Author Archives: Devonne Govender

Christopher Robin stakes Cup claim

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David Thiselton

St. John Gray pulled off another fine breeding and training feat at Turffontein Standside on Saturday when Christopher Robin easily won the Grade 3 Victory Moon Stakes over 1800m.

The sponsors of the WSB Summer Cup reacted by shortening him into 25/1.

The four-year-old colt by Damage Is Done was the second worst treated at the weights on Saturday and off his 98 merit rating was 7,5kg under sufferance with the best treated horse Victoria Paige.

He beat the runner up Astrix, with whom he was 3kg under sufferance, by 2,50 lengths and beat third-placed Victoria Paige by 3,75 lengths.

The handicappers have thus, not surprisingly, raised him eleven points to 109.

A condition of the Summer Cup is that “weights may change up to the time of declarations”, so as things stand, and presuming the topweight Queen Supreme stands her ground, he will carry 53kg in the big race.  

Christopher Robin was coming in off a 4,25 length defeat to Seven Patriots over 1800m at the Vaal but Gray pointed out that the going had been fast that day and he had been interfered with on an unusually sharply constructed turn which had thrown the horses outward. Seven Patriots had got away from the field but Christopher Robin had made some late progress. 

Christopher Robin’s best previous win had been in the rain in the Derby Trial over the Turffontein Standside 2000m, so the conditions were in his favour on Saturday with plenty of rain having fallen during the week.

S’Manga Khumalo did his homework and knowing Orpheus, jumping from pole, was likely to go strongly from the off to get the lead he rushed his mount from the off and was able to slot in behind the former horse on the rail. Having found this good position he relaxed and allowed Seven Patriots to slot in ahead of him.

Christopher Robin turned for home third in line on the rail in joint fourth place with the favourite Astrix from whom he was receiving 3kg.

This pair went through the 300m together but from then onward Christopher Robin steadily drew away. Gray pointed out that had it been over 2000m he would likely have gone even further clear.

Astrix was caught wide on the turn for a short while, but not as badly as he had been in the Grade 1 SA Classic last season. With a potentially good draw in the Summer Cup (7 out of the 43 still standing) he could still prove capable of staying 2000m.

Victoria Paige stayed on steadily into third but was a touch one-paced. 

Astrix remains on a 110 merit rating, but Victoria Paige has been dropped three points to 105.

Victoria Paige was in 19th place on the final Summer Cup log a few days ago and Astrix, who was 20th, will leapfrog her and Christopher Robin, who didn’t feature on the log at all, will leapfrog both of them. 

Dance Class finished fourth, beaten 3,85 lengths, and has been raised from a 92 to a 98 but unlikely did enough to make it into the Summer Cup field.

Imperial Ruby, who was 18th on the final log, finished fifth. However, he was beaten only 0,20 lengths by Victoria Paige on 3kg worse terms than he would have faced her in a handicap, so he is unlikely to lose his position.

The next two finishers, Seven Patriots and Dark Moon Rising, unlikely did enough to impress the final field panellists. However, it should be remembered that two years ago the field cut up so dramatically at the declaration stage that there were only 19 in the final field, so there is still hope.

Christopher Robin provided the late Damage Is Done with his first stakes winner when winning the Listed Derby Trial last year and now provides him with his first Graded winner.

Gray’s Graystone Stud operation has regularly defied conventional wisdom in thoroughbred breeding as none of the stallions he has stood over the years were superstars on the racetrack.

He said about the Rakeen stallion Damage Is Done, who won four ordinary races on the Vaal sand, “He suited my mares on lines and crosses although he wasn’t very successful.”

He continued, “My favourite saying is ‘I told God my plans and he just smiled’. We think we can work it out and play God with our thoroughbred matings but how many times does it work? It is no super science.”  

However, Gray’s adherence to his philosophies has undoubtedly paid dividends and in this case Damage Is Done, despite his previous lack of success, was sent a black type mare in the Listed-winning Malhub sprinter Onehundredacrewood and Christopher Robin was the result.

Christopher Robin has a plum draw of four out of the 43 remaining entries in the Summer Cup and although his 25/1 odds reflect his chances one thing for certain is that he will be trying his heart out. Gray refers to this progressive horse as his “iron horse.”  

Interim Suspension – Trainer F Robinson

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The National Horseracing Authority confirms that it has opened an Inquiry into alleged racist comments made on social media by Trainer Frank Robinson.

After careful consideration of the social media post and the prima facie evidence, the Chief Executive and Racing Control Executive have placed an interim suspension on Trainer Robinson in terms of the provisions of Rule 91.2.

This interim suspension prevents Trainer Robinson from entering or declaring horses under his licence until such time as the Inquiry is finalised.

