GET A GRIP ON GEAR … a series on Racing Gear Join us as we check out Racing Gear, it’s role and how it can help a horse find the Winners Box. The ever-popular GARTH PULLER shares his valuable knowledge, starting with the most widely used of all, Sheepskin Noseband. Group 1 victors GIMME A PRINCE and RASCOVA, along with 6 other winners on the 12 race card on ‘Met day’, wore this noseband. We jump right in to find out more! #Hollywoodbets#goldcircle#CapeRacing#galloptv Garth Puller Racing Baker McVeigh 📷Image credits: Candiese Lenferna & Cape Racing / Chase Liebenberg 🎥Graphics and Cinematography: Dyllan Govender & Nkululeko Mbhele

Graeme Hawkins

Peter Muscutt and Richard Fourie teamed up with Jordash to win the opener, a Maiden Juvenile Plate (Fillies) over 1200m. The 2yo daughter of Soqrat found ante-post support during the week but was relatively friendless as race time approached and was allowed to drift to 6/1 in the face of strong demand for Whatastar. Paralegal made the early running ahead of Whatastar but Jordash was stalking the leaders and she moved through smoothly inside the final 200m to win going away.

The second race, a Class 3 Handicap (F&M) over 1200m, looked wide open and it came as no surprise to see a blanket finish with less than a length covering the first five across the line. Miss World (33/10) tried gamely to lead from start to finish but was collared in the final stride by Trip To Maputo (12/1) under a strong hands-and-heels ride by Gareth Wright. Babelicious (7/2) had every chance and took third spot narrowly ahead of Miss Marguerite and Artiste.

Candice Bass-Robinson completed a race-to-race double as Rahhabba (9/10) proved a popular winner of the third race, a Maiden Plate (F&M) over 1200m. The debutante Miss William (33/1) showed good gate speed and disputed the early lead with Rahhabba, but over the final 200m the favourite, with Aldo Domeyer in the saddle, asserted her authority and forged clear to score by more than a length. Miss William stayed on nicely to fill the Exacta position with another newcomer Ruby Rex rounding off the Trifecta.

Domeyer made it two on the bounce as he picked up the ride on Flying Finley (11/10) in the fourth race, a Maiden Plate over 1000m. The sparingly raced 3yo son of Oratorio flew out the gates and was never sighted thereafter by his 11 rivals. Flying Finley had them well and truly strung out at the halfway stage and without being asked a serious question the Graham Hodges owned and bred gelding crossed the line three lengths clear of Heritage Ridge and Poetic Princess.

Beaten favourite in his last five starts, Landoftherisingsun has been frustrating to follow but yesterday Gavin Lerena opted for front-running tactics and under top weight of 61,5kgs the smart-looking son of Danon Platina spreadeagled the opposition in rampant fashion to win the fifth race, an Open Maiden over 1600m, by a very wide margin.

Please Be True, a chance ride for JP van der Merwe in the sixth race, a Class 4 Handicap over 1600m, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, scoring a last-gasp victory over Boogified, who looked all over a winner until the final few metres. Please Be True was switched off towards the rear of the field and he then took some time to find his rhythm once heads were turned for home. But the 3yo son of One World finally hit top gear below the 200m marker and reeled in Boogified much to the relief of his legion of supporters. For Corne Orffer it was his second short-head defeat of the afternoon, having been beaten a similar margin on Miss World earlier. King’s Quest failed to fire and finished a disappointing fifth.

Glen Kotzen saddled the Exacta in the seventh race, a Cape C Stakes over 2200m, as 6yo Chollima (16/1) made light of 64kgs under Ashton Arries to out-point his younger stable companion Bombers In The Sky. This was Chollima’s first visit to the winner’s enclosure in 1005 days and a fourth career victory for the 6yo son of Pathfork. Bombers In The Sky was not disgraced in defeat and the 3yo son of Lancaster Bomber looks a decent stayer in the making.

Hollywood Racing’s Jou Lekker Ding gave Gareth Wright his second winner on the day in the eighth race, a Class 4 Handicap (F&M) over 1400m. Trained by Vaughan Marshall, Jou Lekker Ding (10/1) locked horns with the favourite Sohot Sowhat inside the final 200m and gained the upper hand late to score narrowly. Sohot Sowhat conceded the winner 6,5kgs and was far from disgraced in defeat.

