Western Cape and Highveld trainers dominated the Gr 1 races last season. There were 30 Gr 1s in the season if last year’s postponed eLan Gold Cup meeting is excluded and Highveld trainers won 15 Gr 1s between them, the Western Cape won 13 and KZN won two.

There were 24 individual Gr 1 winners during the season, eleven of them were Highveld-trained, eleven were Western Cape-trained and two were KZN-trained.

Highveld trainer Sean Tarry’s Legal Eagle and Western Cape trainer Mike Bass’s Inara each won three Gr 1s apiece.

Highveld trainer Alec Laird’s Smart Call and Highveld trainer Mike Azzie’s SA Triple Crown hero Abashiri each won two Gr2s.

Tarry and Bass both won five Gr 1s during the season with three individual horses, Tarry’s trio being Legal Eagle, Carry On Alice and Cloth Of Cloud, and Bass’s being Inara, Silver Mountain and Marinaresco.

Azzie won four Gr 1s with three individual horses, Abashiri, Rabada and Querari Falcon.

The only multiple Gr 1-winning yards besides Tarry, Bass, Azzie and Laird, were Justin Snaith, Vaughan Marshall and Joey Ramsden.

Snaith’s pair It’s My Turn and Bela-Bela won one Gr 1 apiece, Marshall clinched to Gr 1s on the same day with two-year-olds The Secret Is Out and Always in Charge, and Ramsden won the big one, the Vodacom Durban July, with The Conglomerate, and the Mercury Sprint with Red Ray a couple of weeks later.

Trainers who each won one Gr 1 apiece were the Highveld’s Geoff Woodruff  (Master Sabina); Highveld’s Mike de Kock (Noah From Goa); Western Cape’s Brett Crawford (Gulf Storm); Highveld’s Stanley Ferreira (Juxtapose); Western Cape’s Dean Kannemeyer (Real Princess); Highveld’s Coenie de Beer (Talktothestars); KZN’s Weiho Marwing (Mac De Lago); and KZN’s Paul Gadsby (Gunner).

The leading Gr 1-winning jockeys in the season were Anton Marcus with six and Anthony Delpech, Piere Strydom and Grant van Niekerk with four each.

Marcus won three Gr 1s aboard Legal Eagle and one apiece on Rabada, Always in Charge and Red Ray. Delpech’s four Gr 1 wins were on Noah From Goa, Bela-Bela, Real Princess and Querari Falcon; Strydom’s were on It’s My Turn, Talktothestars, Mac De Lago and The Conglomerate; and Van Niekerk won three Gr 1s on Inara and one on Marinaresco.

Other jockeys to win multiple Gr 1s were national champion jockey S’Manga Khumalo on Carry On Alice and Cloth Of Cloud and Karl Zechner, who rode Abashiri in all of his races during the season.

Jockeys to win one Gr 1 apiece were Gavin Lerena (Master Sabina); Aldo Domeyer (Silver Mountain); Weichong Marwing (Smart Call); JP van der Merwe (Smart Call); Corne Orffer (Gulf Storm); Chase Maujean (Juxtapose); MJ Byleveld (The Secret Is Out); and Brandon Lerena (Gunner).

Perennial champion owners Markus and Ingrid Jooste owned or had shares in six horses which won eight Gr 1 races between them (officially they had nine as Rabada also won on Gold Cup day last year). The six horses were Legal Eagle, Cloth Of Cloud, Rabada, Always In Charge, The Conglomerate and Red Ray. It was the Joostes’ first victory in the July.

Adriaan and Rika van Vuuren deservedly clinched their first Gr 1 win when Abashiri won the SA Classic and they added two more courtesy of Abashiri and Querari Falcon.

Drakensten Stud won three Gr 1s as owners, all with their home-bred Inara.

Mauritzfontein won two Gr1s as owners with their home-bred Smart Call.

Top owner Chris van Niekerk has shares in both Carry On Alice and Cloth Of Cloud and Hassen Adams also had a Gr 1 double as part-owner of both Mac De Lago and Gunner.

Avontuur Thoroughbred Farm are the breeders of Equus Horse Of The Year Legal Eagle and other studs who were in the winner’s enclosure more than once as breeders were: Drakenstein Stud with Inara; Mauritzfontain Stud with Smart Call and Marinaresco; Lammeskraal Stud, who bred Abashiri and Red Ray; Klawervlei Stud with Carry On Alice, Always In Charge and Real Princess; and Highlands Farms Stud with Silver Mountain and Cloth Of Cloud, who are both out of Equus Champion broodmare Our Table Mountain;

Those who bred one Gr 1 winner each were National Champion Breeders Summerhill Stud with Rabada; Michael de Broglio owns and bred Master Sabina; Wilgerbosdrift Stud bred Noah From Goa, whom they also part-own; Willem Engelbrecht bred It’s My Turn; Ascot Stud bred Gulf Storm; Varsfontein Stud bred Juxtapose (they also own Bela-Bela); Scott Brothers bred Talktothestars; BBP Syndicate bred The Secret Is Out; Cheveley Stud bred Bela-Bela; Querari Falcon was bred by the late BH Botha, Arne J Botha and ME Botha; and Nadeson Park bred Gunner. Both Mac De Lago and The Conglomerate were bred in Australia.

The leading Gr 1-winning stallions were National Champion Sire Trippi, father of Inara and Real Princess; Captain Al , sire of Carry On Alice, Cloth Of Cloud, The Secret Is Out and Always In Charge; Greys Inn, sire of Legal Eagle; Dynasty sire of Bela-Bela and It’s My Turn; Silvano sire of Silver Mountain and Marinaresco; Ideal World, sire of Smart Call; and Go Deputy, sire of Abashiri;

Those stallions who had one Gr 1 winner each were Jet Master (Master Sabina); Tiger Ridge (Noah From Goa); Sail From Seattle (Gulf Storm); Judpot (Juxtapose); Brave Tin Soldier (Rabada); Overlord (Talktothestars); Western Winter (Red Ray); Querari (Querari Falcon); Gimmethegreelight (Gunner);  Encosta de Lago (Mac de Lago); and Lonhro (The Conglomerate).

David Thiselton