In the interests of horse welfare, Mr Robinson will be permitted access to horses in his care during the period of interim suspension.

Conditional Graduation to attract more runners.

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David Thiselton

A new type of race called a Conditional Graduation appears on the Hollywoodbets Greyville meeting on Sunday October 25 and the intention is to attract more runners.

Graduation Plates in their pure form advantage good one or two-time winners and give a virtually impossible task to lesser horses. 

Consequently, a lot of these events in the past have had to be scrapped due to a lack of acceptors. 

However, the Conditional Graduation makes it a touch harder for the higher merit rated horses so should attract bigger fields.

In a normal Graduation Plate the one-time winners simply receive weight from the two-time winners and there is an allowance for females and sometimes for young horses.

However, the Conditional Graduation allocates weight to both the two-time winners and one-time winners according to respective nett merit rated bands. There is a female allowance on top of that too.

The race is thus similar to a Pinnacle Stakes event except that there are two weight structures within it, one for the two-time winners and another for the one-time winners.

In the 1800m race on October 25 the two-time winner structure starts at 61kg, which will be carried by horses nett merit rated on a five point spread off the top horse. The top band example given in the program is from nett merit rating 93 to 98. The second top band and downward all have a three point spread. So, two-time winners nett merit rated from 89 to 92, as per the example given, will carry 60kg. Two-time winners nett merit rated from 85 to 88, as per the example given, will carry 59k. Each band from then on downward will also have a three point spread and the weight carried will decrease accordingly by 1kg down to 55kg.

The one-time winner structure starts at 58kg and is allocated to horses nett merit rated on a five point spread that is three points lower than the two-timer winners’ top band. So, as per the example given in the program, it is for horses nett merit rated from 90 to 95. Each band from then on downward will have a three point spread and the weight carried will decrease accordingly by 1kg down to 52kg.

The females will be given an allowance of 1,5kg subject to a minimum weight of 50kg.

The October 25 Conditional Graduation is already closed and there were 32 entries and so far only one scratching. 

Share Holder became a two-time winner on Sunday and will likely have an unchanged merit rating of 99, which as a four-year-old over this trip gives him a nett merit rating of 97. 

He is the top merit rated horse in the race and will have to give up to 9kg away. The lowest gross rated horse in the race is King’s Cove on a 56 merit rating.

Gold Circle will be hoping a full field goes to post so will be monitoring this field closely to see whether the format has worked.   

Campbell has a ‘vunderbar’ day

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Andrew Harrison

Those of you that have been in the game for any length of time will know that in the months after Champions Season, one always has to keep an eye on horses from Richmond-based trainer Doug Campbell.

He is not blessed with the big guns but makes do with what he’s got and he came up trumps with a treble at a hot and windy Hollywoodbets Scottsville yesterday.

The first winner was expected, the other two pleasant surprises, but in this sport a winner is a winner no matter what.

The cleverly named Vunderbar came up trumps in the card opener as Donovan Dillon got the best out of the gelding to beat the well fancied favourite Calvino.

Harper’s Dream was next up for Campbell as his filly out-duelled Nirvana Girl and Late Night Live, Harper’s Dream starting at 29-1 and paying R25 on the tote.

The big exotic bet bomb exploded in the fourth as Vitus Beiring got up under replacement rider Muzi Yeni. As Campbell explained, he was not keen to run the gelding on the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly and with Scottsville in mothballs for its annual spring treatment for the next two months, he had no option but to run from his wide gate.

With no form to recommend him, 66-1 and R75 a win on the tote just about summed up his chances but Yeni was seen at his very best as he got his mount’s nose down when it counted to hold off Lord Of The Manor.

Keagan de Melo on the second placed runner, took a chance and objected against the winner, but it was more in hope.

Anton Marcus was back in lethal form as he booted home a treble.

With the ‘best’ going seemingly up the inside rail, Marcus somehow got his mount over from 16 draw in the second and My Lady put it all together for Ashleigh Fortune and KZN’s leading owner Mario Ferreira.

Yukta’s Dance for Gareth van Zyl and the blinkered Pearl Of Asia completed a satisfying afternoon’s work for Marcus.

To the uninitiated, riding racehorses looks like a fairly innocuous profession but in many cases, it is more dangerous than say F1 motor racing or Moto GP. Although those drivers and riders crash at high speed, F1 cars are so well designed that it takes a major crash for the drivers to be injured. Moto GP sees riders hitting the tarmac and the dirt regularly, mostly without serious consequence as their body armour is super strong.

A jockey has no more than a helmet and a body protector, both mainly to shield them from flying hooves in case of a fall.

