Quid Pro Quo becomes the first two-year-old in history to be named KZN Horse Of The Season (Candiese Lenferna Photography)
The KZN Racing Awards were held in the Classic Room at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Friday night and for the first time ever the most awaited award, the KZN Horse Of The Season, went to a two-year-old, the Barend Botes-trained history-making filly Quid Pro Quo.
The Horse Of The Season Award has been a touch controversial recently, because it can go to an out of province horse if they have run at least three times in KZN, but that goes against convention because the acknowledged best horse of a jurisidiction usually comes from that jurisdiction and there has been at least one deserving local candidate in each of the last couple of seasons.
So this year the Equus Horse Of The Year Dave The King was eligible and it was going to be interesting to see, in the opinion of most pundits, whether it would go to him or to the Nathan Kotzen-trained Royal Victory, who is widely acknowledged as the best horse in KZN having won both of Johannesburg’s biggest races, the Gr 1 Betway Summer Cup and the Gr 1 Premier’s Champions Challenge.
It did go to a KZN-based horse in the end.
However, it was not Royal Victory, but rather the two-year-old Lance filly Quid Pro Quo.
She made history this season by becoming the first horse to win all three of the Champions Season’s chief two-year-old fillies’ races, the Gr 1 Allan Robertson Championship over 1200m, the Gr 1 Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper over 1400m at Hollywoodbets Greyville and the Gr 1 Douglas Whyte Thekwini stakes over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
She did only beat her own age and gender, but it was pointed out she had won over three different distances.
Her history-making feat happened in KZN and this was viewed by the panelists as more worthy than Royal Victory becoming the first out of province horse in history to win the Gr 1 Premier’s Champions Challenge and he was thus the first out of horse in history to do Johannesburg’s big double, having earlier become the first out of province horse since 2006 to win the Gr 1 Betway Summer Cup. Royal Victory also finished a fine third in Hollywoodbets Durban July, a race in which he was a touch unlucky.
Last year the KZN Breeders took the unusual step of making their horse of the season a two-year-old, the hitherto unbeaten Sean Tarry-trained Mrs Geriatrix, who won both the Allan Robertson and the Golden Slipper as well as a Listed and a Gr 2 race, but it seemed to have been done for want of a suitable older horse.
The KZN Racing Awards this year did not lack a suitable older horse, so the announcement did come as somewhat of a surprise, although it was generally well received.
Quid Pro Quo, whose name means “something for something” was the second horse of the season to be given the label “the new darling of the SA turf” and the first of those, Gimme A Nother, is now thought to be on her way overseas.
Quid Pro Quo’s owners and breeders Gerald and Karen Kalil were present to receive the award. Gerald shared that there have been many offers for Quid Pro Quo, whose sire Lance commands a R5,000 cover fee, but he was still holding out and he added her ultimate target this season would be the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara races. She is proven over the trip of the first leg, the Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas, and he is confident she will get the trip of the second leg, the Gr 1 Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic over 1800m, but he said the big question will be whether she stays the 2450m trip of the Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks.
The biggest cheer of the evening came for KZN Champion Jockey Richard Fourie, who made a special effort to get to the event despite having ridden in Gqeberha earlier the day, whilst Champion Owners the Hollywood Syndicate also received rousing applause for all they do for racing and Rachel Venniker was a popular winner of the KZN Racing Personality Of The Season award after her magnificent wins in Jockeys Challenge races in both Qatar and Ascot.
All the awards are listed below:
Champion Two Year Old Filly – Quid Pro Quo
Champion Two Year Old Colt – Cats Pajamas
Champion Three Year Old Filly – Rascova
Champion Three Year Old Colt – Green With Envy
Champion Sprinter – King Of The Gauls
Champion Middle Distance Filly – Saartjie
Champion Middle Distance Horse – Royal Victory
Champion Stayer – Master Redoute
Champion Breeders – Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein
Champion Apprentice – Kobeli James Lihaba
Champion Trainer – Gareth Van Zyl
Champion Owner – Hollywood Syndicate (Nominee: Anthony Delpech)
Champion Jockey – Richard Fourie
Anita Akal Special Award – Kumaran Naidoo
KZN Racing Personality of the Year – Rachel Venniker
Champion Horse Of The Season – Quid Pro Quo
Groom Of The Horse Of The Season – Asithandile Mgadeni
