Turf Talk Newsletter – 5 August, 2025

Picture: Hollywoodbets Greyville

Race Coast and Colossus today announced a partnership that will see Race Coast incorporate the Colossus tote platform adding the Cash Out and ‘Crowdbetting’ features to its multi-leg horse racing products, as well as immediately offering the Colossus Bets globally comingled sports pools to Race Coast online customers. The application of Cash Out to horse racing pools will be a first for the country of South Africa.

Dean Sawarjith, Race Coast, Acting Chief Operations Officer, commented: “The deal with Colossus will give our online customers access to the biggest comingled sporting jackpot pools, as well as enable us to apply the Colossus IP to horse racing pools in the future. We need to innovate to keep our horse racing proposition relevant for today’s younger audiences. We look forward to giving our customers access to the most flexible tote product in the world, where they can decide leg-by-leg how much of their bet to Cash Out. I’m particularly excited to enable our customers to create and join tickets via the Colossus ‘Crowdbetting’ feature, driving customer engagement forward.”

Paula Cara Farcas, Colossus Bets CEO said: “We are delighted that Race Coast now has access to our sports pools and our Cash Out and ‘Crowdbetting’ functionality via our tote platform. When we devised ‘Crowdbetting’ especially, we were confident it would be a game changer for the pari-mutuel industry and Race Coast’s endorsement gives us further confidence that appetite for this feature will only grow. Cash Out is a standard feature in multi-leg bets and parlays worldwide. All Tote operators must innovate if they wish to compete with a rapidly evolving market. Race Coast will become the first racing tote to utilise our technology in order to modernise their racing product, making it fit for 2025. We are really excited to work with Race Coast to ensure that their customers have access to the biggest and most engaging wagering products in racing.”

Picture: The statue of the great Captain Al at Klawervlei Stud.

Klawervlei Stud’s iconic stallion Captain Al was the champion broodmare sire of the 2024/2025 season and that made it the third time in succession he had won the coveted title.

The late son of Al Mufti’s earnings if restricted stakes are excluded was R30,613,293 compared to runner up Trippi’s 26,527,954.

In third place with R23,158,680 was six-time champion stallion Silvano, who is yet to be the champion broodmare sire.

In fourth place on R18,576,153 was the great seven-times champion stallion Jet Master.

Captain Al ended Jet Master’ run of four champion broodmare titles when winning it for the first time in the 2022/2023 season.

In fifth place in 2024/2025 was Var on R16,116,185.

Captain Al’s chief earner for the championship was the highest earning runner of the season, Eight On Eighteen, who will likely be Equus Horse Of The Year. Eight On Eighteen is a colt by Lancaster Bomber colt and is out of the Captain Al mare Sempre Libre. The latter was unraced but is out of the former champion broodmare and matriarch Mystic Spring (Royal Academy), which makes Sempre Libre a half-sister to the like of Equus Champions Bela-Bela and Rabiya and a full-sister to Gr 2 winner Secret Captain and to many other stakes winners and to mothers of stakes winners.

In the 2023/2024 season Captain Al was helped to the title by a horse with the same lines as Eight On Eighteen i.e. the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas winner of that season, Snow Pilot, is by Lancaster Bomber out of Captain Al’s dual Gr 1-winning mare Snowdance and furthermore Snowdance’s second dam is Mystic Spring.

Drakenstein’s stalwart retired stallion Trippi could well be the champion broodmare sire soon as he produced wonder mare Real Princess, whose son The Real Prince (Gimmethegreenlight) won last season’s Hollywoodbets Durban July and the latter’s full-brother Gimme A Prince romped home in the Gr 1 Splashout Cape Flying Championship, while Real Princess also produced their Gr 3-winning full-sister Gimmie’s Countess. Real Princess is likely to be Equus champion broodmare, which will be another feather in the cap for Trippi.

Picture: The German-bred 1933 German Derby winner Alchimist could well have had a major influence on the thoroughbred breed, although he is not given much credit

German thoroughbred breeding has been massively influential in Europe, while South Africa has now had two champion sires that originate from German bloodlines, the German-bred Silvano and his phenomenal record-setting son Vercingetorix.

Silvano and Vercingetorix were and are respectively based at German breeder Andreas Jacob’s Maine Chance Farms, who also stand the German-bred Querari and did stand the German-bred Quasillo.

When researching where the class of German bloodlines originates from a certain stallion keeps on cropping up and it is amazing this horse, a German Derby winner called Alchimist, is no more than a footnote in thoroughbred history.

The Prix de l’Arc de Triompe is generally regarded as the pinnacle turf flat race in the world and it will be a rare occasion that Alchimist does not appear in the pedigree of the winner, the reason being he appears twice in the pedigree of Urban Sea, who is dam of Galileo, the most successful sire in throughbred history.

