David Thiselton

The legacy of the champion broodmare Mystic Spring gained a new milestone when the Justin Snaith-trained three-year-old colt Eight On Eighteen became the first of her descendants to win Cape Town’s biggest race, the WSB Met.

It is significant that Eight On Eighteen is still an entire, because his late sire Lancaster Bomber has proven to be very influential and he was responsible for two Gr 1 winners on the day, which meant the son of War Front has now had four individual Gr 1 winners from just two crops to race.

Earlier, the Glen Kotzen-trained Lancaster Bomber filly Rascova had won the Gr 1 Maine Chance Farms Majorca Stakes , pipping her arch rival Double Grand Slam.  

Fittingly, Rascova was bred by Vaughan Koster’s Cheveley Stud, which was where Mystic Spring stood.

Eight On Eighteen was bred by Gaynor Rupert’s Drakenstein Stud, which was where Lancaster Bomber stood, and that meant Drakenstein have bred the winner of the Met for the second time in the last three years, having also bred the 2023 winner Jet Dark (Trippi).

Gaynor’s husband Johann is in fact a part-owner of Eight On Eighteen, who runs in the colours of prolific owner Nick Jonsson.

It was the third successive year the Met winner had run in the Jonsson colours and it has been achieved with three different horses, Jet Dark, Double Superlative (Twice Over) and Eight On Eighteen. That is likely a record and one that will take some equalling.

Justin Snaith trained all of Jet Dark, Double Superlative and Eight On Eighteen and it was Justin’s fourth Met win overall. 

One remarkable feat is that there have only been five-three-year-old winners of the Met since the war, Feltos (1945), Horse Chestnut (1999), Badger’s Coast (2000), Oh Susanna (2018) and Eight On Eighteen, and they have only three trainers between them as Mike De Kock trained both Horse Chestnut and Badger’s Coast, while Justin Snaith is the trainer of Oh Susanna and Eight On Eighteen. Oh Susanna was the first three-year-old filly to win the Met for over a hundred years. 

All of Snaith’s three male Met winners will likely stand at stud.

Jet Dark is already standing at Drakenstein, Double Superlative was earmarked for stud and Eight On Eighteen will be one of two valuable successors to Lancaster Bomber, the other being the Snaith-trained Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas winner Snow Pilot.

It was not surprising Eight Of Eighteen ended up in the yard of Justin Snaith as he is out of the unraced Captain Al mare Sempre Libre, who is out of Mystic Sprint, which makes her a half-sister to the champion Snaith-trained three-times Gr 1-winning filly Bela-Bela and also to champion three-year-old colt Rabiya.

The family is rich in black type performers, although most of them are females and Eight On Eighteen will likely become the first stallion descendant of the legendary mare.

Mystic Spring was a full sister to the first British Classic winner Michael Roberts rode, the 1991 2000 Guineas winner Mystiko, and it was Roberts advising Karen Newsome of Springfield Racing that the latter had been a good fast ground horse that was partly behind the decision to send Mystic Spring to SA.

Roberts also had a Jonsson-owned runner in Saturday’s Met, See It Again (Twice Over), who finished fourth for the second year in succession.

Jonsson has not only owned the last three Met winners, but his runners finished first, third and fourth last year and first and fourth this year.

The connections might rue removing the blinkers from See It Again as he bounced back to his best, having been reunited with Piere Strydom, but appeared to hit a flat spot halfway down the straight which might have proved crucial in the end.

He had been following Eight On Eighteen and at the end was angled outward for a clear run and produced a late charge for the line but was 1,10 lengths shy.

Fourie produced a finely judged ride.

Finding cover in midfield from draw nine, he steadily made up ground on the pacemaker Oriental Charm, who was angled on to the outside fence and the handy Montien, who was briefly overtaken by the filly Red Palace before fighting back.

Fourie went inside of the latter embattled pair and won by half-a-length from Oriental Charm, who stayed on gallantly. Montien was a 0,90 length third.

Eight On Eighteen was never earmarked for the Met, but it became a good option after One Stripe had won the L’Ormarins King’s Plate, because Eight On Eighteen was beaten only 1,25 lengths in the latter race.

However, Eight On Eighteen is unlikely to be given a merit rating as high as One Stripe’s 132 (which makes the latter  the official best horse in the country at present).

The Met field finished in a heap on Saturday, which usually makes the handicapper reluctant to rate the race too highly.

Two obvious line horses are Oriental Charm, who was the Hollywoodbets Durban July winner, and Rascallion, who was the Met runner up last year and came into this year’s race off a win in the Gr 2 Anthonij Rupert Wyne Premier Trophy over 1800m.

