Bass’ is known for his ability to bring continual improvement out of his horses, but his Paddock Stakes record proves that he can bring the best out of young horses too if they are ready as three of his Paddock Stakes victories have been with three-year-olds.

He had previously won it with the three-year-old Perfect Order in 1992, the four-year-old Dollar Fortune in 1996 and the three-year-old Crimson Palace in 2002.

Saturday’s was a 57^th career Gr 1 victory for Bass and a first for Van Niekerk, although the latter did land himself a one week suspension for causing interference at about the 1100m mark.

The Paddock Stakes is regarded as one of the most sort after races to win in South Africa as it adds tremendous broodmare value, so owner Gaynor Rupert of Drakenstein Stud was understandably thrilled with Inara’s win as well as with Jet Belle’s third place finish.

Inara went off at very generous odds of 20/1, considering she had finished only 2,5 lengths behind the mighty Majmu in the Gr 1 Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas and was always going to relish the extra 200m.

It looked at one stage as if she might be unlucky, as she was squeezed out a bit when the field moved towards the outside rail, but Van Niekerk’s split second decision to switch inward and go all out for a gap way inside of where he was proved to be a winning move.

Bass said Inara would now likely go for the Gr 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes over 1600m on J&B Met day, where she is drawn very well in three, as opposed to her wide on Saturday.

Bass will have a strong hand in that race as he has also entered two other classy Trippi fillies, Hammie’s Hooker and Lanner Falcon, as well as the Western Winter filly Supreme Sunset.

Hammie’s Hooker started as the 5/1 joint second favourite in the Paddock Stakes on Saturday but faded out to finish a 5,95 length ninth. Bass said that she had to do too much down the back straight to gain the handy position she turned for home in, and it would have been asking for “the impossible” for her to have still gone on and won. She has come out of the race fine and is on track for the Majorca, which will also be a more suitable trip for her and where she has drawn well in eight out of the 22 entries.

Lanner Falcon, who looks to be a sprint-miler, is entered in Saturday’s Gr 2 weight for age Sceptre Stakes which has attracted a strong field, albeit of only seven runners.

Supreme Sunset beat the like of Athina and Majmu in Johannesburg when winning the Gr 3 Jo’burg Spring Fillies and Mares Challenge over 1450m, although it has to be said that Majmu was unlucky in that race.

However, she proved her class last time out over 1400m at Kenlworth when finishing just a length behind red Flame and beating Arcetri Pink, although she did receive weight from both of them. She is drawn eleven in the Majorca.

The yard’s Jet Master gelding Helderberg Blue was a touch disappointing on Saturday when finishing fourth in the Gr 2 Peninsula Handicap over 1800m after being heavily backed, but Bass and Van Niekerk felt that he could have finished second had the pacemaker not fallen away leaving him at the front at the 500m mark. He is still on track for the J&B Met and Bass feels that he has more to come.

Bass’s other victory on Saturday was courtesy of yet another progeny of Trippi, the three-year-old gelding Equity Kicker, who won a competitive Pinnacle Stakes event over 1200m. He beating his luckless stablemate Castlethorpe, from whom he recieved 7,5kg, by 0,2 lengths.

Equity Kicker will run next in the R1 million Cape Thoroughbred Sales Stakes over 1200m on January 24. All three of this horse’s wins have been over 1000m, but Bass said that he had proven better with hold up tactics and his narrow loss over 1200m happened before those tactics had been employed.

Meanwhile, Bass said that Castlethorpe’s part-owner Robert Bloomberg was considering supplementing this tough Australian-bred seven-year-old gelding for the Gr 1 Betting World Cape Flying Championships over 1000m, also on January 24. He would do so in the hopes that there would be a strong headwind on the day, as there was on Saturday, as this horse is better suited to further.