Galileo is the only sire in history to sire over 100 Gr 1 winners.

Urban Sea is one of the greatest broodmares in thoroughbred history as she also produced Sea The Stars, who is regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all time having won the 2000 Guineas, the Eclipse, the Derby, the Juddmonte International, the Irish Champion Stakes and the Arc in the same year. His progeny have won classic races including the Derby, Irish Derby, and the Oaks.

Urban Sea’s third dam is by Alchimist’s German Derby-winning son Birkahn.

Urban Sea’s damsire is Lombard, whose sire Agio is out of an Alchimist mare.

Last year’s Arc winner Bluestocking was the first Arc winner to have no copies of Alchimist in her pedigree since 2015 winner Golden Horn.

Of course one can take any top stallion in history and find an arbitrary horse in his pedigree and point to him or her appearing in a long list of champions.

However, where it gets interesting with Alchimist is the many Arc winners who have him in their pedigrees without the trace back from Urban Sea.

The 2023 Arc winner Ace Impact, for example, has four copies of Alchimist. He is by Frankel’s son Cracksman, so has the two copies of Alchimist from Urban Sea, but what is fascinating in this case is that Ace Impact’s damsire is inbred 5X4 to Urban Sea’s dam Allegretta, who is by German-bred Lombard out of German-bred Anatevka. Allegretta is inbred 4X4 to Alchimist.

Where it gets really interesting with Alchimist is that he appears no fewer than five times in the pedigree of the 2021 Arc winner, the German-bred Torquator Tasso, and that horse does not have Urban Sea in his pedigree.

Interestingly, Almyra, the third dam of Urban Sea, is a bottom line female on the pedigree of both Torquator Tasso’s sire Alderflug and his dam Tijuana (Toylsome). Almyra is by Alchimist’s son Birkahn.

Alchimist also appears five times in the pedigree of the 2019 Arc winner Waldgeist, who is by Galileo and from a German female line.

Alchimist is the granddam sire of Germany’s first Arc winner in 1975, Star Appeal, and appears in the pedigree of the 2011 German-bred Arc winner Danedream.

The German-bred Silvano was by the Nijinsky sire Nininski and was out of a dam by Surumu, who was a six-times champion sire and twice Champion Broodmare sire. Surumu was bred by the Jacobs family’s Germany-based stud Gestüt Fährhof and is a son of Literat, who is a son of Alchmist’s son Birkahn.

Querari is a regular top six stallion in South Africa and his dam also hails from the Surumu-Alchimist sire line.

Quasillo had three copies of Alchimist as his sire was Sea The Stars and he is a half-brother to Querari.

Their dam was by the Gestüt Fährhof-bred champion Acatenango, who won seven Gr 1s and whose progeny include Lando, who was ridden to Japan Cup glory by South Africa’s Michael “Muis” Roberts. Acatenango is a son of Surumu’s.

The Jacobs family-bred Surumu appears twice in the pedigree of 2019 Arc winner Waldgeist and Acatenango is sire of his third dam.

2011 Arc winner Danedream is a paternal half-brother to Silvano, being by Lomitas.

Silvano is not only a six-times Champion sire, but also the most successful Hollywoodbets Durban July sire in history, as is well documented.

Vercingetorix is the current champion sire and smashed numerous records to get there, his progeny accumulating the most stakes ever in a season and he produced the most stakes winners ever in a season, not to mention his Sales prices obliterating previous records.

Alchimist must have had some influence on their strong bloodlines.

And yet he is just a footnote in history.

In the Graham Sharpe book “Classic Horseracing Quotes” the following insert appears:

German Derby winner Alchimist became an unusual casualty of World War II. The grooms at Gradiz, where the highly valued stallion was at stud, fled the advancing Russian troops who relieved their starvation by tucking into what must be one of the most expensive meals ever consumed.

Other accounts put it a bit differently and states the Gradiz staff took the stallion with them when fleeing, but were not allowed by the Americans to cross the border. The Russians, who were aware of the value of thoroughbred stallions, only killed the horse as a last resort after he refused to load on to their truck.

Alchimist has nevertheless been a major influence despite his untimely demise as a fifteen-year-old, but he gets scant recognition.

Callmegetrix’s victory in Sunday’s Listed Off To Stud Stakes at Hollywoodbets Greyville under Sean Veale meant Cape trainer Candice Bass-Robinson had won all of the last three KZN stakes races (Candiese Lenferna Photography)  

NHA Press Release

Handicapping Ratings Update

OFF TO STUD STAKES (Listed)

CALLMEGETRIX has retained her merit rating of 108 following her victory in the Listed Off To Stud Stakes for fillies and mares over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday.

