The Real Prince, son of champion stallion Gimmethegreenlight and Gr 1-winning Trippi mare Real Princess, saunters to an impressive victory on debut (Picture: Wayne Marks)

See It Again cruised to an easy win over 1600m under Piere Strydom in the Gr 2 WSB Green Point Stakes and is now merit rated on 132 together with Charles Dickens despite beating him by 2,15 lengths in the Green Point (Picture: Wayne Marks) 

Hluhluwe winning the Gr 2 cape Punters Cup over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth (Picture: Wayne Marks)

There is no Sandringham Summit, no Main Defender, no Purple Pitcher, no Gimmeanotherchance, no The Africa House and No Guy Gibson among the first entries for the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas to be run on December 16 at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth.

The aforementioned horses included the first five finishers in a vintage renewal of the Gr 2 Jonsson Workwear Dingaans plus the horse who had to be scratched from the latter race under controversial circumstances, Main Defender, who had earlier beaten most of those horses in the Gr 3 Betway Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m.

The way is thus clear for the Justin Snaith-trained Trippi colt Hluhluwe, impressive winner of the Gr 2 Cape Punters Cup.

Hluhluwe is the highest rated three-year-old in the Cape on 114, which is the same as Dingaans winner Purple Pitcher’s rating, but seven points lower than both Main Defender and Sandringham Summit’s ratings.

Hhluhluwe runs in the colours of Nick Jonsson so the Snaith/Jonsson combination will be out to win a second Cape Guineas in the space of three renewals, having won it with Twice Over colt Double Superlative in 2021.

The only two out of province horses among the entries are the Sean Tarry-trained Tail Of The Comet and  the Peter Muscutt-trained Bristol Hercules.

Tail Of The Comet by Gimmethegreenlight looks held on Punters Cup form, having only managed fifth place. However, that was a disappointing effort and perhaps it was a flat run.

Bristol Hercules is an impressive looking Lancaster Bomber colt and better than his one win and 86 merit rating suggests.

Vaughan Marshall has an outstanding record in the Cape Guineas and will be out to win this stallion-producing event for a sixth time with the smart Querari gelding Questioning.

He will have to reverse form with both of the Snaith runners Hluhluwe and Snow Pilot from the Punters Cup, as well as with the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Green With Envy, although he did beat both Snow Pilot and Green With Envy in the Gr 3 cape Classic over 1400m.

Questioning raced a bit too strongly in the early stages of the Punters Cup and never settled perfectly after that, so is capable of bouncing back if running more within himself  from draw three.

Dean Kannemeyer has won the Cape Guineas no fewer than six times and has a fine chance of landing a seventh with Green With Envy. This Gimmethegreenlight colt relished the step up to 1600m in the Punters Cup and ran on strongly from the back. However, having had a tricky draw of seven in that race, he now has draw eleven, so is likely going to have to be dropped out again.

Being dropped out to last did not stop Hluhluwe from winning the Punters Cup and he has a better draw of five this time. He now has his third run of the season so should be cherry ripe.

An interesting entry is the Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Potala Palace filly Red Palace. She is highly regarded and was fancied for Saturday’s Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas before refusing to load and having to be scratched at the start for the second time in succession.

Her stablemate Captain Arrow is an interesting entry having never raced beyond sprints, but he would need to improve.

Another stablemate Jersusalema Rain also needs to prove he stays this trip and needs improvement on his Cape form to date.

Zil Moris, Zoomie and Hat’s Pride will need to step up to be threats.

The first entries are shown below:

Great Cat has been selected to win the ninth race (Picture: Wayne Marks)

Jack Milner (Tab4Racing)

Bettors are faced with a competitive 10-race card at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Wednesday and it is always useful to find at least one runner to bank in exotic bets.

In the case of this meeting, that runner could be Dean Kannemeyer-trained gelding Royal Swan Master, who lines up in Race 7, a Class 4 Handicap over 1400m.

The three-year-old son of Master Of My Fate has only raced three times, finishing an unlucky and narrow 0.30 lengths behind Palace Revolt on debut before running out a comfortable 1.30-length second over Helsinki in his next start.