Bass’s Jet Master gelding Mountain Master ran a cracker in the Gr 3 London News Stakes over 1800m at Turffontein on Saturday, when coming from last to finish a 2,75 length fourth to the Sansui Summer Cup runner up Killua Castle, despite only receiving 1,5kg. However, he said this horse would now come home to Cape Town as he is entered in the Gr 2 J&B Jet Stayers over 2800m on J&B Met day

Kotzen did have one winner on Saturday, the three-year-old first-timer Cathy Specific who is owned by his son Kuyan and bred by his mother-in-law Judy Wintle, and this promising filly has a nice story behind her naming.

Jet Belle was forced to ease down the back straight when the eventual winner Inara dropped in on her.  Then in the main straight she was stopped

in her tracks for a number of strides before being able to switch inwards as the field moved across towards the outside rail causing herself, Inara and Jet Supreme to be squeezed out.

The Mike Bass-trained three-year-old Inara looked to be a deserved winner, as she didn’t have a clear passage either. However, jockey Grant van Niekerk was given a one week suspension for the official reason that his mount “shifted ground approaching the 1100m mark” when “insufficiently clear”, forcing Jet Belle “to ease off the heels of Inara”.

Van Niekerk rode a fine race after that, landing his first Gr 1 victory, and his snap decision to switch Inara way inward after being squeezed out proved to be a winning move.

Speaking generally, there are those who feel that causing interference in Gr 1s  should be awarded with more severe penalties than they currently are as the penalty doesn’t match either the reward for winning or the cost of losing. Furthermore, there are also very few opportunities for owners to have runners in these races, although in this case Drakenstein Stud owned both Inara and Jet Belle.

There is also the aspect of danger, with an example being when Jet Explorer was brought down in the Rising Sun Gold Challenge. In jurisdictions – like Hong Kong, Japan and others – penalties tend to be a lot harsher. However, a Kenilworth stipendiary steward commented yesterday on Van Niekerk’s one week suspension and said that after a close review of the incident it was felt that the amount of interference caused did not warrant a ten day suspension and they felt that one week was appropriate.

Jet Belle, a five-year-old Jet Master mare, has now finished third in a Gr 1 on three occasions. Her odds of 14/1 in the weight for age event on Saturday were very generous considering she had beaten the 3/1 favourite Jet Aglow when winning the weight for age Gr 2 Gold Bracelet over 2000m at Greyville at the end of last season. She could also be forgiven for her Sansui Summer Cup run, where she hit the front way to early, and she then ran an eyecatching preparation three weeks before the Paddock Stakes over 1500m.

Kotzen said she had come out of Saturday’s race well and was likely to go for the Majorca next as she had drawn well in six out of the 22 entries.

Double Whammy, who was just 0,4 lengths behind Inara when finishing third in the Gr 1 Avontuur Estate Fillies Guineas, is also entered in the Majorca. She has drawn wide in 14 but stable jockey Greg Cheyne will face a tough choice. Kotzen regards Double Whammy, a daughter of Judpot, as a sprint miler and has her engaged in the Gr 2 Sceptre Stakes over 1200m at Kenilworth on Saturday. She will have a fine chance there in a field that has attracted only seven runners and Cheyne has chosen her above the yard’s speedy three-year-old Kildonan filly Rosier.

Cathy Specific ran a blinder in her debut on Saturday over 1000m, as she was slow away and looked to have plenty in the tank when crossing the line 1,5 lengths clear, despite starting at odds of 40/1. This big bay filly looks certain to stay further.

Kotzen’s wife Kathi suggested the name after the family had been to watch the dinner cirque show Madame Zingaro. A haughty character in the show names himself Cathy Specific as he dresses in drag and works as an air hostess. Cathy Specific the horse’s sire is Royal Air Force and her dam is I’m Too Sexy, so naming her after the character was a clever choice.

Kuyan’s racing colours were also eyecatching, red with a white circle and the letter “K”, for either Kuyan or Kotzen, in the middle of the circle.

Cathy Specific made a belated debut as she was off for a while with tendonitis and she has only been back in work for seven weeks. The yard always knew she was good because she had matched Double Whammy in workouts about a year ago. Kotzen will now nominate her for one of the minor handicap events on J&B Met day.

