S’Manga Khumalo infamously refused to ride William Robertson in the Gr 2 Topbet Mike O’Connor Jo’Burg Spring Challenge last year after he had felt amiss going down to the start and Muzi Yeni took over to win the race (pictured above). Khumalo gets a chance to make amends on the classy Corne Spies-trained Rafeef gelding over the same Turffontein Inside 1450m course and distance tomorrow in a Pinnacle Stakes event. (JC Photos).

William Robertson Can Be Toast Of Big T

Charl Pretorius (Business Day)

Last year’s Spring Challenge winner, William Robertson, returns to the inside track at Turffontein on Saturday for a Pinnacle Stakes event over 1,450m.

He is follwing the same preparation pattern for the grade 2 feature as he did in 2022.

Trainer Corné Spies said on Thursday: “He is fit and well, he has 62kg to shoulder which is never easy, but he has a good draw and this is a race we believe he can win.”

William Robertson (62kg) was beaten into second on September 10 last year by bottom weight Forever Mine (52kg).

If we were to see a similar result, the one that could trouble him this time is likely to be Tony Peter’s talented, Running Rifles, whose 50.5kg could make a telling difference.

(William Robertson is 2kg under sufferance with the best weighted Marigold Hotel, while Running Rifles is 4kg under sufferance plus Muzi Yeni carries 0,5kg overweight, but the latter could still be ahead of the handicapper such is the way he has taken to the Highveld. Gr 2 WSB Gauteng Guineas winner Eye Of The Prophet is 2,5kg under sufferance with Marigold Hotel but this is alleviated by the 1,5kg claim of Rachel Venniker).

Gavin Lerena is a significant jockey booking for Robyn Klaasen’s Tanganga in race 8 over 1,200m. Tanganga and Galla Vanting (race 9, 1,000m) are both due for competitive runs and present punters with a value double on the day.

TURFFONTEIN SELECTIONS

1st Race: (1) Zoom Lady (3) Best Intentions (7) Chasing Happiness (6) Cocktail Girl

2nd Race: (4) Courageous (3) Shampimpi (1) Call To Glory (9) My Lady Soul

3rd Race: (6) Dungeons (5) Sage King (2) Moola Man (1) Wolffs World

4th Race: (1) William Robertson (9) Running Rifles (3) Eye Of The Prophet (8) Another Level

5th Race: (6) Arividicio (11) Emporium (5) Mo Jive (2) Global Impact

6th Race: (6) American Grayson (5) Rule Book (8) Over Two You (1) Battleground

7th Race: (3) Romeo’s Magic (1) Pewter Sky (4) Flag Bearer (2) Black Lightning

8th Race: (6) Tanganga (3) Ampersand (2) Viva De Janeiro (4) Lulu’s Boy

9th Race: (4) Galla Vanting (1) Kalahari Blue (3) Ambrym (8) Iventrix

South Africa’s reigning champion jockey, Keagan De Melo, meets the media at Sha Tin on Tuesday (HKJC).

Keagan’s Astute Advice From Lyle Ahead of HK Debut On Sunday

Mark Worwood (South China Morning Post)

Lyle Hewitson tells Keagan de Melo to stay the course in Hong Kong, even if the going gets tough

South Africa’s three-time champion jockey advises one of his domestic successors about the city racing scene’s soaring highs and crushing lows

Lyle Hewitson has told Keagan de Melo he cannot afford to fail in Hong Kong and that success in the city comes to expatriate riders who stay the course.

De Melo makes his Hong Kong debut at Sha Tin on Sunday – he holds three engagements – and no one is better placed than Hewitson to advise one of his successors as South Africa’s champion jockey about the city racing scene’s soaring highs and crushing lows.

Last term, Hewitson raised a metaphorical bat when he scored his first half-century of wins in a single Hong Kong season and cracked the premiership’s top five.

It continued Hewitson’s remarkable rise up Hong Kong’s riding ranks after South Africa’s three-time champion jockey lost his first 140 races in the city before he steered Last Kingdom to victory in December 2019.

“Keagan’s outlook is he’s got to make it work,” Hewitson said. “It’s the same for a lot of us South Africans when we come here. We’ve got to make it work because we can’t backtrack to South Africa. It’s not feasible once you see what you can achieve here.