David Thiselton

Candice Bass Robinson has an impressive up-and-coming sprinter on her hands, the four-year-old Tenango, who on Saturday at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth made it three wins from four starts after coming back from a nine-month layoff. 

On Saturday, in a 1200-meter Class 3 handicap, Ian Longmore’s homebred Canford Cliffs gelding jumped from draw nine out of ten starters and sat off the pace early. Aldo Domeyer clearly had a double handful as the horse moved up into midfield during the race, although he was always nicely covered up.

Upon switching Tenango out for a run at the 400m mark the gelding took off and quickly put the field to bed, winning by two lengths under a tight hold.

The time told a story, too. It was just short of a second quicker than the previous race over the same course and distance won by Golden Destiny. 

Bass Robinson was asked whether Tenango would travel to KZN for the Gr 1 Golden Horse Sprint.

She said she was not sure at this stage, one of the reasons being she doubted his merit rating would be high enough for him to qualify.

He won off a 98 on Saturday and even with an expected few points raise it would not be high enough for him to be a definite inclusion in the Golden Horse field.

Last year the lowest merit rating to qualify for the big 1200m sprint at Hollywoodbets Scottsville was 104, so he will is a border line horse at present as his merit rating looks likely to go up six points to that same mark.

However, Bass-Robinson said she was thinking of running him in the Gr 2 Khaya Stables Diadem Stakes, which is run over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on February 22.

If he runs well there he should book his place in the Golden Horse as his merit rating will likely get a sizeable hike if he finishes close up to the like of the 134 merit rated Gimme A Prince.

The risk is getting too high a merit rating.

Aldo Domeyer, who rode a treble on Saturday, said after Tenango’s win, “He has always shown us he is going to be a smart horse and I think the step up to the 1200m was right up his alley. I loved it that he switched off whenever I needed him to. The pace was fair but it did not really matter because whatever I asked him to do he did quite professionally. I think he is a decent little sprinter and he keeps on improving. We’re not sure how much more he will improve, but I think there is a feature race there, the way he turns it on and the length of time that he turns it on for is quite impressive. It’s nice we could build him up like we have up until now, but I think it’s time we pointed him in that direction now (features) as there is no reason we shouldn’t.”

Tenango’s nine month break was for a wind operation, which has clearly been a success.

Domeyer said with him being more mature and more relaxed his breathing now sounded as clear as a whistle.

Domeyer concluded by saying he did not think he had asked Tenango for top gear in the race, which augurs well for feature races to come.

Bass-Robinson said Tenango used to be quite an uptight horse before the breathing operation, but said his temperament had changed since the operation and he was now a “gentleman”.

Bass-Robinson’s other good four-year-old sprinter, Future Variety, might be taken to Johannesburg for the Gr 1 Jonsson Workwear Computaform Sprint over 1000m at Turffontein on March 29. The Golden Horse might be on the cards for him too.

She said Rainbow Lorikeet would be one defeiite KZN campaigner, with the Gr 1 Woolavington 2000 being her chief target.

Scarlet Macaw, the Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas runner up, was also a possibility for KZN.

However, Candice admitted the three-year-old fillies looked a bit below par this season with the exception of her own Roccapina, whom had stepped up to 1600m for the Gr 1 Maine Chance Farms Majorca Stakes and run a fine third, having run a fine close up second in the Gr 2 Cartier Sceptre Stakes over 1200m before that.

Candice said Roccapina (One World) would not get more than a mile.

She is not sure yet whether Roccapina will be going to KZN yet for the Champions Season.

Her obvious targets if she did go would be the Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint and the Gr 1 Ridgemont Garden Province Stakes.   

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David Thiselton

Luke Ferraris looks to have made the breakthrough in Hong Kong that is so difficult to achieve and there have been two other good items of South African news on the island over the weekend with Brett Crawford being issued a trainer’s licence last Friday morning and Lyle Hewitson riding a double at Sha Tin yesterday (Sunday).

Ferraris has ridden the feature winner for the last three Hong Kong meetings.

At the Chinese New Year meeting on January 31 at Sha Tin he joined his father—who saddled 461 winners in Hong Kong—on the Hong Kong Classic Mile honour board with a perfectly judged ride on the Mark Newnham-trained My Wish to fend off the Francis Lui-trained pair of Divano and Packing Hermod.