The Handicappers were of the view that CALLMEGETRIX had reproduced the same level of performance as in the Grade 2 HKJC World Pool Tibouchina Stakes back in June, where she earned her rating of 108. As a result, her current rating of 108 was used to assess this race.

In line with the specific conditions of the race, which preclude increases in ratings for placed runners, no upward adjustments were made, even though several of them ran above their current marks.

There was, however, a downward adjustment for SOVEREIGN GRANT, whose rating was reduced from 103 to 101.

Enquiries:

The Handicapping Team

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Another Dream impressed in her start to finish win over 1800m at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday under Turf Talk-sponsored jockey Chad Little (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Cape Breeders

Drakenstein Stud’s four time Gr 1-winning sire, and former Horse Of The Year, Futura looks to have a smart sort on his hands in the form of Another Dream.

The latter made it three wins in a row when she won a good race at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday.

Trained by Lucinda Woodruff, the four-year-old was given a fine ride by Chad Little in Sunday’s Tote For The Win Class 4 (F and M) (1800m).
Little sent his mount into the front from the jump, and Another Dream kept going in front.
The daughter of Futura kept finding in front and she stayed on well to score by over a length and a quarter.

The winning rider said of Another Dream, “She is a big, long striding filly, I think there is more to come. She is a very nice filly.”

Bred by Varsfontein Stud, Another Dream is out of the Silvano Silvery Dream.

The filly races for Mesdames Kieswetter, Thomas, her trainer and Mr Sivan Ramsamy.

Her sire Futura went close to having big race success at Hollywoodbets Greyville recently, when his multiple graded stakes winning son Future Swing ran third in the G3 World Pool Gold Cup. The champion son of Dynasty has 12 lots on offer at the August Two Year Old Sale.

Picture: Star In Motion won his maiden in emphatic fashion at Hollywoodbets Scottsville when stepped up to 1400m and the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Gimmethegreenlight colt can follow up over the same trip (Candiese Lenferna Photography) 

Hollywoodbets Greyville turf Wednesday Formguides and Selections

R1 Summary: One of the strongest maiden fields in some time lines up here. MOHAVE PRINCE (4) was a tremendous second to the promising Green Gateway at just his second outing. He has a good draw and has a strong winning chance. GLOBAL WARRIOR (5) raced green at long odds on debut but the winner Soldier Boy was deemed good enough to line up in Gr1 company. WONDERFUL TONIGHT (6) was narrowly beaten over course and distance on debut and with that experience should be in the firing line. CARNARVON (3) has useful Highveld form over the trip and has a strong winning chance. MASTER DU ROUVRAY (11) has a wide draw and has been rested but shows some promise from an inform stable. (Andrew Harrison: 4-5-6-3).

R2 Summary: CATCH A PENNY (7) has placed in all 10 starts and should go close again. SPLASH OF LOVE (6) stays the trip. She should feature prominently in this line-up. OMNIA (3) has only had three outings and her best effort was over course and distance. INTRO (2) has put in two fair efforts with blinkers for her new stable. (Andrew Harrison: 7-6-3-2).

R3 Summary: Mark Khan makes his first visit to KZN as a trainer and saddles two runners here. Best could be SOLAR SAIL (3) who has taken his chances in top company. This should be on the short side but he does have a touch of class. GO GRAYSON GO (6) has been knocking at the door and is well in at the weights. This trip will suit. TWO MILES WEST (4) has not been out of the money in his last four starts. The trip will suit and he has a neat draw. Khan’s second runner, COPPOLA (8) is effective over the trip but has a wide draw to contend with. (Andrew Harrison: 3-6-4-8).

R4 Summary: CAPRICIOUS MISS (1) got a 10-points hike in the ratings after her much improved last run. She obviously enjoyed the poly and from pole position she should be competitive again. At the other end of the barrier, CHERICHERILADY (11) has her first run for Paul Gadsby. She comes with some fair Highveld form and does not meet a strong field. MS GALORE (7) caught the eye in all three of her starts suggesting that she is much better than her form would suggest. She has been rested but comes from a form stable. DI ROSA (5) is seldom too far back but struggling for her maiden win. (Andrew Harrison: 1-11-7-5).

R5 Summary: Open handicap. ONE IRISH ROVER (4) was narrowly beaten by his stable companion Lou The Legend last time out on the poly. His last win was over this distance. LIONS EYE (2) has improved at recent outings and Sean Veale has chosen this ride ahead of PURPLE POWAHOUSE (8) who looks to be the best of Alyson Wright’s three runners. The nine-year-old has solid form over the course and distance and should be competitive again. Stable companion WHEREVERILAYMYHAT (6) has been consistent of late and has a money chance. (Andrew Harrison: 4-2-8-6).