“Nobody could have had it harder than me. It doesn’t get worse than that, and look where I’m now. I’m only halfway to where I want to be, if even that. But from where I started, it’s a bloody long way.

“I said [to Keagan], I don’t feel sorry for anybody because I managed to get through it, and I’m not mentally special in that I’m the only person who could get through that situation.

Anybody can if they apply themselves and really want to achieve it.

“So I said, the main thing is you could kick off your first meeting and just fly, but if you don’t and it takes a few [meetings], just keep going and keep chipping away because if you show up, you put in the hard yards and you make an opportunity count when it does come, you can turn things around completely.”

De Melo knows Hewitson and Luke Ferraris from his days competing against them before each brought their blossoming talents to Hong Kong. The South African riders are friends off the track but rivals on it.

“They’re good mates of mine,” De Melo said of Hewitson and Ferraris. “Obviously, they’ve pointed me in the right direction. There’s only so much they can do for me. I’ve got to go out there and make a name for myself, but they’ve given me some good pointers.

“You can be friends out of racing, but in racing, you’ve got a job to do at the end of the day.

“Riding in South Africa is very competitive, but you want to make it on the world stage. Hong Kong was the next step for me. I thought it was the right time.”

De Melo’s assignments on opening day at Sha Tin are aboard Caspar Fownes-trained maiden Valhalla in the Class Five Kowloon Peak Handicap (1,200m), David Hall-prepared sprinter Speedstar in the Class Four Ma On Shan Handicap (1,400m) and Ricky Yiu Poon-fai-conditioned miler Prime Minister in Sunday’s card-closing Class Two Tai Mo Shan Handicap (1,400m).

Keagan de Melo is pictured below (second from left) before his first ever overseas ride in the November of 2012 in Abu Dhabi where he finished second in the Apprentice International on Arabian racehorses. We knew he was good back then as the reigning KZN Champion Apprentice who retained that title, but he has turned out even better!

Mike and Adam Azzie have big Cape Town ambitions.

Adam Azzie To Raid Cape Town With Long-term Plans Afoot

Cape Racing

Up-and-coming trainer Adam Azzie will send 20 horses from Randjesfontein to compete in Cape Town this summer. He said the stable’s first 15 runners will leave Johannesburg on 17 September. Stables have been allocated for them at the Milnerton training centre.

Adam and his Dad, Michael, had their sights set on a satellite yard in the Western Cape since the first Cape Racing incentives were announced in 2022. Adam commented: “The latest series of incentives encouraged us to finalise our plans. We recently bought four horses at the August Two-Year-Old sale to participate in the latest syndicates incentives.”

The Azzie team’s interest in a Cape base was spiked last season when, due to quarantine restrictions, their raiding horse party had to travel in vector-protected trucks to Milnerton without stopping. Most of them arrived dehydrated and ran well below expectations.

“We have a string of 50 horses now. We had to start almost from scratch after losing our main patron, Adriaan van Vuuren. Still, we have quality in the string, and our numbers are growing thanks to staunch patrons like Drakenstein Stud, Brian Riley, Glen Morris, and Bruce Gardner, who have kept us competitive. Considering Cape Racing’s super initiatives and the travel problems, it makes sense to have a base in the Cape to race from. Aside from our existing owners, we’ve had interest from clients in the Cape, keen on buying for us.

“We’ll see how things go this season, how well we can do in the Cape summer. My dad will be back full-time to take care of the Randjesfontein stables. In time, and if 4Racing can catch up with the Cape, the ideal would be to have two strong stables in the two main centres. We want to see how our runners can shape against the best. We’re under no illusions. We’ll be taking on South Africa’s top horses in Cape Town, but if one doesn’t measure them at the top level, how will you know how good they are?”

At 36, Adam’s long-term objective is permanently settling in Cape Town. He said: “One must change and adapt, push the boundaries. The Cape will become South Africa’s premier racing centre and possibly a destination for international competitors. I have a young family; we’re keen on a healthier and safer lifestyle, and the Cape is just a great place to race. We have done so with significant results, raiding over the years.”

