The Dean Kannemeyer-trained African Warrior was a major disappointment when finishing out of the money for the first time in his career in the Grade 2 Concorde Cup over 1600m on November 23 on the Kenilworth Old Course but he was subsequently found to have strained a hindquarter muscle and is now back on track.

The Vercingetorix gelding had started 16/10 favourite, despite having to give the rest of the field 1kg, but when asked the question by Keagan de Melo from his customary position at the back of the field his usual blistering acceleration was not there and he finished a 4,40 length ninth.

He was found by the on course veterinarian to not be striding out on his left fore.

He trotted out short the next day too and the cause was found to be a strained hindquarter muscle. 

However, he has had treatment and was back in work on Saturday.

Kannemeyer felt the few days off work would not affect African Warrior’s preparation for the Grade 1 Cape Guineas to be run on December 21.   

Kannemeyer has an enviable record in this three-year-old classic, having won it five times himself on top of the handful of successes his father Peter had.

Asked to compare African Warrior to his previous Guineas winners, he said, “The handicapper loves him and rates him very highly, but if you had to ask me I would say he probably has a lot of work to do to match them. But he could prove me wrong as he is a toughy and is genuine and has a turn of foot.”

The athletic bay’s program has been carefully planned to date.

He won the Grade 3 Godolphin Barb over 1100m at Greyville before finishing an unlucky fifth in the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion. Kannemeyer then deliberately avoided the Champions Season’s bigger juvenile races from then onward, opting instead to run him in the KZN Yearling Sale Million over 1300m and the Grade 2 Haval Motors SA Umkhomazi Stakes over 1200m, both of which he won.

He put up one of the best three-year-old performances of the season to date when finishing a 2,25 length fifth in the Grade 3 Matchem Stakes over 1400m in his comeback. 

Meanwhile, Kannemeyer’s superbly bred Captain Al colt Seventh Gear has been gelded. He finished an encouraging 1,90 length fifth in the Concorde Cup, but Kannemeyer subsequently informed connections that this horse’s blood had been “slowing down”. He recommended gelding but it was not a decision which was going to be taken lightly as he is out of the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara heroine Cherry On The Top. However, he was duly gelded the Monday after the race and will consequently not be ready in time for the Cape Guineas.

Another of Kannemeyer’s good colts, Liberty Hall, should be cherry ripe for the Cape Guineas.

This son of Querari was runner up in the Grade 1 Premiers Champion Stakes on Gold Cup day and finished a 4,80 length seventh in his comeback on November 5 over the too sharp 1200m. He is running again this Saturday in a handicap over the too sharp 1400m off his 108 rating and that should put him spot on for the Cape Guineas a couple of weeks later. 

By David Thiselton

In another exciting initiative for Horse Racing in KwaZulu-Natal, Gold Circle country, Hollywoodbets has launched a new competition for Jockeys, Trainers and Owners – with R750 000 up for grabs! The Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge, which awards points for every runner in every race, gets underway on the 1^st December 2019.

Gold Circle and Hollywoodbets launched the Grooms’ Initiative in October, rewarding the winning groom for every race in KZN with R1 000. In yet another ground-breaking initiative, the pair have introduced this new competition to reward  other key stakeholders in the Horse Racing industry, the Trainers, Jockeys and Owners. Together with the Grooms’ R1 000 award per race over the three months – these programmes will inject One Million Rand into racing in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge will run on a points system, with points awarded according to the finishing position for each runner taking part in a race. The total points available in each race is determined by how many runners are taking part. Therefore, if there are 10 runners in a race, there will be 10 points for 1^st place, 9 points for 2^nd place, and so on, down to 10^th place receiving 1 point. If there are only 6 runners in a race, there will be 6 points for a win, 5 points for 2^nd, and so on.

The points will be awarded to the Jockey, the Trainer, and that particular horse (representing the Owner/s). A running leader board will be made available online, in the media and on the big screens at Hollywoodbets Greyville racecourse.

The competition will run for three months, covering all KZN race meetings from the 1^st December 2019 to 28^th February 2020.

A prize pot of R250,000 will be awarded to each of the categories, totalling R750,000 in the competition.

The prize money will be broken down for the top 6 positions, with R100k going to 1^st place, R50k to 2^nd place, R40k to 3^rd place, R30k to 4^th place, R20k to 5^th place, and R10k to 6^th place.

“This is a way to encourage Owners, Trainers and Jockeys to be part of racing in Gold Circle country and reward them for their efforts throughout the KZN Summer season,” said Devin Heffer, Brand and Communication Manager for Hollywoodbets.