Falls are thankfully few and far between, but some like Tristan Godden’s parting company with his mount in the second yesterday, look spectacular. His mount clipped the heels of the horse in front of him, catapulting Godden head-over-heels onto the turf, fortunately landing on his back and not on his head.

Other falls, like the one that ended the career of former champion jockey Anthony Delpech, appeared fairly innocuous. But Delpech landed on his feet and the force of his landing caused career-ending spinal damage.

Thankfully Godden escaped with a bruised arm and limped off the course with a sore knee.

MOD get the nod

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PHUMELELA’s Business Rescue Practitioner, John Evans, has published his long-awaited Business Plan, in which it has been established that MOD (Mary Oppenheimer Daughters), has provisionally acquired the horse racing assets and business from the embattled company following a head-to-head contest with UK Bookmaker, Betfred.

In effect this means that, on approval of the Business Plan by Phumelela’s creditors and regulatory authorities, MOD will take control of Phumelela’s racing assets and establish its vision and own management for the business of racing thereafter.

Approval of the plan, with or without modification, will depend on the outcome of a creditors meeting to be held electronically on the Zoom platform on Tuesday, 1 September 2020 at 11am.

Sands gearing up for Gold Cup day

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David Thiselton

Rainbow Bridge pulled up from the Vodacom Durban July with a slight knee niggle so will be monitored before a decision is made about him defending his Grade 1 Champions Cup crown on Gold Cup day, 29 August.

His Eric Sands-trained stablemates Golden Ducat and Driving Miss Daisy are on track for the Champions Cup and the Grade 2 Gold Bracelet respectively.

Sands said about Rainbow Bridge, “He seems fine and we will check him but I won’t risk anything.”

Sands said he had been a little disappointed with Rainbow Bridge’s sixth place finish in the July.

He elaborated, “He has always run a little below par in his second run after a layoff but he had that respiratory problem upon arriving at Summerveld so had to miss the Drill Hall.”

Sands then admitted, “I outwitted myself a little bit really…”

He explained he had anticipated the chief Snaith trio of Belgarion, Do It Again and Bunker Hunt coming across from their wide draws and believed he would thus be trapped on the rail. Consequently, he had asked the jockeys to move off the rail in the first 400m.

He continued, “The filly (Silvano’s Pride) was out in front but the real pace was just in front of us. However, that pace fell away too soon. My pair were the only two up there who stayed on the others all fell away and finished close to tailed off. So, it just did not pan out well for us. It was no fault of the jockeys though, there was nothing wrong with their efforts.”

The sectional timing data provided by statistician Jay August showed the Sands pair to have gone through the 1800m mark in the lead in a blistering time of 107.46 seconds, which was 1,57 seconds faster than the previous fastest July to that point on the new narrow track and more than four-and-a-half seconds quicker than the 2018 and 2019 Julys. Golden Ducat and Rainbow Bridge thus did extremely well to stay on for a 1,90 length fourth and 2,75 length sixth respectively. 

Rainbow Bridge finished 0,40 lengths behind Do It Again last year when receiving half-a-kilogram and this year was 1,85 lengths behind the latter when giving away half-a-kilogram, which equates to only about a quarter of a kilogram worse performance in comparison to the latter from last year.  

Sands, along with many pundits, was particularly impressed by Golden Ducat’s performance. 

The big Philanthropist gelding had not handled Hollywoodbets Greyville well in his first two SA Champions Season starts and he had consequently been fitted with a new noseband for the July Gallops. That change brought the best out of him so was retained for the July. 

In the big race Golden Ducat raced without cover from the Drill Hall onwards in a handy position behind the strong pace with his half-brother Rainbow Bridge in his slipstream. After being overtaken by the latter at the 200m mark he amazingly fought back and ran all the way to the line, finishing almost as strongly as the first three who had come from way off the pace. 

Golden Ducat’s performance, on paper, had also improved despite the race having not panned out well for him. In his previous start in the Grade 1 Daily News 2000 he had finished 1,55 lengths behind the comfortable winner Got The Greenlight and in the July on the same weight terms he had finished just 1,1 lengths behind the latter despite the latter having been flat to the boards. 

Sands said, “He is on the up.”

He added that having shown speed over 2200m and staying on well he believed the classic 1800m distance of the Champions Cup would suit him.

Driving Miss Daisy has also been in fine form and will be a big runner in the Gold Bracelet over 2000m. She stayed on well in the Grade 1 Woolavington 2000 and looked the winner before Summer Pudding got going to beat her by 0,90 lengths. Then on July day, wearing first-time blinkers in the Grade 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes over 1600m, she ran on strongly from the back of the field for a fine 1,90 length fourth in a star-studded field.

Image of Rainbow Bridge by Candiese Lenferna