Crawford Five-Timer Including A Trifecta

Brett Crawford Racing had a memorable day at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth today (Photo: Wayne Marks)

Racing at this time of the year at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth is of a high class and ultra competitive, but that did not stop Futura park-based trainer Brett Crawford from scoring a five-timer at the eight race meeting today.

Mauritius’ most famous colours, the light blue, red chevron and cap of the Gujadhur family, was carried by three of the winners.

Mr Mukund Gujadhur has the colours registered out here and also part-owned one of the other winners, so that was a four-timer for him on the day.

Crawford won the last four races, which meant he trained the second jackpot, which paid a decent R2087.50.

Stable jockey Luyolo Mxothwa rode two of the winners, Richard Fourie rode two and Craig Zackey rode one.

Brett had a big team of 13 horses today, but only competed in seven of the eight races and in the sixth race he got the trifecta.

He did not look to have any clear cut chances, but a lot of them were among the more fancied contestants, so it will go down as a memorable day.

In the second race Princess Izzy (Master of My Fate) carried topweight of 60.5kg in the Class 4 fillies and mares event and ran on stronglyfrom near the back for second under Mxothwa.

In the third, a Maiden over 1600m, Crawford’s well bred Vercingetorix colt Join The Dots had made a fair debut over 1400m and found some support from 14/10 into 10/1. He relished the step up in trip and came from midfield with a telling run down the inside to win by a cosy 0,75 lengths from the 9/2 favourite Foudre.

He only had one runner in the fourth, Champagne Mac, who finished sixth.

In the fifth his Master Of My Fate colt Big Unit is not the most imposing sort and Mxothwa did a fine job of keeping him going after he had hit the front from a handy position at the 300m mark. He held on by 0,3 lengths in the Class 4 1400m event to convert odds of 9/2.

In the sixth, a class 3 event over 1400m, Crawford’s Futura gelding Future Prince was favourite and looked the winner until scythed down late by stablemate Zil Moris, a Fire Away gelding who was produced on the outside by Fourie. Crawford’s Dynasty gelding Allez Moris was returning from a ten month layoff and finished third at odds of 125/1 to clinch a stable trifecta.

In the seventh, a Class 5 over 1200m, Craig Zackey rode a clever race, tacking a lone path down the inside in the early stages before switching to the centre. The Silvano gelding Grand Bay, who is a full-brother to 113-rated Silvano’s Dasher, stayed on strongly to win by 1,25 lengths at 6/1 odds.

In the last race, a class 3 over 1000m, The Abdicator has only one way of running as he does not settle well, but Fourie used his good pace to carve out a big lead and he just held on from the exciting prospect Future Variety, winning by a head at 9/2 odds.

Feather Boa And Bless My Stars Sold

The Stuart Pettigrew-trained Flower Alley filly will race at least once more in SA before being sent to America, where she will be trained by Todd Pletcher (JC Photos)

Team Valor International has bought Feather Boa. She will race at least once more in South Africa, her likely target being the G1 Horse Chestnut Stakes. Then she will travel to the United States to be trained by Todd Pletcher. She will remain with Stuart Pettigrew until she is ready to be exported.

Barry Irwin says ” Feather Boa is a terrific physical specimen and a very consistent performer at a high level in South Africa. We hope that we can continue her career in the United States. She strikes me physically as being an ideal candidate for racing on the dirt and she will be given every opportunity to explore that discipline.”

Team Valor International and South African-born Gary Barber have bought Bless My Stars. She will race once more in South Africa, her likely target the Grade 3 London New Stakes. The she will travel to the United States. No trainer has yet been selected for her in America. She will remain with Sean Tarry until she is exported.

Barry Irwin says “Bless My Stars, being a Champion and Grade 1 winner, offer excellent downside as a broodmare prospect, which figured significantly in our decision to buy her. We hope she can make her mark in middle distance racing in North America. She trained on at 4 and we have high hopes for her.”