Royal Air Force, a Gr 2 winning son of the great Jet Master, stands at Sorrento Stud, where he doesn’t receive much support. However, he is throwing some promising looking types and a lot of them strikes as horses that will improve with age. Kotzen, who trains out of his private establishment in the Paardeberg, Woodhill Racing Estate, also has the full sister and half sister to Cathy Specific waiting in the wings.

Markus Jooste’s colt was backed from 11-2 to 28-10 favourite and he mercilessly cut down Mljet’s bid to make all half a furlong out.

But Ramsden, asked if this victory made it more likely that Act Of War would switch to the J&B Met, replied: “I have no idea.” Seemingly more discussions are to take place with Derek Brugman although Ramsden did say how hard it would be to pass over a Grade 1-winning chance with a horse seemingly so far ahead of the opposition.

But there will be no Derby for Mljet who faces the dreaded vet’s knife this morning. “We have been having a lot of trouble with his blood,” explained Vaughan Marshall, adding that the horse’s next race will be in Johannesburg.

Joey Soma was planning to take Athina back there yesterday after his filly went under by only a fifth of a length to Inara in the Maine Chance Farms Paddock Stakes.

Soma said: “She got left two lengths but I was delighted with her and I’m now going to look at the Empress Club and, after a race or two in Natal, she will probably go back to Wilgerbosdrift at the end of the season.

“This is only the second runner I’ve had in Cape Town in 20 years and the other was also second – Special Preview in the 1995 Cape Guineas.”

Inara, who drifted from 10-1 to 20-1 despite beating all except Majmu in the Cape Fillies Guineas, gave Grant van Niekerk his first Grade 1 win and was the third at this level bred by Gaynor Rupert’s Drakenstein Stud following Jeppe’s Reef and Afrikaburn.

The tireless and stylish Mrs Rupert has now managed to persuade Glorious Goodwood to embrace her blue-and-white theme while Mike Bass is congratulating himself on producing a big race winner for her on her big day – and one by Trippi too!

He said: “This 1 800m is obviously a better trip for Inara than the Fillies Guineas but she is nominated for the Klawervlei Majorca over a mile on 31 January.”

Stable companion Hammie’s Hooker dropped right out in the closing stages but the course vet could find nothing wrong and fourth-placed Pine Princess is another on the road back to Jo’burg.

Matthew de Kock explained: “The Majorca would be too short for her. She will go for the Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks.”

Justin Snaith said yesterday: “We did a lung wash on Legislate and it was the dirtiest lung wash I have ever seen. He was full up with mucus and he now has to go on to medication. But it is nothing serious and not a problem – indeed it is exactly what Futura had – and he will be fine for the Met. I just have to freshen him up and then get him ready for the race.”

Legislate, against all expectations, proved to be ill- suited to the funereal pace at which Saturday’s L’Ormarins showpiece was run. The 101.59sec time was nearly four seconds slower than the average of the previous seven runnings. A racehorse gallops at nearly 17 metres a second so those in Saturday’s race would have finished some 60 metres behind the average Queen’s Plate winner!

The 9-20 favourite repeatedly over-raced but it was not until 400m out that Richard Fourie really knew he was in trouble – “Legislate didn’t quicken like he normally does at that point and I realised then that he was not himself.”

So, pretty much at the same time, did Bernard Fayd’Herbe who celebrated as he crossed the line by punching the air with a ferocious left-handed upper cut as if he was knocking out Floyd Mayweather, and in a way he was.

“I was excited – I never thought I would beat Legislate,” explained Fayd’Herbe who was winning his fifth Queen’s Plate. “I thought I might, though, at the 400m mark because I quickened then and the favourite didn’t.  I’m sure Futura will be even better over the extra distance of the Met and I’m looking forward to it.”

So too are John Freeman, Ian Longmore and Jack Mitchell who bought the Guy Murdoch-bred Dynasty colt for what now looks a bargain R500 000 at the 2012 National Yearling Sale.

The last two Queen’s Plates were a nightmare for Brett Crawford and many thought this one was as well when coughing forced Futura to miss his prep run. But apparently they thought wrong.