Jumping away cleanly from barrier 8, Ferraris settled the gelding in fourth place, one off the fence and, approaching the home turn, angled into clear running before staving off a charging Divano.

David Ferraris won this race back in 2012 with Sweet Orange ridden by Weichong Marwing and Luke was watching on the sidelines.

He recalled, “I remember it like it was yesterday. Weichong was three-deep without cover the whole way, loomed up on the bend, and fought off Fay Fay at the furlong.”

“There were a few flashbacks which entered my mind today when he (My Wish) had to get game at the furlong and he did. He is 990 pounds of pure heart and he hasn’t been the easiest customer, so big credit to Mark and his team. It really shows the calibre of trainer he is. He improved with each and every run and it’s good to get one on the board.”

With his fourth win from eight starts, My Wish gave Ferraris and Newnham their most important success in Hong Kong and the first leg of the 4-Year-Old Classic Series, which continues with the Hong Kong Classic Cup March 2 and the Hong Kong Derby March 23.

On the same day Ferraris rode an important victory from a SA perspective on the Drakenstein-bred Western Winter gelding Mid Winter Wind on the latter’s Hong Kong debut, as it proved the impact direct travel would have on the form of exported horses.

It was a continuation of good form for Ferraris as he had now climbed to fourth spot on the Jockeys log.

Then at Happy Valley last Wednesday, Ferraris combined with trainer Ricky Yiu to land the midweek feature, the HK$3.12 million Class 2 Tsun Yip Handicap over 1650m, aboard Mr Ascendency, with a perfectly-timed ride.

Sitting second last on the rails throughout, Ferraris angled Mr Ascendency (122lb) into the clear approaching the 300m before taking a narrow gap between leader and eventual runner-up Telecom Fighters (119lb) and Helene Feeling (133lb), who finished third, to win comfortably.

Built on similar lines to My Wish, Mr Ascendency concedes weight and stature to his rivals, but compensates with determination.

“He (Mr Ascendency) is a lovely horse, this little fellow. He’s got plenty of heart. He’s another one who lacks size, but makes up for it in heart,” said Ferraris, who celebrated post-race with his father David. 

“I had a dream run throughout and the splits came when I needed them to and he hit them really hard. He’s a game little horse. Credit to Ricky and his team, he’s backed up over a short period and he’s never felt better and he’s won a good race.”

Then on Sunday it was Ferraris to the fore again in the day’s feature with success aboard veteran sprinter Lucky With You in the HK$3.72 million Class 1 TVB Cup Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday (9 February), leaving the young South African jockey with three feature victories in 10 days.

Ferraris, 23, produced a copybook ride on Frankie Lor’s seven-year-old, who had been competing at Group 1 level against champion sprinter Ka Ying Rising and clearly appreciated the drop in grade.

Sitting fourth on the rails throughout, Ferraris drove dual Group 1 runner-up Lucky With You (129lb) between Harmony N Blessed and Magic Control inside the final 100m before powering clear of Gorgeous Win (123lb) and Magic Control (127lb) in 1m 08.47s.

Having his first ride on the Artie Schiller gelding, Ferraris was elated after extending a remarkable run of form.

“He (Lucky With You) is a lovely, game horse. He’s a real soldier. He does have a bit of a short sprint so the way the race panned out was ideal. We got behind a nice horse, Magic Control, and he pulled us through to the 250m and when he had done his job, Harmony N Blessed started to fall away,” Ferraris said.

“It worked out really nicely and he hit the gap really strongly and powered away to the line, so thanks to Frankie and his team. Hopefully we can keep rolling. The support has been fantastic and I’ll be looking to keep that going and if it does, hopefully I can keep capitalising on the decent rides.”

Ferraris’ 27^th win of the season took him to joint third on the log together with local hero Vincent Ho, who was booked off after a nasty fall yesterday and will miss at least one meeting.

Hewitson won the first two races at yesterday’s meeting for Benno Yung and Francis Lui respectively and it put him on 13 wins for the season and 12^th place on the log.

Crawford said being issued a Hong Kong Trainers licence was “the opportunity of a lifetime” and he will start training in the island for the 2025/2026 season. 

He said, “This opportunity has come at a fantastic time for me because my son and I did a joint training partnership in December, and he’s now well established in South Africa.”

“James will take over the stable on the first of June and it’s a nice pool to look at now with the export protocol being the way it is and obviously we’ll be looking hard to bring some nice young horses to Hong Kong.”