The stable’s top sprinter, Sheela, has been retired to stud, but Adam feels he has a Southern Cross Stakes and Sceptre Stakes hopeful in the four-time winner, Kiss Me Captain. “We haven’t got to the bottom of her yet; she is talented.” Also, among the raiders will be the well-performed Gimme A Shot, who has enjoyed time off after finishing fifth to Princess Calla in the G1 Ridgemont Garden Province Stakes, and juvenile Amber Rock, a highly-regarded individual who was beaten under half-length by Lucky Lad on her debut. Bartholdi will represent the older brigade, and Gauteng Fillies Guineas winner Lady of Power will join the Cape string after a run or two in Gauteng features.

The manificent looking USA-bred Wilgerbosdrift Stud-based stallion Flower Alley (Via Facebook).

Flower Alley, Sire Of Equus HOY, Starts Season Well

Wilgerbosdrift’s resident sire Flower Alley has had a wonderful couple of weeks, with his daughter Princess Calla being named Equus Horse Of The Year as well as Cape Breeders Horse Of The Year, while on the racetrack his progeny have started the season well.

The G1 Travers Stakes winner produced six individual stakes winners of 13 races last season and he has already produced a stakes winner this season.

Last Friday his daughter Flower Of Saigon, a six-year-old mare trained by Glen Kotzen, became the first horse of the season to win a turf stakes race when waltzing home by 4,50 lengths in the Listed Betway Insurebet Jockey Club Stakes over 2000m at Fairview under S’Manga Khumalo.

There will be some big crowds at Hollywoodbets Durbanville this Spring. (Picture: Cape Racing).

Rugby World Cup Bonanza At HWB Durbanville Saturday 23 September

The Rugby World Cup will be the focus of many SA sports fans attention over the next few weeks and one day for Cape racing fans to earmark in their diaries is Saturday 23 September.

There is a racemeeting at Hollywoodbets Durbanville that day and it coincides with one of the most important pool games of the Rugby World Cup, the world number 2’s the Springboks vs the world number 1’s Ireland.

Cape Racing have for weeks been planning “a massive” event which will be headlined “The Heritage Day/Potje Kos Competition” for that day and rest assured that big screens for the rugby are high on the list of their priorites.

Cape Racing begin their marketing campaign for that big day on Monday.

Watch this space to gather the details of a not-to-miss event!

Lucky Sweynesse headlines the first Hong Kong meeting of the season at Sha Tin this Sunday (HKJC).

Hong Kong Diary – Everything You Need To Know Ahead Of New Season

www.attheraces.com

Hong Kong racing returns on Sunday at Sha Tin and Declan Schuster gets you up to speed ahead of the first of 88 scheduled race meetings this season.

Everything you need to know ahead of the new season

Seven weeks (or thereabouts) have passed between seasons and plenty has happened in both Hong Kong and abroad…

Jockey Vincent Ho’s start to the 2023/24 racing season is delayed, trainer Tony Millard announced his departure, Golden Sixty heads to the Group 1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile first-up, Andrea Atzeni and Keagan De Melo join the riding roster, Mark Newnham and Cody Mo continue to build their stables, Romantic Warrior enters quarantine for his Australian campaign and Pierre Ng heads to South Korea with Duke Wai and Apache Pass.

Vincent Ho shortened his offseason riding engagements after a fall at Niigata in July, which unfortunately results in a delayed start to the local racing season for the rider. Ho is making a full recovery, thankfully, and is plotting a return to riding on 17 September.

After 709 Hong Kong wins, a pair of Hong Kong Derby triumphs and best known as the trainer of the brilliant Ambitious Dragon, South African Tony Millard announced his departure at the conclusion of last season after arriving in the city over 20 years ago.

The winner of 25 out of 29 starts, including nine at Group 1 level, Hong Kong’s champion Golden Sixty has been slated to return first-up in December’s Group 1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile – a race he has won twice previously. Traditionally, runners in the race would contest the Group 2 Jockey Club Mile beforehand in November.

Jockey Andrea Atzeni has three wins in Hong Kong and returns this season, citing increased maturity and experience as reasons for his reappearance in the enclave.

“I spent a little bit of time here (in Hong Kong) between 2014 and 2015, it’s a long time ago and I was a lot younger. I’d say mentally, I wasn’t quite ready for it. So coming back here nine years later, I feel like I’ve achieved a lot more around experience and I’ve been lucky enough to ride all over the world.

“When the offer came along, I thought about it quite carefully, I came to a conclusion that it was the right time in my career to come back to Hong Kong and try my luck here,” Atzeni said.