Crawford explained: “We had pressure with Jackson last year and the year before but this time there was none – Justin had it instead – and it makes a big difference. I know he coughed but the biggest thing about that was there was no infection, just inflammation of the airways.”

Asked how he treated it, Crawford replied simply : “Prayer!” It was Henry Cecil who famously remarked: “I don’t think God really cares who wins the 2.30.” Seemingly the 4.40 at Kenilworth is a different matter.

The strong-finishing Louis The King was only beaten three-quarters of a length (PIere Strydom: “I thought 100m out that I was going to get there”) and Geoff Woodruff said: “Louis’ run was very encouraging for the Met and I was pleased with both him and Tellina (fifth).”

Gold Onyx, previously 100-1, is sure to tumble in the market as he might well have finished even nearer than third had he got a clear run.

Jet Explorer’s fourth was not as eye-catching as 12 months ago but he still put up a creditable performance while stable companion Arion staked his Met claims after leading a furlong out under Fourie in the Glorious Goodwood Peninsula Handicap. Snaith said: “He is coming right after that lengthy lay-off and he is only getting there now.”

Runner-up Power King has been one of the best backed horses in the past fortnight and Dean Kannemeyer’s biggest concern is that the four-year-old makes the cut. He said: “I gelded him before his previous run because he was haemo-concentrating and now he has really turned the corner. He is getting better and better and I will have him spot on for the Met.”

Punta Arenas ran a creditable trial under top weight but Mike Bass and Grant van Niekerk feel there is more to come from fourth-placed Helderberg Blue. “Grant felt that he might have been second had he been able to give the horse a more patient ride,” said Bass who will be bidding for his sixth Met.

Legislate was thought to be unbeatable having broken the Kenilworth Old Course record in his previous race and started at odds of 9/20. However, he didn’t settle well in the running behind a crawl set by the outsider Ashton Park and just did not have the fuel in the tank to produce his normally devastating finish.

Futura was relaxed in last place in the running and showed no ill effects from his far from ideal preparation, which had seen him missing a race as well as a racecourse gallop due to a bout of coughing.

Ashton Park looked at one stage a possibility to pull off a shock 40/1 victory as he led for much of the straight. Futura finally reeled him in, but then had to repel a late burst by the Triple Crown and Sansui Summer Cup winner Louis The King.

Futura won by 0,75 lengths clear, much to the excitement of Fayd’Herbe, who shook his fist with delight. Fayd’Herbe has tasted success in the Queen’s Plate on a number of occasions as he partnered the great Pocket Power to three of his famous four victories in the prestigious weight for age event.

The 33/1 outsider Gold Onyx finished strongly to be only 1,75 lengths behind the winner in third, a head in front of Jet Explorer. Gauteng horses therefore filled the second and third places and also fifth place with Tellina. Ashton Park, Kingvoldt and Paterfamilias were next best. A tired Legislate trailed in last, 5,25 lengths behind the winner.

Crawford had finished second in the last two running of the Queen’s Plate with Jackson and was thrilled to taste victory at last. The Dynasty colt Futura is owned by the passionate racing men Ian Longmore, Jack Mitchell and John Freeman. Mitchell might have had mixed feelings as he also has a share in Legislate.

Futura was bred by Guy Murdoch and was conceived in Colesberg on The Gary Player Stud Farm, born in the KZN Midlands at Yellow Star Stud and raised in Kimberley at Mauritzfontein Stud.

The big race result was a massive disappointment for the owners of sponsors L’Ormarins, Johann and Gaynor Rupert, as Legislate runs in the colours of their Drakenstein Stud. However, they still enjoyed a great day as those Drakenstein blue and white colours had earlier run first and third in the Gr 1 Maine Chance Paddock Stakes with the Mike Bass-trained Inara and the Glen Kotzen-trained Jet Belle respectively. Furthermore, Drakenstein bred Inara, who is by their stalwart stallion Trippi. Trippi had a treble on the day, and one other of them was also owned and bred by Drakenstein Stud.

Gaynor Rupert has done an immense amount of work to transform the Queen’s Plate into one of the top five rated racemeetings in the world, so thoroughly deserved the success. The course was awash with the blue and white colours that have now become tradition for patrons to wear and the crowd was thought to be a record for the meeting.

