The arrival of many long-shots at recent Hollywoodbets Greyville meetings these past couple of weeks has made it difficult for an army of punters. However, the flip side is decent pay outs for those that got it right. But it is another one of ‘those’ cards on the poly at the same venue today and although the field sizes are relatively small, it has not made finding winners any easier.

With the Western Cape Summer season on the horizon one could reasonably speculate that Sunset Eyes would have a date with some of the big sprint races during their season. But Brett Crawford elected to keep the gelding in KZN with assistant Peter Muscutt after his win in the Umgeni Handicap on the last Saturday of last season.

Sunset Eyes romped home in that race, beating Filippo who will be in opposition again today. In contrast, Yogas Govender has kept Filippo on the boil since the Umgeni Handicap and may strip the fitter horse this afternoon. He followed up his Umgeni second with victory at Scottsville and turned in a useful effort in a strong Pinnacle Stakes last time out, finish just over a length back to the promising Ultra Magnus.

Govender has declared blinkers on his charge for the first time, no doubt on the advice of regular pilot Sherman Brown, so there should be very little between Filippo and Sunset Eyes.

The balance of the eight-horse field have smart sprint credentials so it would be unwise to write any of them off lightly although it would be pointless going through their individual credentials, but Filippo and Sunset Eyes look the principal contenders.

After two good showings in barrier trials, admittedly eight months apart, James Peter made his debut as favourite early last month over course and distance and can get punter’s off to a good start. In spite of his two educationals in barrier trials, the penny still had to drop for Gavin van Zyl’s runner on debut and he arrived on the scene too late to trouble Treading Water.

With that experience under his girth he can make amends in the card opener.

The second is something of a head-scratcher. Annaberg has shown up well in both starts to date and from a good draw should contest the finish although she faces difficult opposition. Arianos Spinner has improved at her last two on the poly and has a good draw while At Your Request needed her last run, her first for a new stable. She makes her poly debut and is one to watch in the betting. Trap Queen makes her local debut after showing some improvement at her last two in the Cape and is another in with a winning chance.

Unlike some trainers with big strings where the attrition rate is not always of paramount importance, small yards have to nurture what they have. Mai Tai has been off the track since June after pulling up lame in the Devon Air stakes, some four lengths off the winner, that after making a winning debut. Wayne Badenhorst will have been ever cautious with what is possibly the best horse in his small string and has picked a race with a favourable draw.

Dive Captain and Accidental Tourist should be there to pick up the pieces should Mai Tai let the side down.

By Andrew Harrison

To take a bet go to www.tabgold.co.za or www.trackandball.co.za

The former Stuart Pettigrew-trained Surcharge, now known as Yulong Prince and trained by NZ and Australian Hall of Famer Chris Waller, won a listed race at yesterday’s Melbourne Cup meeting at Flemington.

The Varsfontein Stud-bred Gimmethegreenlight five-year-old entire was in an awkward spot nearing the top of the straight, in last place and trapped on the rail in the one mile one furlong Furphy Plate, a handicap contested by 12 horses in which he was joint top weight.

However, jockey Nash Rawiller was able to switch him outward and get him through a gap.

Once in the clear he showed his class and stretched out impressively. He got up by a head.

He returned odds of 17/2 as his previous overseas form, consisting of two races in Dubai and three in Australia had not yielded a place, although they were in a higher class including two Group 1s.

Yulong Prince always showed tremendous class in South Africa where he infamously had to contend with a spate of bad draws.

He is one to follow as he could build on this win.

By David Thiselton

Reigning national Champion trainer Sean Tarry has hit the front in stakes earning for the season but just unofficially as his only feature win at Saturday’s Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile meeting was in a restricted race, whose stakes don’t count towards the championship.

His Visionaire filly Spiritofthegroove stormed home from way off the pace to win the R1 million Emperor’s Palace Ready to Run Cup.

Jockey Marco van Rensburg dropped her out from a wide draw and in the straight he faced a wall of horses on the inside.

However, he somehow managed to weave her through and she won going away by 2,25 lengths.

She is owned by Singapore-based Mark Yong’s Equine Hub SA and was bred by Tmen Stables.

Tarry, whilst mindful Spiritofthegroove had won this 1400m contest in testing conditions, was still concerned about her getting the tough Turffontein Mile of the Grade 3 Fillies Mile on November 23.

He said he would see how she drew in the WSB Cape Fillies Guineas, which was another option.

Tarry said he had endured an overall disappointing day on Saturday.

He said, “I would have liked In The Dance to have had another run going in to the Charity Mile, but she travelled well in the race and still finished well. She could have got closer with a better draw. Tilbury Fort needed the run and the soft ground made it more testing. So they will both come on from the run. Zillzaal looked a picture before his last run and a picture in the parade ring on Saturday but he then went into a complete sweat behind the starting stalls, so something went wrong between the parade ring and the start, so it was disappointing. He and Tilbury Fort will still be going for the Summer Cup and there is a nice four week gap for In The Dance into the Ipi Tombe so hopefully she can fluke a draw.”