Those two races were on the Polytrack at Hollywoodbets Greyville but Kannemeyer then brought his charge down to the Western Cape where he had a decent first effort in the province when again finishing well over 1400m at Hollywoodbets Durbanville when drawn No 9 of 10 runners to finish a 1.75-length second behind Kingdom Of Heaven.

It is worth noting that in all three of his runs Royal Swan Master has produced the fastest 400m to finish so he looks sure to benefit from the longer run-in at Kenilworth as he unwinds his finishing burst.

He is well drawn at No 2 and has Craig Zackey in the irons.

Royal Swan Master is out of Falconize, a daughter of 2008 UK and Irish 2000 Guineas winner Henrythenavigator so is beautifully bred.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 2 Strata, 10 Tres Chic, 13 Charlene, 5 F Eight

Race 2: 1 Princess Virginie, 8 Love Shack, 11 Hanging Rock, 4 Tibetan Voyage

Race 3: 4 Petteia, 3 Celtic Chief, 9 Spelling Bee, 13 King Of Spin

Race 4: 8 Green Valkyrie, 9 Cloud Chaser, 4 Winter Frolic, 5 Joy And Peace

Race 5: 4 English Mistress, 3 Family Power, 9 Sansa Stark, 8 Miss Lemonade

Race 6: 2 Masterofallstorms, 4 Marshall Field, 15 Cosmic Rhythm, 19 Pointdexter

Race 7: 2 Royal Swan Master, 5 Fibonacci, 3 Innamorare, 7 Oliver

Race 8: 5 Incredibill, 12 Liketheclappers, 9 Fly To Rio, 13 Mighty Mac

Race 9: 7 Great Cat, 2 Warm Winter Nite, 11 Bullitt, 9 Bonanza

Race 10: 9 Winter Rainfall, 1 She’s My Captain, 7 Kythera, 6 Palo Queen

BEST BET

Race 7: 2 Royal Swan Master

VALUE BET

Race 4: 8 Green Valkyrie

BEST SWINGER

Race 5 3×4

BIPOT

R288

Leg 1: 1, 8

Leg 2: 3, 4, 9, 13

Leg 3: 4, 5, 8, 9

Leg 4: 3, 4, 9

Leg 5: 2, 4, 15

Leg 6: 2

PLACE ACCUMULATOR

R288

Leg 1: 3, 4, 9

Leg 2: 4, 8, 9

Leg 3: 3, 4

Leg 4: 2, 4

Leg 5: 2

Leg 6: 5, 9, 12, 13

Leg 7: 2, 7

PICK 6

R1800

Leg 1: 4, 5, 8, 9, 12

Leg 2: 3, 4, 9

Leg 3: 2, 4, 6, 10, 15

Leg 4: 2

Leg 5: 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13

Leg 6: 2, 7, 9, 11

JACKPOT 1

R90

Leg 1: 3, 4, 9

Leg 2: 2, 4, 6, 10, 15

Leg 3: 2

Leg 4: 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13

JACKPOT 2

R144

Leg 1: 2

Leg 2: 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13

Leg 3: 2, 7, 9, 11

Leg 4: 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 11

The Lucky Houdalakis-trained Duke Of Sussex beats stablemate Dyce, both owned by Dave Shawe, in last year’s WSB Grand Heritage (JC Photos) 

There is only one raider among the 23 horses who will line up in Saturday’s Non-Black Type Grand Heritage over 1475m on the Vaal straight course.

The maximum field size for South Africa’s biggest field-sized race is 28 plus two reserves and there were 25 carded but two runners, Tizona and Argo Alley, have already been scratched.

The Michael Roberts-trained The United States four-year-old gelding Sun Blushed will attempt to emulate Betway Summer Cup winner Royal Victory by being the only raider in the field and emerging triumphant.

Sun Blushed finished a short-head second in the Gr 2 Umkhomazi Stakes as a two-year-old and among his three wins is a short-head beating over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville of Mrs Browning, whom he gave 1,5kg to if Rachel Venniker’s 1,5kg allowance is ignored.