“We view this competition as a great opportunity to encourage trainers to enter more of their horses in KZN races, as well as an incentive to get them running more often. Trainers from outside the province might find this as an ideal opportunity to target a string of their horses for the KZN Summer season.”

“The beauty of this competition is that it won’t necessarily be the best horses in the province winning the competition. It will be the horses that run more often and perform more consistently.”

“This also applies to Jockeys and Trainers who ride and train more horses in KZN. They give themselves a better chance of placing in the prize money. It also encourages Jockeys to ride out their mounts in every race. Every position gained is an extra point for their position on the leader board.”

“As there are 6 places in the prize money, the competition will go all out until the end of the three-month period.”

Hollywoodbets and Gold Circle recently made the announcement that from the 1^st of December 2019, a horse’s carded number will now be the same as its allocated barrier draw. This will run concurrently with the Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge and will be on trial until the end of February 2020.

The Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge gets underway on Sunday 1^st December 2019 at Hollywoodbets Greyville Racecourse. Gold Circle has also announced that racing will take place on the first three Friday nights in December, adding to the festivities of the holiday season!

The newly revamped “Short Head” venue will host a launch event for the competition on Friday 29th November at 15:30. Hollywoodbets and Gold Circle would like to extend an invitation to all Owners, Trainers, Jockeys, Punters and Grooms to be part of this.

ENDS

Warren Kennedy, Stuart Randolph, Andre Nel and Dennis Bosch all enjoyed multiple success at Hollywoodbets Greyville’s turf meeting yesterday.

Kennedy and Nel combined to win the first over 2000m with the perennial bridesmaid Velvet Season. When the favourite Crank It Up switched out at the top of the straight to challenge Velvet Season it seemed the writing was on the wall as the latter had finished second no fewer than seven times in ten starts but after a stirring duel it was the home-bred Trippi gelding who drew away to win by 0,40 lengths at odds of 23/10.

The second over 1600m saw the well backed Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained Querari’s Cowboy running on well under Keagan de Melo to beat his stablemate Master Tobe as the Nel-trained favourite Academy Award faded out to finish unplaced.

The third over 1600m proved that the Tony Rivalland trained In Jest is improving in the typical style of a Silvano filly as she stormed home from way off the pace to win easing up under Stuart Randolph.

The fourth over 1000m saw 4kg claimer Thabiso Gumede just getting up on the Duncan Howells-trained Oratorio mare Love Theme from the favourite Coyote Girl who performed well considering she had been caught wide in the running.

The fifth over 1000m turned into a procession as 4kg claimer Jabu Jacobs brought home the Nel-trained Seventh Rock gelding Washington Square by 5,50 lengths. The gelding justified support from 5/1 into 32/10 favourite.

Kennedy has built up a fine relationship with Dennis Bosch’s Silvano gelding Born To Perform and despite not having raced for 112 days the son of VDJ winner Dancer’s Daughter ran on strongly from midfield to win the sixth race over 1400m by 1,75 lengths. It was his third win in a row and fifth career victory in just seven starts, so he might be seen in a feature soon.

Stuart Randolph got the Bosch-trained topweight What A Blast up by a quarter of length in the next over 1400m. It was the Visionaire gelding’s second win on the trot.

In the last over 1400m the fancied Paul Lafferty-trained King’s Chapel filly Bint El Malak kept going well to give Kennedy a treble. Rank outsider Wylie’s LASS finished a half-a-length second and there was a jolt for the PA as odds-on Jo’burg raider Orchid Express just missed third place.

By David Thiselton

Current national champion trainer Sean Tarry broke the stranglehold Geoff Woodruff had on the Gauteng Chris Gerber Summer Cup three years ago but is now dominating the race himself as he recorded his third win in succession of Johannesburg’s biggest race on Saturday and his fourth overall.

Leading apprentice Dennis Schwarz has shown himself in the past couple of seasons to have an outstanding racing mind coupled with good riding skills and he produced another ride out of the top drawer to lead from start to finish on Zillzaal, hence landing his first Grade 1 victory. 

