DATE: Saturday, 23 May 2015
AGE/ CONDITION: Open Merit Rated Handicap over 1200m
ENTRIES: 11:00am Friday, 8 May 2015 – Fee: R 1710
SUPP ENTRIES: 11:00am Friday, 15 May 2015 – Fee R 6840
WEIGHTS: Friday, 8 May 2015
DECLARATIONS: 11:00am Monday, 18 May 2015 – Fee R 6840
2014 TSOGO SUN SPRINT (GRADE 1)
Horse: Normanz
Jockey: Athandiwe Mgudlwa
Trainer: Charles Laird
Owners: Mrs I Jooste & Mr MJ Jooste
Breeder: Avontuur Throughbred Farm
ABOUT: Tsogo Sun Sprint (Grade 1)
Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg, the centre of speed in South African racing, hosts the Golden Horse Sprint race day for the 52nd time on May 24 and, as in all the years past, will undoubtedly provide the exciting and highly competitive clashes it is renowned for.
ROLL OF HONOUR:
2014
Trainer Charles Laird pulled off a perfect training feat when the three-year-old Var gelding Normanz powered across the line to win the R1-million, Grade 1 Golden Horse Sprint at Scottsville on Saturday.
Owned by Ingrid and Markus Jooste, Normanz won by 1.5 lengths from another Jooste runner Red Ray from the Joey Ramsden stable.
2013
There were some top sprinters in the main feature event but one of the lesser fancied runners was the Charles Laird-trained Contador that had run poorly in his previous race and had been gelded just five weeks before the Scottsville race.
Contador settled early as Barbosa made the running but going through the 300m mark he accelerated and moved with strong finish gaining the lead and winning by a length from Wild Type, Merhee and Desert Sheik.
2012
A day of mixed results that led to a Place Accumulator payout of R6 000 was enjoyed by a large crowd who cheered the three-year-old Australian-bred colt Delago Deluxe when he stormed home under champion jockey Anton Marcus to win the R600 000 Golden Horse Casino Sprint for trainer Charles Laid carrying the famous green, yellow and black silks of owners Ingrid and Markus Jooste.
Delago Deluxe, that was declared the best turned out horse in the race, had returned to Scottsville for the first time after a year where he had won the Tsogo Sun Medallion as a two-year-old giving him a perfect record of two Grade 1 victories in his two races at the Pietermaritzburg track.
2011
The Golden Horse Casino Sprint was won by the Geoff Woodruff-trained three-year-old Shea Shea to give the Gauteng conditioner his second win in the race in three years. He had won with Earl Of Surrey in 2009. The National Emblem colt under Anthony Delpech finished ahead of August Rush and Polar Moon.
2010
JJ The Jet Plane, trained by the Vaal-based Lucky Houdalakis, wrote his name into the record books again at Scottsville yesterday under Pierre Strydom when he became the first horse since Dambuster in 1984 to reclaim the Grade 1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint crown.
Houdalakis brought him back slowly after he had come out of quarantine. He only had his first gallop in February and his preparation was also effected by unseasonal rain.
2009
Earl of Surrey, ridden by Johnny Geroudis, posted an emphatic victory in the Grade 1 R600 000 Golden Horse Casino Sprint, shortly after Geroudis had bagged another grade 1 win in the Allan Robertson Fillies Championship earlier in the day at Scottsville.
The Zimbabwean bred Earl Of Surrey won by two and a half length, despite carrying top weight, from Thunder Key, and the Mike Bass trained duo of Gaultier and Blue Tiger filling the balance of the places.
