Richard Fourie’s grins says it all! (Picture: Wayne Marks)
The second race at Hollywoodbets Durbanville today (Wednesday) saw a spectacular victory for the Justin Snaith-trained grey three-year-old gelding by Futura, Rain In France.
He enjoyed himself from the off of the 1400m event in his second career start and was soon opening up a lead under Richard Fourie, despite traveling within himself under a nice long rein.
He showed off his big, but uncomplicated action when let go in the straight and ultimately crossed the line 9,75 lengths clear, easing up, having still been full of running.
He had converted odds of even money.
Rain In France is by Futura out of Aqlaam mare Imvula, who is a half-sister to the former Snaith-trained grey stalwart Dancer’s Daughter, whose most famous of five Gr 1 victories was when dead-heating with the legendary Pocket Power in the July.
Dancer’s Daughter dead-heats with Pocket Power in the 2008 July (Gold Circle)
Rain In France’s performance was in fact reminiscent of his aunt Dancer’s Daughter.
Not only is he grey, but he clearly enjoys galloping and Jonathan Snaith remarked that he had quite a similar action to Dancer’s Daughter too.
An extract from some writings about Dancer’s Daughter gives insight into her character and her love of galloping (see below):
Justin said Dancer’s Daughter had a lovely temperament. She was one of his favourite rides on the beach, where she was as quiet as a lamb. However, it all changed as soon as she saw a race track. Her racing instincts then kicked in and she just loved to gallop. Snaith recalled she won her first grass gallop by seven lengths. However, she always used to fight for her head in her workouts. As a consequence the former rugby-playing Justin often had to ride her himself. One day at her Clairwood Champions Season base he said to her before a workout, “Ok I have had enough of your fighting, so today I am just going to let you do your own thing.” He let her go and she ran three times around Clairwood’s training track before he, not the horse, decided enough was enough.
It is ironic that in the build up to the 2008 Durban July Dancer’s Daughter was ridden in her work by Pocket Power’s jockey Bernard Fayd’Herbe as he was one of the few capable of holding her.
Justin said, “If I had run her in the Gold Cup I think she could have won with 65kg on her back.”
Justin’s interview after Rain In France’s victory revealed that he was really enjoying training him, despite it being a challenge that required him to dig deep into the resourcefulness he had built up through many years of training thoroughbreds.
By all accounts he became very excited and animated by the imposing grey’s superb performance and he admitted in the winning interview, “It has been a lot of work!”
He explained, “The excitement came from doing things rights, which stems from all the experience I have gained around the world in learning how to deal with issues and problems when they arise. Everybody’s a good trainer … until things go wrong! Then you figure out who can train and who can’t! For example when a yard gets a virus and how a trainer reacts to it. Early in my career I inherited a horse from my father called Cordocelli who had real issues and I had to figure it out very quickly.”
Justin then mentioned another Futura he trains, Note To Self, and said in the beginning Note To Self would not go anywhere near the starting stalls. Justin reacted by gelding him, putting him away and then schooling him, and of course he went on to win the Hollywoodbets Durban July.
He said, “And now with this Futura it was the same thing again!”
He thus had to geld him and he revealed that the country’s most respected “horse whisperer” Malan Du Toit had done a lot of work with him.
He added that upon seeing him walk into the ring at the Sale he had wanted him, not only for his impeccable pedigree and that he had trained a Futura before, but also because he was a grey. He revealed he was a sucker for horses who could go over ground, but who had attitude at the same time.
Rain In France displaying a bit of attitude at home (Picture Supplied)
Richard Fourie revealed he did not often watch racing, but he watched this horse’s debut because he had lamented not being able to ride him as he was on suspension.
Justin reckoned had his debut been down the straight, like Note To Self’s, he would not have been beaten.
However, after flyjumping over 1250m at Hollywoodbets Durbanville he had to make up an enormous amount of ground in the straight.
He was only beaten 1,65 lengths in the end and Richard immediately contacted Justin asking him for the ride next time.
Drakenstein Stud bred Rain In France and he is owned by a syndicate made up of Gaynor Rupert and some of her friends called L’Ormarins & Friends.
Dancer’s Daughter was a British-bred out of unfashionable sire Act One, who became more well known as a jumps sire.
At stud she produced a Listed winner by Silvano called Born To Perform and has one stakes placed horse among four other winners.
Drakenstein imported her half-sister Imvula, who was bought at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale for 30,000 Gns and never raced, but she has turned out to be a better broodmare than Dancer’s Daughter was.
Imvula means “rain” in Zulu and several other Nguni languages of Southern Africa and hence the naming of her progeny, who include the Triple Tiara-winning heroine Rain In Holland (Duke Of Marmalade), Gr 3 winner Itsrainingwilliam (William Longsword) and three-times Gr 3 runner up Rain In Newmarket (Kingsbarns).
Jonathan Snaith summed up the sentiments about Rain In France, saying:
“From the moment he began his fast work, this youngster has given us every reason to believe he could be something special. He possesses an impressive turn of foot, has gears to spare, and, perhaps most excitingly, is still learning what the game is all about.
That said, the Cape Guineas may arrive a little too soon in his development. Justin has always believed in allowing his young horses the time they need to fulfil their potential, rather than rushing them into races before they are ready.
With that in mind, the Swiss Cape Derby and Daily News 2000 could prove a more suitable route. It is a path not dissimilar to the one followed by another talented son of Futura, Note to Self, who ultimately went on to capture the Hollywoodbets Durban July.
Of course, we are not suggesting he has reached those heights just yet, but the raw ingredients are certainly there, and it is difficult not to get excited about what the future might hold.
Justin will discuss the various options with the partners before deciding on the next chapter of what promises to be an exciting journey for them all.
It’s a wonderul syndicate of friends. Good horses create special memories, but it’s the people you share them with who make those memories truly unforgettable.”
Rain In France’s time was noticeably faster then the two other winners on the day over the same 1400m trip, clocking 85,99 seconds compared to 87.66 for the Snaith-trained Navigation (Vercingetorix) and 87.50 for the James Crawford-trained Virginias Bluebell (What A Winter).
He looks to be an exciting horse to follow.
Snaith scored a treble on the day, two of them ridden by Fourie and the other by JP van der Merwe, who scored a double.
