Enthusiastic racing mother-and-son combination Delma and Lance Sherrell are Cape Town based but their roots are in KZN and their black and white colours will be flying the “Sharks” flag boldly during the SA Champions Season.

Lance was selected as one of the flyhalves for the 1994 Springbok rugby tour of New Zealand and he had earlier followed in the footsteps of both his late father Reg and grandfather Reg Evelyn by playing for Natal. Initially, racing For Delma and Lance was merely a continuation of Reg’s involvement, but Lance admits, “It has now got me hooked”.

This winter the adrenalin will run faster than ever, because not only will Captain America be providing the Sherrell family with another shot at the Vodacom Durban July, but a home-bred of theirs, Bold Respect, will be fancied to land a two-year-old Gr 1.

Lance views racing very much as a sport and it provides a fitting replacement for his active days in the arena.

“Syndicate involvement is more fun,” he said. “There is the build up to the race where you can all talk rubbish and joust with other owners for a pie and a coke. It is like a team sport, you take the pain together and celebrate together if you win. You’re not in to make money, but just to enjoy it, and it’s a good excuse to get out of the house. A race like the Met starts with golf on the Friday and the camaraderie throughout the weekend is unbelievable. But in racing it doesn’t really matter who wins, rivals are very supportive of each other’s successes.”

Lance said after family horse Alexis had won the Gr 2 KRA Fillies Guineas two years ago, “”It is more exhilarating than lining up a kick in a big game!”

However, watching the home-bred Boldly Respectable win at Kenilworth about a year later was a whole new ball game. Lance said, “It is a completely different vibe and deeply satisfying, as you have been involved with this horse for its whole life.”

Reg Sherrell was a work associate of Robert Maingard’s in the days the family lived in Durban. Reg and Robert raced horses together and Ricky Maingard was their trainer. Lance used to tag along with his father to the Tote on a Saturday and developed an interest in the sport.

Among the horses Reg had shares in were the 1985 Cape Derby winner Impressive Style and the filly Respectable, who won the Gr 1 Natalia Stakes and she finished fourth in the 1990 July.

Reg, who passed away just 12 days after Alexis’ KRA Fillies Guineas win, had a couple of horses with Basil Marcus when the latter moved to Singapore in 2010. Stud farm manager Craig Carey then recommended Brett Crawford as a trainer to Lance.  Shortly after joining the Crawford yard, Reg passed his colours over to Delma.

Lance does have his own colours, but prefers to race with the black and white family colours, particularly due to their association with Sharks rugby.

When Crawford offered the Sherrells a share in a Captain Al colt, which he had gone over budget to secure, they jumped at it. They had once lived next door to Captain Al’s original owners, the Dos Santos’s, and Delma had always wanted a horse by the great sire. They thus landed a share in Captain America, whose first big win was in the R2 million Lanzerac Ready To Run Stakes and he later won a Gr 1 in Johannesburg.

Lance quipped, “My friends are always surprised when I say Captain America has been very costly. You see he was the one who prompted us to keep on buying! A winning culture becomes infectious in any sport.”

The Sherrells decided to breed with Respectable Lady, one of the horses transfered to Crawford from Basil Marcus, for sentimental reasons. She was the granddaughter of Respectable and Reg and Robert Maingard had also raced her mother Respectable Model.

Respectable’s great-grandson, Bold Respect, won the R1 million Kuda Sprint over 1200m on Sun Met day.

The Sherrell’s stand Respectable Lady at Dr Ashley, Dr Bev and Rose Parker’s top class Port Elizabeth-based stud farm, Ascot Stud.

A July win would mean a tremendous amount to the Sherrells. They are hoping this will be the race in which Captain America finally sheds his bridesmaid tag.

Gulf Storm is another of the Sherrells’ Gr 1-winners. The Gr 1 Tsogo Sprint, where he was runner up two years ago, will be on his agenda again. Search Party, winner of the Gr 2 WSB Merchants, will also likely carry the Sherrells colours in the Tsogo Sprint. Both Gulf Storm and Search Party were bred by Ascot Stud. Alexis will defend her Gr 2 Tibouchina crown before likely making her swansong in the Gr 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes.

Lance recently attended the funeral of his Springbok tour room mate and “Dirt Trackers” half-back companion, the legendary Joost van der Westhuizen. It was a sad occasion but also a happy one. Joost’s passing had brought together rugby playing contemporaries who had not seen each other for twenty odd years. There was much reminiscing and laughter. It is this camaraderie which sportsmen thrive on.

Considering Crawford sent out the first and third for this year’s Met, owned by an England cricketer and a Bok rugby player respectively, his yard could not be in a better place. Lance shares his racing successes with his former rugby colleagues. It can only be good for the Sport Of Kings if his enthusiasm one day rubs off on some of them.

David Thiselton