Zillzaal had drifted off the boards to 28/1 and Tarry said, “He did what he had to do, it was a very good and very confident ride by the apprentice and it sort of went as we had planned. People have short memories as Zillzaal started favourite for the Charity Mile. But it is also hindsight for us as we had also lost confidence. However, the tell-tale sign that he wasn’t going to give his best in the Charity Mile was that he began sweating badly at the start, so something was amiss, although we are not sure what it was. His first run after gelding had been very good and on Saturday he went down very maturely and there was no sign of sweat so he once again looked like a horse who had come back from gelding. I had also said in the panel discussion that two of my previous Summer Cup winners had come in off quiet runs. I had respect for Mike de Kock’s runners in the build-up, he seemed to have the goods, but I didn’t think we were prayerless at the weights on some of the formlines and I thought we may just get a blow in. Al Mutawakel was the one I was probably most confident in based on his Victory Moon run and although at the weights the pundits were academically correct in saying he had a tough task I knew he would come on from that run. He is a big strong horse and I knew he would get close to Soqrat.”

Al Mutawakel, a relatively lightly race four-year-old who is a full-brother to the Grade 1 SA Derby winner Al Sahem, duly finished a 0,60 length third, just a neck behind runner up Soqrat. De Kock filled the fourth and fifth places with Queen Supreme and Atyaab.

Topweight Soqrat was caught wide in the running the whole way and considering he was giving all of the other placed horses 8kg he put up an outstanding performance in defeat. There is now no doubt he will stay the easier Kenilworth 2000m of the Sun Met and is sure to make his presence felt there in what is gearing up to be a race of epic proportions.

There is a current ban on normal travel down to Cape Town from Johannesburg due to a recent African Horse Sickness case within a 30km radius of Randjesfontein, but it is hoped this ban will be lifted on the tenth of this month. 

However, Tarry pointed out that only genuine weight for age horses are worth sending down to Cape Town, so he questioned whether the like of Zillzaal and Mutawakel would be worth sending down, although a final decision has not yet been made.

Both Zillzaal and A Mutawakel are by the champion sire Silvano. 

Tarry also ousted De Kock in the main supporting feature, the Grade 2 TAB/Betting World Dingaans. His Captain Of All colt Shango was jostled early and found himself near the back, but this long-striding sort stormed home under Gavin Lerena to win going away by 2,75 lengths despite odds of 36/1. De Kock’s Frosted Gold was second ahead of the filly Cockney Pride and Battle Of Alesia. The more fancied of Tarry’s two runners, Eden Roc, over raced for the second time over a mile and finished fifth. The De Kock-trained favourite Marshall, unbeaten in two previous starts, finished second last but looks the part and can’t yet be written off as an over-hyped horse. 

Tarry said, “The tell-tale sign of Shango being this class was his close second on Gold Cup day to one of the best horses of the crop (Alibi Guy). I also nominated him for the Ready To Run race (14 December Kenilworth) and he could easily have run there but he drew badly so I ran him here. He needed his comeback run quite badly and I thought he might still need this one based on his homework. But the pace was on and it suited him.”

Tarry said he might nominate him for the Grade 1 Cape Guineas but is not sure yet. He reckoned Shango would definitely stay further and said he could well be a Triple Crown prospect.

Tarry also won the Grade 2 New Turf Carriers Merchants over 1160m with the five-year-old Oratorio gelding Mardi Gras, who was having his first run for him. The grey returned from a 189 day layoff but looked a picture in the preliminaries and off a merit rating of 116 he won easily by 2,25 lengths under Lerena from his big stable companion Warrior’s Rest.

Tarry said his rating might now put him in the bracket of a weight for age horse but he questioned whether he was a five furlong horse so travelling to Cape Town for the Grade 1 Betting World Cape Flying Championship was still up in the air. 

By David Thiselton

Hawwaam has been installed 18-10 favourite by the sponsors to beat dual Vodacom Durban July winner Do It Again and Sun Met hero Rainbow Bridge in the World Sports Betting Green Point Stakes at Kenilworth on Saturday week.

Do It Again is 3-1 second favourite and Rainbow Bridge next on 9-2 in this clash of the titans. One World (15-2) and his Winter Classic conqueror Vardy (9-1) are the only others of the 12-strong entry in single figures.

The betting on the WSB Cape Fillies Guineas on the same card is rather more open with the Glen Kotzen Western Cape Fillies Championship winner Third Runway heading the market at 5-1, one point shorter than Pretty Young Thing who was beaten a length and three-quarters from a bad draw that day. Kelpie, like Pretty Young Thing trained by Brett Crawford for Ridgemont, is also on 6-1 with the Sean Tarry-trained Sidonie a 7-1 chance and the Candice Bass-Robinson runner Roll In The Hay on 17-2.

By Michael Clower