Both transaction were brokered by Robin Bruss.

A rumor has been published that TVI also had bought Let’s Go Now, which was incorrect.

Irwin identified Southern Africa as a potential source of bargain buys at the beginning of this century and scored a coup when buying the great Mike de Kock-trained Zimbabwean-bred filly Ipi Tombe for US$750,000 in 2002.

Ipi Tombe not only went on to win three races in Dubai racing for Irwin’s Team Valor syndicate, including the US$2 million Dubai Duty Free, she also won one race in the USA. She was later sold for breeding purposes at Tattersalls for a sales-topping 850,000 Gns. That was the equivalent of US$1.8 million.

Irwin has gone on to purchase and race and/or breed with numerous South African-breds with great success.

Bless My Stars and Feather Boa finished one-two in the Gr 1 Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic last season, separated by a shorthead.

Bless My Stars went on to be named Equus Champion Three-year-old filly after adding the Gr 2 Riding High Together Gold Bracelet, plus an excellent third place finish in the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July and two other Gr 2 places.

This season she has finished third in two big open handicaps against the boys, the Gr 2 Allied Steelrode Onamission Charity Mile and the Gr 1 Betway Summer Cup.

Feather Boa, who won a BSA Sales Cup as a two-year-old and three-year-old for fillies at Hollywoodbets Greyville as a two-year-old, was luckless in stakes races as a three-year-old, finishing second in two Gr 1s, fourth in a Gr 1, second and third in Gr 2s, and second in a Gr 3.

She finally earned bold black type in her first race as a four-year-old, winning the Gr 2 Betway Fillies and Mares Spring Challenge. She has added two further seconds, including in the Gr 2 Mike de Kock Ipi Tombe Challenge.

How To Deal With Punting The Wrong Horse At The Met

33/1 shot Double Superlative gets up to beat 25/2 shot Rascallion with the 46/100 favourite See It Again not in the picture (Photo: Wayne Marks)

Neil Andrews (The Citizen)

Although it’s emotionally uncomfortable, I take ownership for picking See It Again to win at the WSB Cape Town Met.

I’ve always considered myself a ‘glass half full’ kind of guy and it’s seldom my style to look back and cry over the proverbial spilled milk, but it’s only correct and proper that I take ownership of the bitter disappointment of Saturday’s run by See It Again in the Cape Met.

Last week this article preached that there would be more upsets at AFCON but I didn’t foresee any such problems for the odds-on favourite at Kenilworth.

Whilst I was spot on with my soccer prediction, with Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, and Cameroon all sent packing on the weekend, I must hold up my hand and concede I got the second part of that equation wrong.

I have previously quoted renowned American psychiatrist M. Scott Peck in this column and I must do so again. Peck wrote: “The difficulty we have in accepting responsibility for our behaviour lies in the desire to avoid the pain of the consequences of that behaviour.”

This week I’m in the most worstest of pain.

I make deliberate use of a grammatical error to remind myself that Double Superlative and not See It Again gave Nic Jonsson back to back Met winners on Saturday.

M. Scott Peck has a solution. To heal the pain I must employ the four tools of discipline. Let me give it a go and see if I feel better!

Step 1. Experience the pain first and delay any form of gratification.

This is easily achieved for in truth there is zero gratification to be delayed. I built a solid argument and an even more solid book around See It Again winning the Cape Met. There is scant consolation in knowing that the shortest priced favourite in the history of the Cape Met ran, using the likely line-horse Rascallion, something like 7.75 lengths below his Merit Rating.

Under normal circumstances I could argue that winning a R1 000 betting voucher in the Sporting Post ‘Best Quartet Tip’ competition was gratifying but even that feels like a hollow victory when I failed to catch the quartet myself.

I believe a couple of my followers on social media made good use of my Met selections. It cost just R24 to box my prediction of See It Again (9-20 Fav) to beat Double Superlative (33-1), Rascallion (12-1) and Without Question (50-1) and it returned a whopping dividend of R17 779.90.

