Vaal trainer Coenie de Beer said he had looked on the bright side after his beloved R1 million Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint hero Talktothestars had had a rare episode of not eating up the night before Saturday’s big race at Scottsville.
“A lion doesn’t catch a buck on a full stomach,” he had thought to himself.
Coenie De Beer and his Grade 1 winner Talktothestars (Nkosi Hlophe)
And so it proved as the sales outcast gave weight and a thrashing to many regally-bred, expensively purchased horses. He was brilliantly ridden by the peerless Piere Strydom, who was winning the big race for the fifth time. Having him more handy than usual might have been the key, as he often runs on too late. This time he found extra from a handy position and going through the 100m Strydom felt he would still have had enough in the tank to fend off a late challenger.
It was the first Gr 1 win for both De Beer and also for Talktothestars unfashionable sire Overlord.
However, it was yet another Gr 1 accolade for the horse’s breeders Scott Brothers, who also stand Overlord. Scott Brothers had previously won this race with their home-bred Bold West in 1987.
De Beer, who has been training at the Vaal since 1998, is the son of former trainer Dawie de a Beer. He has a mere seven horses in his yard.
He owns Talktothestars outright and has fulfilled the old adage “have horse, will travel” in no uncertain terms.
The four-year-old gelding’s “calm” temperament has made this possible. It was Talktothestars’s third journey to Scottsville and he stayed there overnight before the race. He made the long journey to Cape Town in the summer, where he earned three cheques in five starts at Kenilworth. He has also raced at Flamingo Park in Kimberly on top of his regular runs at his home province courses of The Vaal and Turffontein. In mid-July he will experience another new course, Greyville, as De Beer said he would definitely bring him down for the Gr 1 weight for age Mercury Sprint, where he will attempt to exact revenge on his Computaform Sprint conqueror Carry On Alice. That race will likely decide the Equus Champion Sprinter award.
Talktothestars’ half-sister Star Voyager had caught De Beer’s eye at the Sales a few years back . De Beer said, “She was a good filly with a lot of promise and after that I bought all the progeny until I got this one.” Their dam Tellittothestars by Spaceship won one race over 1600m. Her daughter Star Voyager (Mogok) won five races for De Beer, another daughter Planet Queen (Mogok) won two races for him and Talktothestars’ three-year-old full-sister Lady Starlett has already won two races for the yard.
Talktothestars, with a reserve of R30,000, was a vendor buy back at the National Two-year-old Sale due to a lack of interest. De Beer later bought him cheaply off the farm as part of a package offered by Scott Brothers owner Robin Scott.
He is a big, strong horse and amazingly, as was the case on Saturday, usually runs without shoes. De Beer said, “I don’t mind running him in shoes if he has a problem. I did run him here once with shoes because he had a crack in his hoof (and he won).”
Talktothestars is the highest rated sprinter in the country and has earned R1,529,575.
It is South Africa’s equivalent of the Australian Takeover Target fairytale.
Race fans around the country at last know who Coenie de Beer is as the camera shy man gave a rare TV interview in the winner’s enclosure.
His few humble words said it all, “I tell you he is a great horse. He is a healthy, sound horse and he did it all himself.”
David Thiselton
Picture: Coenie de Beer and Talktothestars (Nkosi Hlophe)