With Oriental Charm as line horse Eight On Eighteen will get 126 or 127 and with Rascallion he will get 124 or 125.

That is not to say Eight On Eighteen won’t get better.

It was only his seventh career start and he looks to have plenty of scope for further improvement.

Graeme Hawkins

It’s seldom that a Grade 1 Weight-for-Age race over 2000m produces a finish in which only two lengths separate the first eight horses past the post, but such was the case in Saturday’s 163^rd running of the R5-million World Sports Betting Cape Town Met at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth. Predictably, the resolute galloper Oriental Charm attempted to make all the running from his advantageous barrier position and, though drifting to the outside in the home straight, last season’s Hollywoodbets Durban July winner was still going strong as the field approached the final 200m.

Montien and Red Palace were sticking gamely to their task from handy positions on the far side of the track but by now Richard Fourie was unwinding a strong run on Eight on Eighteen from the back half of the field and the 3yo son of Lancaster Bomber had the crowd on their feet as he stormed through late to grab the honours by half-a-length. Eight On Eighteen completed a “Met” hattrick for trainer Justin Snaith and owner Nick Jonsson, having scored with Jet Dark and Double Superlative in the previous two years. Jonsson races Eight On Eighteen in partnership with Johan Rupert who was sadly not on course to witness Eight On Eighteen’s spectacular performance.

Eight On Eighteen was bred at Gaynor Rupert’s record-breaking Drakenstein Stud and is a graduate of the 2023 National Yearling Sale. Eight On Eighteen’s victory on Saturday boosted his earnings to more than R3,8-million from only seven starts and, surely, he need only pitch up for the Splashout Cape Derby on 22 February to further boost his burgeoning career. Should the connections decide to go the “Derby” route, Eight On Eighteen is likely to start the shortest priced favourite in Cape Derby history.

Spare a thought for Oriental Charm! He was superb in defeat and trainer Brett Crawford reflected afterwards that his charge might have found extra if not running in splendid isolation on the stand’s side of the course. Montien looked magnificent in the preliminaries and ran accordingly, holding onto third spot ahead of a low flying See It Again who came from near last with an explosive finishing burst. Rascallion ran his usual honest race to finish a close fifth, taking home a minor share of the prize money.

As if we ever needed convincing of Lancaster Bomber’s sad loss to the breeding industry, then the results of two of the Grade 1 races on Saturday were a stark reminder. Apart from Eight On Eighteen’s glorious “Met” victory, Lancaster Bomber’s 4yo daughter Rascova showed tremendous grit to land the R1-million 1600m Maine Chance Farms Majorca Stakes (Gr1) following a nip-and-tuck struggle with Double Grand Slam over the final 100m. The pair were inseparable as they flashed across the line, but the photo showed that Rascova had prevailed by the proverbial whisker to give Eugene and Sandy Arundel their first taste of Grade 1 success. Rascova was bred by Vaughan Koster at his Cheveley Stud in Ceres.

Amazingly the same margin separated Rascova and Double Grand Slam when finishing 2^nd and 3^rd behind Princess Calla in last year’s Majorca Stakes and the rivalry between these two classic fillies has been a feature of their respective careers. Roccapina stayed on nicely in her first foray beyond 1200m to finish a creditable third but Fillies Guineas winner, Fatal Flaw, proved a huge disappointment.

Without wishing to take anything away from Eight On Eighteen’s moment in the sun, the performance of the day was undoubtedly Gimme A Prince’s mind-blowing runaway victory in the R1,5-million HKJC World Pool Cape Flying Championship (Gr 1) over 1000m. Just three weeks after running third in the 1600m L’Ormarins King’s Plate, Gimme A Prince reverted to the minimum trip for the first time since winning this race in 2023 and blew the opposition away to score by nearly six lengths. Dean Kannemeyer has often ventured the opinion that Gimme A Prince is amongst the best he has ever trained but that continuous struggles with unsoundness have prevented the 6yo son of Gimmethegreenlight from reaching his full potential. He now has three Grade 1 victories to his credit from only 16 starts with the obvious potential of more to follow if Kannemeyer can continue to successfully manage his soundness issues.

While riding honours were evenly spread across the 12-race programme, Champion Trainer Justin Snaith dominated with six winners and many placings throughout the day. Incredibly Snaith’s six winners were partnered by six different jockeys, but Fourie will be delighted that he was aboard the most significant of these.

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All systems go on 1 January 2025

Horseracing in KwaZulu-Natal took the next step to the dawn of a new era with the publication on Thursday of a revitalized racing programme and the news of the introduction of incentives and stakes adjustments that will align the province with the status quo in the Cape.