I’m delighted for the Clocking the Gallop faithful who took cognisance of my tips and cleaned up, but I can’t help thinking that had See It Again produced his best I would have tipped the Met quartet straight-line.

As it is I am attending to Step 1 and experiencing the pain.

Step 2. Accept responsibility.

I think Dear Reader, you will concede that this article is serving that purpose.

I take full ownership of my loss and unlike others you won’t hear me questioning Piere Strydom. The fact is Piere just had no horse under him on Saturday. See It again was as flat as a gravestone.

Peck warns that Step 2 will be emotionally uncomfortable. Peck is right.

Step 3. Dedication to reality.

Again I am under no illusions here. So as to face the truth, I have retained every losing ticket. Even the least smallest. Now I’ve given you a double Double Superlative.

This was a wretched result for me and entertaining any falsehood around all those doomed doubles and tapped-out trebles represses reality.

Step 4. Balancing.

This final step is about being equipped with the capacity to express disappointment effectively.

To this end flexibility is the key. Dealing with loss is essential for every punter so having a skill set to free one’s frustrations in different ways depending on the unique circumstances is paramount.

M. Scott Peck would be delighted to know that I haven’t kicked my cat, screamed at my kids or punched any walls and that this article has allowed me to articulate my anger and has served as a means for much needed catharsis.

Kennedy Still Out In Front And Lands Another Gr 1

Another big win for unbeaten Crocetti and Warren Kennedy (Race Images Photo)

Warren Kennedy was seven in front in the New Zealand Jockeys Premiership when the season hit it’s halfway point today and on Saturday he and the unbeaten star Crocetti hit the headlines again.

The Zacinto gelding was a $1.40 favourite for the Gr.3 Cambridge Stud Almanzor Trophy (1200m), bringing in a perfect six-from-six record including the Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m), Gr.2 Sarten Memorial (1400m) and Gr.3 Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m), wrote Joshua Smith of Loveracing.NZ.

Attempting to join an Almanzor Trophy honour roll that features the likes of Group One winners Melody Belle, Catalyst, Sword Of State and Maven Belle, Crocetti had to carry 60kg under the set weights and penalties conditions of the race and was giving away at least 3kg to all of his rivals.

A few nerves rippled through the sold-out track as Crocetti stumbled leaving the starting gates and settled much further back in the field than normal. But jockey Warren Kennedy never panicked and allowed him to gradually cruise closer coming around the side of the track, moving right into striking distance before the home turn.

Crocetti pounced in the straight and it was all over, charging past the previously unbeaten Merchant Queen and opening up a winning margin of a length and a half. Egyptian Queen caught the eye with a big finish from the back of the field to run third.

“There’s a bit of pressure with this horse,” Kennedy admitted. “The pressure doesn’t come from the owners. It’s just the public and all the publicity that he’s starting to have around him. He’s unbeaten and was a very short favourite in the first race of the night. I wanted everyone to start the night off right.

“But he’s just class, this horse. He lost his back legs coming out of the gates and I didn’t end up where I wanted to be, but he just relaxed so nicely and he has a devastating turn of foot.”

Crocetti has earned $672,750 in stakes for owner and co-breeder Daniel Nakhle, and his next test is likely to be against older horses in the Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa on February 10.

“It was good to get today out of the way,” said Danny Walker, who trains in partnership with Arron Tata. “I didn’t feel too much pressure coming into today – this horse doesn’t give us pressure. He’s just so easy and a delight to train.

“We’ve always known he was a special horse and the journey has just been amazing. Everyone’s getting on board with him now. He’s a really, really good horse, and he’s always shown us that. He’s a little star.

“Arron and I do all the work with him, along with the staff we’ve got at home. I’m really grateful to all of them. The owner’s a happy man, so it’s all good.

“The BCD Group Sprint is the plan now. He usually comes through his races pretty easily, so hopefully he does that again from today’s race and we can look forward to Te Rapa.”