Inara gave a massive boost to the three-year-old form. She also left pundits asking just how good the mighty Mike de Kock-trained Majmu must be, as the latter had beaten her hands and heels by 2,5 lengths in the Gr 1 Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas.

Inara was allowed to go off at 20/1 as there was heavy support for Jet Aglow, who was bidding to give Dennis Drier and Sean Cormack a Paddock Stakes hat-trick.

Van Niekerk did well to tuck Inara into a midfield position from a wide draw and she then settled well. In the straight most of the horses made a bee line for the outside, as was the trend on the day, and Van Niekerk had to switch Inara inward for a run. She finished strongly but had to run all the way to the line to get the better of the Joey Soma-trained Gauteng raider Athina and Jet Belle in a thrilling three-way tussle.

She won by a neck and there was also a neck between Athina and Jet Belle. Another Gauteng raider, the De Kock-trained three-year-old Pine Princess, finished next best ahead of Jet Aglow. It has to be said that Jet Belle was probably an unlucky loser having to be snatched up and eased on two occasions, once down the back straight and then again in the straight.

Justin Snaith, trainer of Legislate, still had a good day with four winners, two of them ridden by his stable jockey Richard Fourie. Snaith and Fourie combined to win the Gr 2 Glorious Goodwood Peninsula Handicap over 1800m with Arion.

Snaith has always rated this four-year-old Silvano colt, not surprisingly as he finished as quickly as Legislate when finishing a 2,75 length 3rd in last year’s Investec Cape Derby and then beat Legislate in a gallop before they were both due to leave for KZN. However, he then chipped a knee, so was off for seven months.

Snaith had him primed for yesterday’s race, his fourth since the layoff. However, he was allowed to go off at 10/1 as the money poured on to the Mike Bass-trained Helderberg Blue, who went off at 15/10, while Power King was also fancied and was backed into 4/1.
Chestnut’s Rocket and Serissa ensured a fair gallop, while Helderberg Blue lay handy in about fourth place with Arion behind him. Power King was in midfield one wide.

Helderberg Blue had every chance but Arion was always travelling better and soon had his measure. Power King had crept up on the outside but the late burst he produced was not enough to catch Arion, who had swept clear and won by 1,25 lengths under a well-timed ride. Fourie saluted one of the owners Greg Bortz, who watched from a box high in the stands, as he passed the line as part of a pre-arranged celebration. Arion was bred by Maine Chance Farms.

Joey Ramsden had a hattrick on the day. Ramsden’s Australian-bred colt by Lohnro, The Conglomerate, won the Gr 3 Julius Baer Politician Stakes over 1800m under Piere Strydom at odds of 28/10. Derek Brugman represented owner Markus Jooste on course and said that this fine specimen had been bought at a bargain price, as he had been one of the early lots on the sale that Brugman and Ramsden attended.

The favourite MLJet set the fractions and The Conglomerate sat in about sixth place in the field which had cut up to just nine runners. The Conglomerate made his run down the outside and as MLJet had also drifted outward the pair became involved in an exciting tussle on the outward rail. However, Strydom was able to extract the necessary extra from The Conglomerate to win by 0,5 lengths.

MLJet has to go down as one of the season’s disappointments but he did have to concede 3kg to The Conglomerate and was 5,25 lengths clear of the third-placed Arniston.

Snaith and Ramsden’s fourth and third winners respectively came in the tenth race, a Pinnacle Stakes event over 2800m, when Current Event and Coltrane dead-heated. They were ridden by Fourie and Strydom respectively.

Bass and Van Niekerk also had a double together and both Sean Cormack and Karl Neisius rode doubles. The sires Silvano and Lohnro also had doubles.
One interesting result was in the third race, a maiden plate for fillies and mares over 1000m, as the winner Cathy Pacific, a 40/1 first-timer filly by Royal Air Force, was trained by Glen Kotzen, owned by his son Kuyan and bred by his mother-in-law Judy Wintle.