Mrs Browning went on to win the Gr 3 Jo’Burg Tourism Carry On Alice Stakes over 1160m, so Sun Blushed is no slouch. He has a fair chance of staying the trip, having won over 1400m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville before and being by Galileo stallion The United States, whose only Gr 1 win was over 2000m.

On the other hand his dam Natural Tan, by sprint-miler Kildonan, was a speedster who won four times, three times over 1000m and once over 1200m.

Furthermore, Sun Blushed has to carry joint topweight of 60kg off a 106 merit rating and as apprentices are not allowed to claim in this race it is presumed Rachel Venniker will not be able to claim her 1,5kg gender allowance.

The Lucky Houdalakis-trained Duke Of Sussex proved to be ahead of the handicapper when winning this race last year off a 94 merit rating by half-a-length from his classy stablemate Dyce. Duke Of Sussex was drawn 27 out of 27 last year and has a nice high draw again of 20 which come down to 18 out of 23 with the two scratchings.

The Sean Tarry-trained Celtic Rumours is on the up and is distance suited and has a high draw of 19 out of 23 with Richard Fourie up.

His Lance gelding Silver Tudor is also a fascinating runner as he has run well over sprints, but has a touch of class and should has aleady shown he stays this trip.

Tarry’s Silvano gelding Pyromaniac is versatile, but his only three wins have been from 1160m up to 1450m, so with Piere Strydom up from a high draw he will be dangerous.

Tarry’s Paisley Park finished 5,50 lenghs back last year and is one point higher this year, so is up against it.

Silent War is in fine form and has the sort of turn of foot that is useful in a big field race like this. It remains to be seen whether his low draw of six is disadvantageous or not.

The field is shown below:

Racehorses also travelled by train in the UK for a while and the above is a picture of Ascot station on a race day. (museumofthehorse.org)

Off The Record With Charl Pretorius #4

Last week, 152 two-year-old thoroughbreds went through the auction ring at Bloodstock SA’s November Sale held at the TBA Complex, Gosforth Park. They were trucked in from stud farms around the country by mainly New Turf Carriers and Choice Carriers, the former using 15-berth Mercedes, Iveco and Volkswagen vehicles manned by selected drivers.

New Turf’s trucks have a separate compartment for grooms travelling along, and for the horses coming from the Western Cape they have a well-equipped halfway house at Colesberg, Northern Cape, where they are offloaded and stabled for a night’s rest before starting the second leg of their journey to Gauteng.

Today’s younger generation of sales enthusiasts may not be aware that, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in the years after the TBA Complex had been built, yearlings from the Western Cape and the Karoo regions destined for the National Sale were sent to Gosforth Park by train.

The annual loading of horses started at the Sandvliet railway siding near the De Wet family’s Zandvliet Stud in Ashton and stopped off to load more at places like Robertson, Worcester and Wellington, then on to Dordrecht in the Eastern Cape and through the Karoo and the Orange Free State to the TBA’s base at Gosforth Park in Germiston. Horses raised at Zandvliet made the trip every year, accompanied by others from the likes of Varsfontein Stud, Highlands Farms, Maine Chance Farms, Noreen Stud, Riverton Stud and the Birch Brothers’ Vogel Vlei Stud.

Carl de Vos of Varsfontein, who had the memorable pleasure of making one of the six train journeys that carried yearlings, quipped: “Just imagine hundreds of horses on a train for 36 hours including the tough, woolly and wild ones raised by the Birches. Add to that a group of spirited young breeders and dozens of grooms and you have a train ride of great proportions. I was a rookie back then in the company of some seasoned professionals.”

De Vos said: “The coaches, also referred to as cattle cars, were initially designed for the transportation of livestock. However, recognising that these carriages were not suitable for the specific needs of horses, modifications were made. A steel divider was welded on in the open area at the long sliding door of each car, allowing us to load one horse on the left and another on the right of it, with bedding laid on both sides.