Kennedy has had 80 wins this term and has already surpassed his figure for the whole of last season.

He had 76 wins last season at a strike rate of 15.2%, for earnings of NZ$3,146,600, and he had eight stakes victories.

His 80 wins this season have come at a strike rate of 18.87%, for earnings of NZ$3,895,368, and he has had 14 stakes victories.

He is seven wins clear of Michael McNab, who has won the last two NZ premierships.

Warren set a NZ record of seven wins in a day on New Year’s day, including a Gr 1 and three Gr 2’s.

Wings To Beat At The Vaal

Beating Wings is fancied in the 5th (JC Photos)

Jack Milner (4Racing)

Stuart Pettigrew does not have a big stable but the constant flow of winners from his yard is always impressive.

In fact, if one looks at his percentage of winners and placed runners from his yard for this season it is just below 47%, putting him in the top six on the Highveld as far as that statistic is concerned.

His reliability in that sphere of racing appears to have landed him another useful filly in the form of Beating Wings.

This three-year-old filly has raced three times, finishing third on debut and then notching up two successive victories.

She will be back in action at the Vaal on Thursday in Race 5, a MR 88 Handicap for fillies and mares over 1800m on the Classic track.

Her two wins have been over 1600m and 1400m respectively, so it is hardly surprising to see the daughter of Rafeef try further in her next start.

The Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara begins at Turffontein on Saturday, so Beating Wings is clearly not being aimed at the opening leg, the Grade 3 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas over 1600m.

That is probably due to the fact that her current merit rating of 86 is not good enough to get her into the race.

However, one month later is the second leg and that is the jewel in the crown of the Triple Tiara, the Grade 1 SA Fillies Classic over 1800m, and it would come as no surprise to see Beating Wings being aimed at a race of that nature, or even Leg 3 which is the Grade 2 SA Oaks over 2450m.

Another win or two would certainly make her eligible to run in either of those races.

Her maiden win over 1600m was particularly impressive as she beat Sukhumvit by 2.25 lengths. The runner-up, who was making her debut, franked the form in no uncertain manner in her next start, romping to a 3.25-length victory.

Dropping in distance, Beating Wings gave further credence to her maiden win when defeating My Lady Soul by 0.75 lengths.

Once again, the strength of that form line was backed up when My Lady Soul, well backed in to start as the 11-10 favourite, came out to win well.

On the basis of all those runs Beating Wings stands out as the best bet on the card and a banker in all bets.

Although taking a slight rise in class tomorrow, Beating Wings will carry just 54kg and will be reunited with jockey Calvin Habib who rode her to both of her victories.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 4 Gaelic Dancer, 1 Emblem Of The Sun, 2 Force Eight, 8 Willowild

