Robert Khathi has cut short his promising stint in Bahrain – four winners in eight meetings – to ride in Mauritius and he leaves early next month after signing up with the 40-horse stable of Shirish Narang.
He celebrated his brief return to Kenilworth by taking Saturday’s 2 500m maiden on Australian import Dorset Noble for Marsh Shirtliff and Candice Bass-Robinson. But it was Richard Fourie who stole most of the show.
Richard Fourie (Nkosi Hlope)
Fourie’s 21% strike rate this season is bettered only by Anton Marcus and Gavin Lerena and on 11-2 chance Zodiac Jack in the two-year-old maiden he made every post a winning one to end 15 costly weeks in the wilderness for Greg Ennion.
“My horses had a virus that started in October and has taken this long to clear,” the Milnerton trainer explained. “I lost six or seven horses with owners sending them to other centres but I was confident about this one and I told Braam van Huyssteen that his horse wouldn’t get beat unless there was something special among the unraced ones.”
In the 1 400m handicap Fourie appeared to take a leaf out of the Bernard Fayd’Herbe racing manual (Chapter 3 – How To Hoodwink the Opposition) by switching Shall Be Free to the stands side and coming home alone on the well-backed Mike Robinson winner.
In the Riverside Estates Handicap 35 minutes later they all headed for the outside strip but Fourie later disclosed: “I went across on Shall Be Free because he fights with other horses and so he is better on his own.”
The Adam Marcus-trained Quippi, the middle leg of the Fourie treble, gave Glenn Hatt his first success in his new role as racing manager for Andreas Jacobs’ Maine Chance Farms. “I am now looking at racing in a totally different light,” said the man whose many big race wins included two Mets and three Queen’s Plates. “But the big thing for me is that I am back involved in the game.”
Loadshedder took five races to win his maiden but the way he followed up in the Riverside Estates Handicap, after being backed from 11-2 to 7-2, suggests he could yet prove a punter’s friend particularly as Andre Nel said: “He won this with real authority and there is a lot to look forward to.”
This was the second leg of a double for Aldo Domeyer who delivered Mtoroshanga late to justify 3-1 favouritism for Paddy Kruyer in the Raging Romantics Maiden.
Harold Crawford is convinced that Perovskia wants a mile or ten furlongs even though Grant Behr was able to make most of the running on her in the 1 200m Kinney’s Maiden.
Sean Veale will be concentrating on Durban from now on but he came back to win the last for Eric Sands on Excellent. The top weight was one of several in the race who came up the outside so maybe there was more to the Fourie precedent than he thought!
What A Winter’s reputation is growing. He stood at R20 000 last season but a service to him made R47 500 in the Peninsula Room auction whereas those to R100 000 big boys Duke Of Marmalade and Oratorio went for R60 000 and R55 000.
By Michael Clower
