Town Crier wins in impressive fashion on the Hollywoodbets Greyville turf (Candiese Lenferna Photography).
Stuart Ferrie had the first four-timer of his career on the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly on Friday night and he added another winner on Sunday on the turf, the promising William Longsword colt Town Crier, and those five gave him the early lead in the national trainers championship.
Ferrie has 36 horses in all, so will nt hold on to the lead for long.
However, the four-timer betters the hattrick he scored in his second full season of training last term and it comes hard on the heels of his first Gr 1 winner, Gladatorian, the five-year-old old Vercingetorix gelding who won the HKJC Champions Cup on World Pool Gold Cup day.
Stuart’s winners on Friday night were the five-year-old Var gelding Teatime Tipple, who won over 1600m under Athandiwe Mgudlwa, the five-year-old Canford Cliffs gelding King Of Spin, who won over 1200m under Sean Veale to give champion owners Hollywood Racing a second winner of the new season, the four-year-old Global View gelding Bank Street, who won over 1200m under Serino Moodley, and the four-year-old New Predator filly She’s A Machine, who just got up over 1200m under Muzi Yeni.
They converted odds of 17/2, 13/2, 91/100 and 5/2.
The four wins included winning the last three races at the meeting, a Ferrie Pick 3 that paid R116.10.
Stuart described the Friday night winners as “old faithfuls”, but his winner on Sunday on the Hollywoodbets turf track looks full of promise.
This good looking three-year-old William Longsword colt Town Crier is a half-brother to Pray For Rain, who was a Gr 1 runner up as a two-year-old for Stuart’s former guv’nor Dennis Drier before later winning the Listed Umngeni Handicap over 1000m as a three-year-old. He also won the Umngeni Handicap for Carl Hewitson as a five-year-old after being purchased in training by the Poet’s Corner Syndicate, a syndicate run by the colourful Irishman Michael Moroney. When Carl Hewitson relocated to Mauritius recently, Michael moved Town Crier, who is also owned by S Govender and Cecilia Trickett, to Stuart’s yard.
The Avontuur-bred Town Crier was backed into 2/1 favourite on Sunday in a Maiden over 1200m after an eyecatching fifth over 1200m at Hollyywoodbets Scottsville on debut. He jumped from draw one and found a handy position on the rail before running on superbly to win by a cosy 0,70 lengths from Targaryen Knight.
Stuart said, “He’s a nice horse, one step at a time but he’s got the looks and the pedigree.”
Stuart does not think he will be a pure sprinter like his Soft Falling Rain half-brother Pray For Rain.
He said, “Being by William Longsword I think he will go 1400m to a mile.”
Meanhwhile, Gladatorian is having a deserved holiday in a paddock in a nearby Summerveld smallholding and Stuart believes that, although a final decision has not been made, “he will have to go to Cape Town.”
The obvious route for him there would be the Gr 2 Green Point Stakes over 1600m, The Gr 1 wfa L’Ormarins King’s Plate over 1600m and the Gr 1 wfa WSB Met over 2000m.
Other notable scorers in the two Hollywoodbets Greyville meetings over the weekend were Turf Talk-sponsored jockey Chad Little, who rode a double for Lucinda Woodruff at the Sunday meeting, Serino Moodley who rode a double at both meetings and Sean Veale, who rode a double at the Friday meeting.