Race 2: 5 Ready Set Fire, 2 Fire Attack, 1 Cosmic Speed, 7 Sunset Riot

Race 3: 8 Kadizora, 2 Teo Torriatte, 7 Happy Mo, 3 Play With Fire

Race 4: 2 Atarime, 1 Green Garnet, 13 Battleofbarberton, 3 Master Christmas

Race 5: 7 Beating Wings, 2 Gimmealight, 9 Pretty In Pearls, 1 Alphabetty

Race 6: 2 Work Of Time, 5 Munchkin, 8 Viva De Janeiro, 11 Written In Stone

Race 7: 4 Runway Bomb, 8 Sigrid Swing, 7 Lucy In The Sky, 9 Alabama Anna

Race 8: 2 Law Of Success, 4 Lady Crusade, 9 Cerulean Dancer, 8 Gimme The Flame

BEST BET

Race 5 No 7 Beating Wings

VALUE BET

Race 6 No 2 Work Of Time

BEST SWINGER

Race 2 2×5

BIPOT

R288

Leg 1: 1, 2, 4, 8

Leg 2: 2, 5

Leg 3: 2, 7, 8

Leg 4: 1, 2, 13

Leg 5: 7

Leg 6: 2, 5, 8, 11

PLACE ACCUMULATOR

R216

Leg 1: 2, 5

Leg 2: 2, 8

Leg 3: 1, 2, 13

Leg 4: 7

Leg 5: 2, 5, 8

Leg 6: 4, 8

Leg 7: 2, 4, 9

PICK 6

R1920

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

Leg 2: 1, 2, 3, 13

Leg 3: 7

Leg 4: 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11

Leg 5: 4, 7, 8, 9

Leg 6: 2, 4, 8, 9

JACKPOT 1

R96

Leg 1: 1, 2, 3, 13

Leg 2: 7

Leg 3: 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11

Leg 4: 4, 7, 8, 9

JACKPOT 2

R96

Leg 1: 7

Leg 2: 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11

Leg 3: 4, 7, 8, 9

Leg 4: 2, 4, 8, 9

Jill Fox In Bad Fall - Please Donate To Medical Expenses

Picture: Jill Fox, a stalwart KZN horsewoman of many years standing who owns Fort Stud, a breeding, backing and pre-training establishment, has been injured in a bad fall.

Message from Bradley McHardy of Rathmor Stud:

Hi All

I’m reaching out to our riding community as one of our KZN riders (Jill Fox) has taken a terrible fall. She has broken her femur and she unfortunately has not got medical aid. She has been sitting in a wheelchair for 2 nights with no pain medication or plans for future treatment.

Any donation would be greatly appreciated so we can try and get her on pain meds or even have the OP done.

The KZN Breeders Club are trying to assist Jill.

They have asked for donations to be sent to the following account:

KZN Breeders Club

Standard Bank

A/c: 060200456

Mooi River

Branch: 057825

Ref: Jill Fox

Thank you,

Bradley McHardy

Fourie On Track For 300 And Can Have Crack at 334

The Winning Form team constructed the above poster to mark Fourie’s 150th win for the season (Supplied)

Richard Fourie is on track for his stated goal of riding 300 wins after the completion of the first half of the season and could even have a crack at Anthony Delpech’s record of 334 wins.

Hollywoodbets willl reward any jockey who beats that mark with a R1 million bonus.

Fourie rode his 150th win of the season at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday.

He had a double today at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth to go to 156 for the season, achieved at a strike rate of 20.47%.

There have been 184 days this year so far and there are 182 left.

If he has the same number of rides per day as he has had so far this season and keeps up the same strike rate of 20.47%, he will finish on 310 wins for the season.

However, he said recently he has not hit any “purple patches” yet.

He wants to break a SA record by riding 50 wins in a month and that could be a game changer as far as going for the 334 record goes.

Hewitson Still Stuck On 99, Bowman In Form

Picture: Preparing to partner Helios Express in the HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (4 February), Hugh Bowman laid the foundation for a successful week with a four-timer at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (31 January) (Image: HKJC).

Lyle Hewitson needs just one winner to reach 100 wins in Hong Kong but it is proving to be ultra elusive.

His last win was on January 10 and today his losing streak extended to six meetings and 53 rides.

It would have been fitting if Red Hare King had got him his 100th win in the last today, because that horse gave him winner number 99.

Red Hare King made a bold bid, but had to settle for second.

Hewitson is on 19 wins this season, which puts him in seventh position on the log.

Luke Ferraris is on 17 wins and is in joint eighth place on the log, while Keagan de Melo is on 14 wins and is in joint 11th place.

Meanwhile, Hugh Bowman, who was out for a month-and-a-half after a bad fall on November 11, is back in devastating form.

He rode a four-timer today to go to 30 wins for the season, which is 31 behind runaway leader Zac Purton.

South African Jockey Academy graduate Karis Teetan is in second place on 40 wins.

Today’s Question

The picture gives a clue to the answer (Churchill Downs Photo)

Which future thoroughbred legend went through the ring for the first time in 1987, 37 years ago, and was first bought back for US$17,000 before being bought back again shortly thereafter for US$32,000?