Keagan De Melo is South Africa’s reigning champion rider and joins fellow compatriots Lyle Hewitson and Luke Ferraris with contracts to ride in Hong Kong.

“I’ve settled in quite well. I’ve been here for just under a month, so it’s given me a bit of time to get used to the weather and get my family used to it. It’s all going well so far,” De Melo said.

Mark Newnham and Cody Mo have been busy across the offseason building their new stables as they prepare for their Hong Kong training debuts. Newnham arrives from Australia having built a formidable record Down Under, while Mo has been involved in Hong Kong racing for over 20 years and gets his chance at the big time now.

Preparations have begun for Romantic Warrior’s Australian campaign, with the galloper entering mandatory quarantine in Hong Kong before travelling. He is expected to contest the Turnbull Stakes and W.S. Cox Plate in Melbourne, Australia – both races are run at Group 1 level.

Armed with a strong team accepted at Sha Tin’s season opener on Sunday, 10 September, live on Sky Sports Racing, trainer Pierre Ng is instead in South Korea overseeing preparations for his duo – Apache Pass and Duke Wai – to contest the Group 3 Korea Cup and Group 3 Korea Sprint, respectively. Both races are run on sand. Ng has seven entries at Sha Tin and looks set for a big afternoon. Greenwich, Fortune Warrior, Good Boy and Bon’s A Pearla all look to have serious chances, with Greenwich shaping as the pick of the bunch after his impressive win last season.

Lucky Sweynesse headlines 2023/24’s first fixture

Lucky Sweynesse stretched out impressively in a barrier trial on Monday morning (4 September) ahead of his first start for the new season on Sunday (10 September) in Sha Tin’s Class 1 HKSAR Chief Executive’s Cup run over six furlongs, live on Sky Sports Racing.

The galloper stepped out under jockey Zac Purton to cross the line in unison with Victor The Winner on Monday, who also features in this weekend’s feature contest.

“I thought he felt good in his trial, he seems like he’s a more mature horse this season. He’s handling things really well, he seems to be working well for where he’s at in his preparation,” Purton said.

“His trial was good – of course, he pulled up and had a big blow and he’s going to improve and he needed the trial but for where he’s at this stage, he’s doing what we need him to do.”

The three-time Group 1 winner ended a superb campaign last term with Hong Kong Champion Sprinter honours and eight wins overall – an equal single-season record for victories with Beauty Generation.

As the contest’s highest-rated horse, Lucky Sweynesse will carry 135lb, while Victor The Winner and four others carry just 115lb.

Hollie Doyle

Hollie Doyle’s Preview Of Weekend Rides

Sky Sports Racing’s ambassador is aboard her multiple G1 winner Nashwa in the Irish Champion plus King’s Stand hero Bradsell in the Flying Five this weekend.

NASHWA IN GREAT SHAPE FOR IRISH CHAMPION CHALLENGE

Do you ever wish you could be in two places at the same time? Well, that’s exactly how I’ll be feeling on Saturday when two of my best horses do battle at the highest level – but in different countries.

I’d love to maintain my partnership with Wokingham winner Saint Lawrence in the Group 1 Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock Park following his near miss in France last month, but I’m off to Ireland instead.

I’ve ridden my Classic-winning heroine NASHWA in all her 13 career starts and wouldn’t miss her latest assignment in a stellar renewal of the Group 1 Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown (3.20) for the world.

For only the second time in her life she takes on the boys after posting such a gigantic effort in splitting this season’s powerhouses Mostahdaf and Paddington the £1million Juddmonte International at York last month.

My boss Imad Alsagar’s faith in Nashwa never wavers and he was keen to let her take her chance in this race after producing such a brave performance on the Knavesmire.

I popped into John and Thady Gosden’s Clarehaven Stables in Newmarket last week to put her through her paces in a solo spin on the gallops and she gave me a lovely feel. She really has come out of York in great shape.

She’ll need to be at her best for such a mouth-watering clash with dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin and King Of Steel, the Royal Ascot winner who was a close second to Aidan O’Brien’s colt at Epsom, but she should enjoy the track, underfoot conditions should be perfect and I’m happy with my draw in stall six.