He continued, “Eden Roc ran a good race at the weights in the Graham Beck and should be cherry ripe for the Dingaans. Putontheredlight had a complete no show and the rider stood up at the 300m mark, it was a nothing run, so I don’t know what to read into it. Sidonie did at least stay on so that was a result you can live with. “

In the official championship standings Tarry is in third place on earnings of R3,410,838. Justin Snaith leads on earnings of R3,603,163 and Paul Peter is in second place on R3,486,675. Mike de Kock’s halcyon day on Saturday took him into fourth place on R3,197,750. Alan Greeff and Brett Crawford are in 5th and 6th place respectively on R3,183,638 and R3,030,963. Yvette Bremner is in 7th on R2,389,600. Glen Kotzen, Gavin Smith and Garth Puller fill the final three places in the top ten on the log.

By David Thiselton

The David Nieuwenhuizen-trained Mill Queen was victorious in the Grade 3 HSH Princess Charlene Starling Stakes over 1400m despite not enjoying a smooth preparation.

This Digteby Stud-bred Querari filly was bought for R140,000 at the National Yearling Sale session 2 and has already earned R423,375 in gross stakes for her owners S Poriazi, WG de Koker and W Volschenk.

Nieuwenhuizen said, “She still has to mature mentally and physically, she is a late maturer who is still furnishing, so hopefully she will get a lot better. She is doing extremely well despite being backwards and that is just down to her ability, so we have to look after her. She is a filly who gives her all, so we also have to be careful with her in work.”

Nieuwenhuizen lamented the lack of a preparation race for her going into the Starling Stakes, which he said was due to the benchmark for any suitable handicap races not being high enough to include his 110 merit rated horse and there were also no suitable plate races. 

He did not want to put her up against older horses at this stage.

He said the lack of a preparation race might have worked in her favour to some degree due to the conditions of the Starling Stakes, which penalises horses for having more than two wins. He questioned the logic of this condition, i.e. why should good horses be penalised for feature preparation events, when there is already a condition which penalises Graded wins.

Furthermore, the Querari filly had a setback in training, tweaking her back, and they were forced to only walk her for a few days.

He added, “Thank goodness Gavin (Lerena) has a good feel for a horse. He rode her with a bit in reserve and it looked like she did need it.”

She won by 0,30 lengths from the persistent Wisteria Walk.  

Nieuwenhuizen said another disadvantage she had endured was the difficulty of getting one jockey to stay aboard her.

He feared losing Lerena for her next intended target, the Grade 3 Fillies Mile, due to the latter’s retainer with Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein Stud.

Lerena had ridden her before Saturday, which was an advantage.

Mill Queen ended her campaign as a two-year-old with a 0,80 length second in the Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes. However, Nieuwenhuizen pointed out she had come from a wide draw that day and did not know the track, which was unlike the winner Gabor on both counts.

He would have preferred her next race, which will be her second after a layoff, to be on Gauteng Summer Cup day, November 30, but they had moved the Fillies Mile forward to the 23rd. 

However, he said she had come out of Saturday’s race well.

He added he always went in to races positively, so would be able to adjust her work accordingly.

He concluded, “It’s all about the stable working together and management.”

By David Thiselton

Joey Ramsden has decided against moving to Singapore to train. He will now presumably stay put at his Milnerton base and concentrate on trying to build up the stable to its former glories.

Ramsden, who has gone out of his way to be helpful to this writer in the past, has not answered my calls or text messages in recent weeks and yesterday was no exception. But Singapore Turf Club executive Zenna Teo emailed: “We would like to inform you that Mr Joey Ramsden has decided not to train in Singapore.”

In April the Singapore Turf Club took Ramsden and the rest of South African racing by surprise when it issued a press release to say that he was one of three new trainers being allocated boxes. Apparently he had only made inquiries and had not told his owners but he said he would fly over and have a look. He was soon singing the country’s praises and pointing to the advantages of its racing compared to that in South Africa, although he did say what a complex process it was to set up there.

With the possible exception of Charles Laird (who retired), Ramsden was the trainer who suffered most when Markus Jooste decided to quit racing in the immediate aftermath of the Steinhoff financial scandal. His numbers slumped from well over 100 to the extent that he moved to a smaller yard and the majority of his horses were not of the same class as the Jooste ones. He has really battled in the first few months of this season and has had only two winners.

But Singapore’s loss is South Africa’s gain. Ramsden is one of the few trainers in this country to have won Group 1 races overseas and at home he was won more than 1 750 races including 26 Grade 1s, notably the 2016 Vodacom Durban July with The Conglomerate. He also has the personality to attract owners and a world-wide reputation that is likely to attract further patronage from overseas.

He has recently updated his website to publicise an attacking policy that extends countrywide, saying: “The yard regularly raids Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth. With the recent success of the Johannesburg stable we are looking to make that yard a permanent fixture and, with a 10% stakes winners to winners strike rate, we believe our results speak for themselves.”

By Michael Clower