“These modified carriages were surprisingly spacious, providing enough room for the horses to lie down comfortably. Additionally, makeshift mangers and water troughs, each equipped with lids, were installed. Food and buckets of water were stacked in the remaining space. With only two horses per carriage, the yearling train became a seriously long train that snaked its way through the dry wilderness.”

Zandvliet’s Dan de Wet and a young John Koster, long before his Klawervlei days, were named by their former fellow passengers as the ‘Voorbokke’ (Leaders of the Pack). Neither wished to accept sole responsibility for what took place, but both agreed that the TBA train journeys were some of the best days of their lives.

Dan de Wet said that the ‘Train Era’ had two parts, “Lientjiesbos” and “Caboose”.

He explained: “We named the first few years, ‘Lientjiesbos’, after the remote railway stop in the middle of the Great Karoo where John Koster got off the train, one very dark night, and almost never got back on! We had to sleep next to the horses on bales of hay inside the carriages for the first number of trips. We had a gas burner and a ‘skottel’ (standing cooking dish) and we enjoyed the most amazing two-inch fillet steaks cooked right there, served with pepper corns and washed down with some good wine.

“We didn’t have ablution facilities on those carriages and one night, during a brief stop at Lientjiesbos, John had no choice but to brave the darkness behind some bushes to relieve himself. He was still busy when another train came rolling by and then our train suddenly jerked and started moving. John was nowhere to be seen as we steadily picked up speed. We heard him shouting from the darkness. We saw the light of his torch bobbing up and down as he ran along the carriages, looking for his own. We screamed at him and torched back. He was at full pace and gasping for breath when, after some worrying moments, he found our carriage. We dragged him on, legs dangling dangerously, and everyone collapsed laughing.”

Perhaps this incident taught John not to have ‘one on board’ in the middle of nowhere ever again, but a new innovation came to his rescue. In the ‘Caboose’ Era, something he described as ‘half a truck’ was hooked to the back end of the train and the ablution problem was solved. This carriage had a toilet, fitted with a few cabins and a small kitchen with a table. The Caboose could carry more individuals in relative comfort, so the likes of older stalwarts Fred Doms (Saratoga Stud) and Jan de Clercq of Zevenbergen Stud were prepared to make the testing journey.

“The Caboose was more comfortable, but very noisy and that was a problem, especially for Fred Doms, who claimed to be hard of hearing due to ‘Skietoor’ (Gunshot Ear). But our supply of wine was always ample and the jokes and quips flowed with it. On top of the noise we had to shout some of the jokes out loud so Fred could also have a laugh,” De Wet recalled.

Koster concluded: “There was more, we could write a book. Did Dan de Wet mention the night in the bitter cold Karoo when he tried to borrow my second sleeping bag because his own was too thin? I said no, I was using it myself. He cursed under his breath and curled up. The next morning he was fast asleep with an Alsation puppy in his arms. Someone had asked us to deliver the puppy to Georgina Kramer at the TBA. The dog must have saved Dan from freezing to death!”

Calvin Habib’s 50 up for the season came on the promising Tony Peter-trained Argentinian-bred Edward Rye (Picture: 4Racing) 

Calvin Habib rode a double for Tony Peter at Turffontein Standside today and there were also individual doubles for Gavin Lerena and Brett Crawford

Habib has reached the 50 mark for the sesson and has done it at a strike rate 11.74%.

Lerena is on 58 wins at 17.06%.

Lerena leads the Highveld Jockeys Championship on 46 wins with Muzi Yeni second on 30 and Habib third on 29.

Tony Peter is on 39 wins for the season at 23.35%

Mike de Kock leads the Highveld Trainers championship by jjust over R500,000 from Peter with Sean Tarry in third place a further R700,000 odd behind Peter.

The largest horse racecourse by spectator capacity is the Tokyo Racecourse, Japan. Owned by the Japan Racing Association and holding up to 223,000 people, the track first opened in 1933 and was extensively updated in 2007. The oval turf track measures 2.083 m total length and 41 m across at its widest point.