HOPING TO GO ONE BETTER ON DARKNESS

I finished a close second in a valuable race at Epsom’s Derby meeting on DARKNESS who can hopefully go one better for me in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF ‘Sovereign Path’ Handicap (5.40).

David O’Meara’s five-year-old seems to have turned over a new leaf since being ridden more prominently and it was no surprise to see him win a 1m handicap at Newmarket in July. He’s ground-versatile and has won over 7f, too, so shouldn’t be troubled by the intermediate trip.

In the Irish Stallion Farms EBF ‘Petingo’ Handicap (5.05), I’ve picked up the ride on Eoin O’Neill’s NO NIKI NO , who steps up in trip but stayed well in France and won at Leopardstown on good ground back in June.

STIFFER TEST TAILOR-MADE FOR BRADSELL

I’m really excited to be back on my Royal Ascot winner BRADSELL in Sunday’s Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Flying Five Stakes (2.55) at the Curragh.

This Group 1 looks tailor-made for him. He proved in winning the King’s Stand Stakes at the Royal Meeting that a stiff 5f suits him best and that’s what he faces on Sunday.

He renews rivalry with Highfield Princess, who was behind him at Ascot and just in front of him in the Nunthorpe. Though he ran a great race to be third at York, the fast five there didn’t help his chances so I’m hopeful we can turn the tables.

Former jockey Mike Murphy rides Bradsell in most of his work at Archie Watson’s Saxon Gate Stables and has been delighted with him in the build-up to this race.

SUMMERGHAND RE-MATCH FOR ALBASHEER

If he’s in the right mood, ALBASHEER can prove hard to beat in the valuable Irish Stallion Farms EBF ‘Bold Lad’ Sprint Handicap (1.50) at the Curragh on Sunday.

He bounced back to form to dead-heat with the remarkable Summerghand in a Class 2 handicap at York last month and is set to renew rivalry on identical terms.

Like a lot of good sprinters, Albasheer needs all the cards to fall right, but Archie clearly has him in fine fettle and the stiff 6f should bring the best out of him.

BETTER GROUND IDEAL FOR SAINT LAWRENCE

I’ll be keeping a close eye on the action at Haydock Park when SAINT LAWRENCE lines up in the Group 1 Betfair Sprint Cup (3.35) on Saturday.

Archie’s revitalised five-year-old has given me two great days this summer, winning the Wokingham on his stable debut and then going close in the Group 1 Arc Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville.

The ground was desperate that day but with a bit more luck in running he may well have won there. He’s the type of horse who seems to enjoy finding a bit of trouble but if he gets the rub of the green at Haydock he should give Luke Morris a ride to remember.

July Cup winner Shaquille looks the one they all have to beat as long as he doesn’t get upset at the start. Stalls specialist Craig Witheford has done a lot of hard work with him so his trainer Julie Camacho will be praying that everything goes smoothly.

Hollie Doyle was speaking to Sky Sports Racing’s Simon Mapletoft.

Turffontein Inside Fields – Saturday

Hollywoodbets Scottsville Fields – Sunday

The subject of the question is pictured above.

Today’s Question

The Rugby World Cup starts today and stirs a racing memory. Why will the 1960 July always be known as The Rugby July?

ANSWER TO TODAY’S QUESTION

In the lead up to the 1960 July, ardent rugby enthusiasts around the country believed there could only be one result – a win for a horse called Left Wing.

In an international versus New Zealand the previous Saturday the Boks had won 13-0 with both tries being scored by the left wing Hennie van Zyl, who wore jersey number 13 (as the numbering was in those days).

Incredibly, the racehorse Left Wing would wear saddle cloth number 13 in the July just a week later and would also be drawn 13 (He jumped from draw ten after numerous scratchings diminished the field to 14).

Left Wing, owned and trained by Syd Garret and ridden by Percy Cayeux, was backed in to favourite as news of the rugby connection spread.

In surely one of the greatest topical results in the history of racing he won narrowly from Hyacinth.

In Henk Vos’s famous painting, which depicts every July winner for the first 100 runnings, the 1960 July is depicted by the figure of Hennie van Zyl wearing his number 13 jersey walking up one of the spiral staircases overlooking the parade ring.

A Bok wing of recent times Odwa Ndungane is pictured below pointing out the depiction on the full scale painting which hangs in Hollywoodbets Greyville’s Classic room.

Turf Talk Newsletter – 8 September, 2023