R6 Summary: STAR IN MOTION (6) was a maiden winner last time out but had consistent form leading up to that win that has been franked. CARDINAL CHIEF (5) won second time out for Garth Puller and looks progressive He has a handy weight and this trip should suit. RUN FOREST RUN (1) was a late starter and obviously has some issues. He had his third run when shedding his maiden back in May but does appear to have some scope. EL DANTE (10) surprised last time out. He has a big weight and a wide draw. (Andrew Harrison: 6-5-1-10).

R7 Summary: It’s tough to win three races on the bounce but WING WALKER (5) has made steady progress and is unbeaten on the poly but switches to the turf. He was doing his best work late last time out so the step up in trip should not be an issue. SEA SHANTY (8) has been in mustard form on the Highveld and has hardly moved in the handicap. He is over his optimum trip and will be a big threat to the first choice. KING OF NUMBERS (1) sees a rare foray into KZN by Brett Webber. The gelding has consistent recent Highveld form and has a plum draw. The blinkers come off GRIFFIN PARK (2) as he steps up in trip with Sean Veale no doubt giving the feedback to MJ Odendaal. (Andrew Harrison: 5-8-1-2).

R8 Summary: Tricky. SCHOOL POLICY (10) made a smart local debut when a beaten favourite and the blinkers removed, but should improve on that showing. Drawn outside of her is PROM QUEEN (11) who is holding form well. The draw is a concern. HAPPY FORTUNE (8) has shown up well in two starts and is in a good space and must have a strong winning chance. AVERNIAN GODDESS (4) is seldom out of the money and the step up in trip could bring out the best. (Andrew Harrison: 10-11-4-8)

Field Of Gold easily winning the St. James Palace Stakes (Picture: Sky Sports Racing)

Star miler recovering after Goodwood defeat, but Knavesmire bid ‘definitely not going to happen at this stage’.

At The Races

Field Of Gold will bypass York’s Juddmonte International Stakes as he continues his recovery from the setback sustained when suffering a shock defeat at Goodwood last week.

John and Thady Gosden’s Irish 2,000 Guineas and Royal Ascot hero was discovered to be lame after tasting defeat for just the second time this season in the Sussex Stakes and although there are encouraging signs in his recuperation, a step up to 10 furlongs on the Knavesmire has been ruled out by his team.

The son of Kingman will undergo X-rays on Wednesday which will give a clearer indication of the prognosis, with Juddmonte’s European racing manager Barry Mahon saying: “The horse is doing well and was back sound, which is good.

“He’s got a little bit of swelling in his fetlock but John and Thady are much happier with him so the plan is to do the X-ray on Wednesday – they’ve just pushed it back a day, as the longer you can leave it, the clearer the picture is.

“That will give us some more insight and if the X-ray is clear, we can hopefully start back into some light exercise towards the end of the week or early next week.

“York though is definitely not going to happen at this stage.”

Having dazzled when claiming Classic honours in Ireland and scorching to St James’s Palace Stakes victory at the Royal meeting, there has been plenty of conversation over whether Field Of Gold will try to repeat those heroics up in trip or continue to be the stand out performer of the year at eight furlongs.

The Juddmonte star holds entries in both the Prix du Moulin (ParisLongchamp, September 7) and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Ascot, October 18) at a mile later in the campaign, while he could yet test the waters up in distance in Leopardstown’s Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes on September 13.

However, the colt’s name was notably missing from the entries for the Qipco Champion Stakes over further on the same afternoon as his engagement in the QEII, with race planning currently taking a backseat until one of the season’s top performers returns to full fitness.

Mahon added: “It was the plan pre-Goodwood to stick at a mile for the time being and obviously there has been no chat about potential races since Goodwood, we’re just going to have to let the dust settle and let him get back into exercise and then when he is fit make a plan from there.

“You are getting into that time of year when there is not an abundance of opportunities and there is the Moulin, QEII or you go up to a mile and a quarter for the races at that distance.

“So I wouldn’t say there is a huge amount of options, but we’ll just wait and see and let the horse tell us.”

While the Gosdens might not have Field Of Gold in the Juddmonte International, they still have a very strong contender in Ombudsman.

“He won the Prince of Wales’s first time in a Group One and showed he’s up to that level. The Eclipse, again he ran a very good race, beaten by a top-class three-year-old (Delacroix) coming through,” said Thady Gosden.

“He’s come out of that race well, had a little freshen up and (is) heading to the Juddmonte International hopefully.

“He’s such a genuine horse, has got the speed required and hopefully can run a good one there.

“It’s a career-defining race for a lot of horses. If you win the Juddmonte International it certainly means a lot – depth of the field and the quality to it. And then, of course, York’s a very fair track; so often the best horse wins and it’s something that everyone aspires to.”

How many times has Japanese jockey Yutaka Take won the Japan Cup?

Picture: Yutaka Take wins last year’s Japan Cup on Do Deuce (@auiena_keiba)