DATE: Sunday, 28 June 2015
AGE/ CONDITION: 3 / 4 year olds – Conditions Race over 1600m
ENTRIES: 11:00am Friday, 12 June 2015 – Fee: R 2280
SUPP ENTRIES: 11:00am Friday, 19 June 2015 – Fee R 9120
WEIGHTS: Friday, 12 June 2015
For KwaZulu – Natal bred 3 year olds and older, registered as KwaZulu Natal bred in terms of the Gold Circle Racing and Gaming Group Thoroughbred Breeder, Stallion and Owner Premium scheme. The final decision as to eligibility will rest with the Company.
Weight: 3 year olds, 4 year olds and Older
Three time winners or less: 52,5kg 54,0kg
Thereafter 2kg penalty for each additional win up to a maximum of 60,0kg for Colts & Geldings and 57,5kg or Fillies & Mares.
Additional penalties:
Further penalties to accrue as follows for races won 18 months prior to the date of the issuing of weights for this race.
Winner of a Grade 1 – 3,0kg
Winner of a Grade 2 – 2,0kg
Winner of a Grade 3 – 1,0 kg
Winner of a Listed – 0,5kg
Winner of Graded races restricted to 2 year olds will not incur a penalty.
Additional penalties will not be cumulative for Graded race wins.
Multiple Graded race winners will be penalized for their highest Graded race win only.
Sex Allowance: 2,5kg for Fillies and Mares
DECLARATIONS: 11:00am Monday, 22 June 2015 – Fee R 9120
2014 KZB Breeders Million Mile (Non Black Type)
Horse: No Worries
Jockey: Keagan De Melo
Trainer: G H Van Zyl
Owner: Mr B D Burnard
Breeder: Summerhill Stud (Pty) Ltd
ABOUT: The KZN Breeders Million Mile
The KZN Breeders Million Mile, to be run at Clairwood on Sunday, June 29, is the first stage of an exciting new programme of R1-million races initiated by the KZN Breeders Club which will give graduates from this year’s Suncoast KZN Yearling Sales the opportunity to compete in three R1-million races over the next three years and the possibility of picking up a R1-million bonus at the end.
Graduates from this sale staged in the week leading up to the Vodacom Durban July, will be eligible for the new R1-million race for juveniles over 1 300m at Greyville on Vodacom Durban July Day next year and for the KZN Breeders Million Mile for the two years after that as three and then four-year-olds. Any horse that can win all three races will pocket a R1-million bonus.
The KZN Breeders Million Mile this year, which is confined to three and four-year-olds bred in KwaZulu-Natal, has drawn a strong entry of KwaZulu-Natal-bred colts, geldings and fillies and a strong field is likely to battle it out for the lion’s share of the R1-million stake.
Runners like Black Wing, The Mouseketeer, Checcetti, Coffee Sheik, Silver Age and Wishful Eye are among the 23 entries and represent some of the leading breeding establishments in the province.
With the R1-million programme in place this race is likely to grow in stature as one of the top mile races in the country.
ROLL OF HONOUR
2014
The KZN Breeders Race Day at Clairwood on Sunday was a resounding success and with favourites featuring strongly almost throughout the day the good crowd at the southern Durban venue had a very profitable outing.
The four-year-old Kahal gelding No Worries bounced back to his best with a scintillating win in the R1-million KZN Breeders Million Mile, tracking pacemaker Distinguished from the beginning then finishing strongly to take the lead in the home straight and win very easily. Distinguished ran another great race to take second place giving the Gavin van Zyl runner 6kg with favourite Bezanova looking very ordinary in the finish and just managing to hold on to third place ahead of the Sean Tarry-trained Silva Hawk.
Summerhill Stud were the breeders of No Worries with Distinguished also bred on the Mooi River farm in partnership with Mr G A R Sturlese. Bezanova was bred at the Clifton Stud with Silva Hawk another product of the Summerhill establishment.
The result of the KZN Breeders Million Mile has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the possible result of next Saturday’s R3.5-million, Grade 1 Vodacom Durban July and the quality of the three-year-olds that top the betting boards.
The 15-horse field for the race included the three-year-old Bezrin gelding Bezanova from the Alec Laird stable and on handicap he looked a certainty carrying 52.5kg off a merit rating of 105, particularly as he had finished just 1.65 lengths behind the big race favourite Legislate at level weights in the Grade 1 Daily News 2000.
