario (1926). Alycidon (1949), etc.

However, these days speed is king and winning the Ascot Gold Cup is a stigma for a potential stallion.

Turf Talk Newsletter – 26 September 2022