The introduction of the new-look programme and policies on the East Coast comes into play as a result of the proposed acquisition of Gold Circle by the Hollywood Sportsbook Holdings group, which now hinges on the required approval of the KZN Economic Regulatory Authority (KZNERA).

Whilst the outstanding approval of the KZNERA is critical to the transaction, and will be the final step in transferring ownership, Hollywoodbets and its appointed Chairman Designate of Gold Circle, Greg Bortz are in management and strategic decisions during the interim period, with Hollywoodbets investing funds at its own risk to ensure the continuity of horse racing in KZN, and the survival of Gold Circle.

Programme and related reading matter, click here.

Subject to the fulfillment of other outstanding conditions precedent, the deal effectively unlocks a R500 million rescue injection from Hollywoodbets, and a takeover of the sport in the holiday province, which is set to include track upgrades and other infrastructural and operational initiatives.

The new KZN programme covers the period 1 January to 28 February 2025 and introduces the stakes-boosted class racing structure to the province, while unveiling financial incentives via the RaceCoast incentive scheme with the ultimate aim of improving racehorse ownership in KZN and achieving enhanced field sizes with the knock-on vital lifeblood of increased betting turnovers.

Down South, the RaceCape incentive programme has proven a winner and has underscored the unprecedented turnaround in Cape horseracing by providing further opportunities for the local racing community and increased employment prospects for grooms and work riders, as well as raising the bar for all related and ancillary horse racing services.

“We are very excited about future plans for KZN racing,” Cape Racing Executive: Racing & Bloodstock Justin Vermaak told the Sporting Post on Thursday, as he outlined broad plans to revolutionise the appeal of the sport across the board for all stakeholders in KZN.

“We need to provide owners and trainers with an even and attractive playing field that makes them want to race. Stakes and rewards need to be meaningful. That ultimately leads to better field sizes, more exciting racing and improved betting turnovers. Punters are key to the success of the process. We are implementing a first world reform in terms of transparency when it comes to information. Items like horse weights, for example, will be published. They are, after all, a form assessment tool. Horses working at our training centres and tracks will all have easily identifiable bar-coded saddle-cloths. So, there are no secrets. If Oriental Charm or One Stripe is on track, the public will share in it,” added Vermaak, who confirmed that barrier draws after acceptance was another operational change which would be implemented on 1 January 2025.

Veteran KZN trainer Garth Puller, who attended a recent stakeholder’s meeting at Summerveld hosted by Greg Bortz, Justin Vermaak, Gold Circle and Hollywoodbets officials, enthused that he was thrilled by the news of the takeover by business-minded racing people who were brave and bold enough to step in and turn the ship around.

“This has come very late for me at my age, but it’s a lifechanger and the future is brighter than it was yesterday,” reflected a delighted Puller as he told the Sporting Post that the adjusted stakes and ‘very welcome’ incentives would boost cash-flows,  while also making it so much easier to help him and his colleagues market the basic ownership product.

“And we are getting draws after acceptances. Wonderful! I was calling for that 25 years ago at Hollywoodbets Durbanville. Bigger fields mean a faster pace, means better form, means better truer results. It’s an ecosystem of positivity. It all feeds on itself,” added the horseman who is never scared to pass an opinion.

Puller said the repair of the Polytrack at Hollywoodbets Greyville was ‘definitely quite overdue and welcome news’.

“That’s our stage. The track must be safe for horse and rider, be true and competitive, and have credibility with all role-players. That’s not a negotiable.”

On the ‘abolition’ of the committee structure to facilitate decision making and policy, Puller said that he was so pleased to hear that all reasonable suggestions will be considered by management.

“Wonderful! So there are no more long-winded committees to hide behind and to dither over. How refreshing.  I believe every stakeholder in this sport in KZN needs to doff a cap to Hollywoodbets and Mr Bortz. This investment and takeover is a brave move. But we know that with the passion for horse racing of the local population in this province, we can make it work. And by putting the structures in place they are making sure we have no excuses. Let’s look forward and get on with rebuilding KZN racing. I am absolutely thrilled. This is good news,” he concluded.

Johannesburg, 15 October 2024 – 4Racing in conjunction with the Handicappers have published the first log for the 2024 R6 million Gr1 Betway Summer Cup to be run at Turffontein on Saturday 30 November.

Second entries close at 11am on Tuesday 05 November, and final entries at 9am on Monday, 18 November 2024, after which weights will be announced. Declarations must be in by 11am on Wednesday, 20 November 2024 and barrier draws will be conducted at a Betway event on 20 November 2024. The final log will be published on Tuesday 05 November 2024.