The National Trainers Championships trophy has found its way back to Gauteng due to the record-breaking stakes earnings that trainer Sean Tarry raked up this past season. The latter’s Highveld colleagues between them also had many moments to savour.

Tarry’s strength lay in his three-year-old crop, seven of whom earned about 50% of his total stakes of R25,924,950.
The filly Tamaanee got the ball rolling by finishing third in the hitherto richest race in South African history, The R3,85 million Emperor’s Palace Ready To Run Stakes. Zambezi River then won the R2 million Lanzerac Ready To Run Stakes, while Trip To Heaven beat older horses to win the R450,000 Stonach Group Gr 2 Merchants. Zambezi River was later a disappointing fifth in the Gr 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas but bounced back with a short-head second in the R1 million CTS Stakes. At the same meeting Tarry’s filly Carry On Alice finished third in the Gr 1 Betting World Cape Flying Championships.

Tarry’s other Cape Summer Of Champions Season highlights were the third and second place finishes of his veteran Gold Onyx in the Gr 1 L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate and Gr 1 J&B Met respectively.

At the end of January Mike de Kock led the national log on R9,919,312.50, Tarry was on R9,717,425.00 and defending champion Justin Snaith was on R8,295,662. However, Tarry’s halcyon Johannesburg Autumn season then put the championship race to bed.

His filly Siren’s Call won the R2,5 million CTS Book 2 Graduates Race and followed up with victories in the Gr 2 R500,000 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas and the Gr 1 R1 million Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic. She narrowly failed to land the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara when caught late in the R1 million Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks.

Tarry’s filly Trophy Wife finished runner up in both the CTS Book 2 Graduates Race and the Gauteng Fillies Guineas and also in the Gr 1 R1 million Laurie Jaffee Empress Club Stakes, a race in which Tamaanee finished third.

Meanwhile, the yard’s gelding French Navy won the Gr 1 R2 million SA Classic and later finished third to his stablemate Legal Eagle in the Gr 1 R2 million SA Derby. At the end of April Tarry was clear with earnings of R20,684,650 to De Kock’s R16,253,262.50 and Snaith’s R11,121,712.50.

Tarry was duly crowned Highveld Champion trainer. He had effectively sealed the National Championship by early June after winning the Gr 1 City Of Pietermaritzburg Sprint with Carry On Alice and the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 with French Navy. All in all the yard won five Gr 1s, four Gr 2s, four Gr 3s, three Listed races and five Non-Black Type features.

De Kock was second on the national log with earnings of R19,616,262. He won eight Gr 1s (including the postponed eLan Property Group Gold Cup which officially fell in this season) two Gr 2s, five Gr 3s, three Listed events and two Non-Black Type features.

Geoff Woodruff was seventh on the national log with earnings of R8,519,538. His Triple Crown hero Louis The King’s won the Gr 1 SANSUI Summer Cup and the yard also won a Gr 2, a Gr 3, four Listed races and a Non-Black Type feature.

Alec Laird finished eleventh on the log on earnings of R7,056,775. His filly Smart Call won the Gr 1 Woolavington 2000, while older horse Bezanova won the Gr 2 Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile and the Non-Black Type KZN Breeders Million Mile, as well as finishing third in the Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge. The yard also had one other Gr 2 win, one other Non-Black Type win and a Listed win.

Mike Azzie finished 13th on the national log with earnings of R6,625,900. At the postponed Super Saturday meeting his exciting pair Rabada and Abashiri finished first and third respectively in the Gr 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes. The yard also had one Listed and one Non-Black Type victory apiece, while their colt Deputy Jud finished third and second respectively in the Gr 1 SA Classic and Gr 1 SA Derby and their filly Frosted Honey finished second in the Gr 2 SA Fillies Nursery.

Dominic Zaki finished 16th on the national log with earnings of R6,259,275. His colt Arabian Beat won the Gr 1 SA Nursery and then overcame a wide draw to finish just 0,15 lengths back in third in the Gr 1 Durban Golden Horseshoe over 1400m. Zaki also had both Gr 1 third and a Gr 1 second with two-year-old filly Prospect Strike. The yard also won a Gr 3, two Listed races and a Non-Black Type feature.

Weiho Marwing, who officially became a KZN trainer during the season, finished 18th on the national log and won the Gr 1 President’s Champions Challenge with Wylie Hall and he also won a Gr 2, a Gr 3, a Listed race and a Non-Black Type feature.

Johan Janse van Vuuren finished nineteenth on the national log and won the Gr 2 Investec Dingaans with Unparalleled. Janse van Vuuren also won a Gr 3 and two Non-Black Type features.

St. John Gray’s gelding Yer-Maan won both the Gr 1 Castle Tankard and the Gr 2 Ok Grand Challenge before failing to become the first horse to land all three of Zimbabwe’s biggest races when finishing third in the Gr 3 Republic Cup.

Stuart Pettigrew and Tyrone Zackey both had one Gr 2 victory apiece. Corné Spies won three Gr 3s, a Listed race and six Non-Black Type features. Louis Goosen won a Gr 3 and two Listed races. Ormond Ferraris and Staneley Ferreira both won a Gr 3 and a Listed race each.

Barend Botes won a Gr 3, Lucky Houdalakis won a Listed race and a Non-Black Type feature, Roy Magner, Leon Erasmus and David Rahilly each won a Listed race apiece and Paul Matchett won a Non-Black Type feature.

By David Thiselton