But in the Clairwood race on Sunday he battled to hold onto third place as No Worries and Distinguished drew clear in the home straight to fight out the finish with the Gavin van Zyl-trained No Worries winning comfortably.
The question that immediately sprung to mind was are the three-year-olds this season overrated and are the likes of Legislate, Louis The King and Rake’s Chestnut really worthy of the praise that has been heaped upon them or, was Bezanova not himself on Sunday and should the run be ignored?
Only Saturday will tell when they line up for the country’s premier event but when the Clairwood result is related to the comments of Mike de Kock who said earlier in the week that he was not concerned about the young horses that had not won in handicap races, a different picture emerges on their chances in the 2 200m race.
Bezanova was drawn beautifully at gate two and had Glen Hatt in the irons. On merit ratings he was the best handicapped horse in the race and settled in third place behind Distinguished and No Worries at a fairly good pace. Under those conditions Bezanova would have been expected to turn it on in the finish and win as he liked but he failed to quicken and the older horses made him look very ordinary.
The fact that he had also finished three lengths second to Legislate in the KRA Guineas after being cut into on his right hand in racing would indicate that he is not that far off the best three-year-olds in the country and his disappointing performance does raise questions about the strength of the three-year-old crop.
2013
Staged just a week before the Vodacom Durban July, the meeting was moved to Clairwood to preserve the Greyville track after inclement weather during the week but the enthusiasm and support for the meeting was far from dampened.
The field for the KZN Breeders Million Mile included some top performers like Grade 1 SA Classic winner Love Struck and KRA Fillies Guineas winner Festival Of Fire. The action was on from the start where Distinguished was quickly into stride and set the fractions ahead of Love Struck and King Neptune with eventual winner Gitiano settled well back in the field.
Distinguished maintained the lead into the home straight but was soon challenged by King Neptune while Stuart Randolph moved Gitiano into contention and sent the son of Mullins Bay for the line. The Alec Laird-trained runner was driven into the lead and held off a strong challenge in the closing stages from Corridor who took second place ahead of Coy Boy.
Bred by Valjub CC and owned by Mr E and Mrs G Baisero, Gitiano is by the Summerhill-based Machiavellian stallion Mullins Bay out of the Jet Master Mare Poppy Elizabeth and had previously run third to Love Struck in the SA Classic and fourth in the KRA Guineas.
The programme, which for the first time was restricted to KZN-bred horses, included seven other races each carrying stakes of R200 000.
2012
The doyen of South African racing, trainer Ormond Ferraris, won the inaugural running of the R1-million, KZN Breeders Million Mile at Greyville on Sunday and, together with trainer son David as joint owners, lifted the R625 000 prize.
The Gauteng trainer sent one horse down for the meeting, the four-year-old Muhtafal gelding Knock On Wood, that under a superb ride by Bernard Fayd’herbe shot clear of the field in the closing stages to win the race comfortably from favourite Black Wing, last year’s winner of the race The Mousketeer and Checcetti.
Knock On Wood, who is out of the Rocky Marriage mare Miss Me Kate, was bred by the doyen of KwaZulu-Natal breeders, George Rowles.
The gelding had a history of bad starts but Fayd’Herbe got him away well enough to have him well placed in the 16-horse field as The Mouseketeer made the running from Miss Zummerudd and Shahruhk, positioning him ready to pounce when they came off the false rail in the home straight.
The Mouseketeer was staying on strongly as Black Wing found traffic problems in the bunched field but Fayd’Herbe got Knock On Wood through and he quickly overhauled the leaders to win very comfortably.
As trainer and part owner, Ferraris could not make the trip to Durban but was represented by Sharon Strydom to lift the Des and Robin Scott Floating Trophy from the chairman of the KZN Breeders Club Koos De Klerk.
The Scott brothers, among the leading breeders in KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa for decades, donated the trophy for the new race. Robin Scott said he and brother Des could not be more delighted that the winner was bred by Mr Rowles who was “the oldest friend I have in racing.”
He praised Mr De Klerk and his fellow directors in the KZN Breeding Club for the way the Club was being run and complimented him on the initiatives and racing programme they had planned together with Gold Circle.
