South African master trainer Patrick Shaw won his third Singapore Gold Cup after Argentinian-bred stayer Cooptado landed the famous race in a heart-stopping finish on Sunday.

Heading into this year’s renewal of the Longines-sponsored Group 1 race with a smashing four-pronged attack, the 59-year-old Durbanite, who already had two previous Singapore Gold Cups to his name (Mr Line in 2006 and Quechua last year), again cemented his mettle as a conditioner of stayers with a podium finish for two of them – Cooptado on top and Perfect P third – while Quechua and Emperor’s Banquet did not finish far behind in fifth and sixth place respectively.

“He was the true stayer among the four, obviously along with Quechua, who showed he had the distance when he won the race last year,” said Shaw.

Patrick Shaw

“Emperor’s Banquet always does well and he was not far behind. Perfect P was the only doubtful over the trip but he showed he got the 2200m with his third place.

“But when we got Cooptado from Argentina, my agent Ignacio already told us he was one of the best stayers there. He came with a big reputation but we still had to give him time to prove himself.

“When he came for the SIA Cup (Singapore Airlines International Cup), we were trying to figure him out within such short notice. His body weight was an issue as (previous Dubai trainer) Doug (Watson) doesn’t weigh his horses.

“He was not ready in the SIA Cup, but with more time he’s slowly improved and never ran a bad race. I’ve been increasing his distances and the Gold Cup was always going to suit him.

“But, after three months with us, we realised he had some back issues. We had to treat his back with a lot of acupuncture and, luckily, he’s come right.

“I was very happy with his run in the El Dorado when he carried 57 kg while giving Sebrose 7kg. When I put a set of blinkers on him, he really travelled a lot better and I knew he would run well in the Gold Cup.

“He travelled well in the race, and with a good ride from Shafiq, he got there right in the nick of time.”

With the bulk of his horses belonging to either fellow South African owner Fred Crabbia or the Avengers/Tmen Stable, Shaw was delighted he had picked up the biggest prize on the Singapore racing calendar for Russian owners Evgeny Kappushev and Valentin Bukhtoyarov of Red Stable.

“I have to thank Evgeny and Valentin for their support and patience. It’s nice for them to win the Gold Cup even if they’re not here,” said Shaw.

“It’s also wonderful I have won three Gold Cups. Laurie (Laxon) is always having a dig at me, but I’ve won three and he’s still on two. But I’m only joking as he’s a great trainer!

“It’s funny how I was known as a staying trainer all my life, as I won three Derbies in South Africa and also won the July Handicap with Teal, but then came Rocket Man.

“But it’s a fact I’ve always had a lot of luck with stayers and I guess there must be some truth to it.”

– Singapore Turf Club

Dennis Drier revealed that Triptique’s win in the Gr 2 Cape Merchants at Kenilworth on Saturday was a plan come together and the imposing son of Trippi might now be aimed at the Gr 1 L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate.

Drier has perennially become a thorn in the flesh of the big-Cape yards and was not surprised to be in the winner’s enclosure of the Cape Summer Of Champions Season’s second Gr 2 event.

He said, “I have always rated him and said to Braam (Van Huysteen, who part-owns him), ‘I think he can win the Merchants’.” Drier went on to speak of the satisfaction of a plan coming together.

He praised lightweight stable jockey Sean Veale, who joined the yard in about February, and said, “He has taken the bull by the horns, is riding with a lot of confidence and rode to instructions.”

Triptique (Liesl King)

Veale was given the ride ahead of first call stable jockey Sean Cormack simply due to the 52kg Triptique was set to carry and Drier confirmed that at the weights, with Generalissimo having to carry 57,5kg, Triptique had “definitely” been the yard elect. The betting reflected this as Triptique was backed in from 16/1 to 9/1, while Generalissimo drifted from 8/1 to 20/1.

Drier had spoken of his regard for Triptique in the build-up to the Cape Summer Of Champions and had rated him the 26-horse string’s “dark horse”, before adding, “He is very talented and we haven’t seen the best of him yet. I think he could be looking for 1400m to a mile.” Drier thus regards the 1000m of the Cape Flying Championship as too sharp for him. One plan he is eyeing is to take in the Gr 2 Khaya Stables Diadem Stakes over 1200m at Kenilworth on December 26 and then run him two weeks later in the Queen’s Plate, which is widely regarded as the country’s most prestigious weight for age mile. Plan B is to keep him to sprints.

Triptique will be taking on a lot of the country’s best horses if he runs in the Queen’s Plate, including two Equus Horses Of The Year in Legislate and Futura, but asked on whether he was up to it, Drier replied, “He has done nothing wrong to date.” Indeed, if the race turns into the crawl that it did last year he could be the dark horse considering his natural speed.

However, the feedback on Generalissimo was not bright, as he has pulled up badly from his fourth place finish in the Merchants and the yard are on tenterhooks as they monitor his condition.

Generalissimo was regarded as one of the yard’s leading Cape Flying Championship hopefuls and Drier said they could only “hope and pray” he would recover timeously from his lameness, which looks to be worse than mere “jarring up.” X-rays have been taken and have revealed little.

Meanwhile, Equus Champion Three-Year-Old colt Seventh Plain is doing well ahead of Saturday’s R2,5 million Lanzerac Ready To Run Stakes, while the Gr 2 weight for age Green Point Stakes contender Punta Arenas continues to thrive and the top sprinter Guiness is also enjoying himself at Drier’s Phillippi yard.

Seventh Plain, a tall colt by Seventh Rock with a beautiful action, makes his seasonal debut and is merit rated ten points superior than any other horse in the 16-horse field which lines up for the Ready To Run Stakes over 1400m. However, Drier admitted he had it “all to do” from the very outside barrier position. However, the classy bay does have early pace as well as a fine turn of foot, two vital assets for the tight Kenilworth Old Course, and another bonus is Anton Marcus aboard.

Punta Arenas thrived while being taken care of by Drier during the Champions Season on behalf of the now retired Stan Elley. As an official member of the yard, he has continued to enjoy himself at Phillippi, which he is familiar with as this was Elley’s base. The J&B Met is his main aim but Drier has still not decided which race will be his final stepping stone into the Met, pointing out that the 1600m of the Queen’s Plate was a touch on the sharp side. Elley used the Gr 2 Peninsula Handicap over 1800m on Queen’s Plate day as a preparation for Punta Arenas in both 2014 and 2015 and he went on to finish 3^rd and 5^th respectively. The evergreen seven-year-old Silvano gelding loves to gallop and if able to find a handy position from his high draw of nine under Sean Cormack he could be the surprise package in Saturday’s ten horse field for the Green Point Stakes.

By David Thiselton

National Champion trainer Sean Tarry sends crack speedster Carry On Alice down to Cape Town today, but his top class male sprinter Trip To Heaven will campaign in Johannesburg and the highest rated horse in the country Legal Eagle will likely have a preparation in Johannesburg before being sent down for the J&B Met.

Carry On Alice (Nkosi Hlophe)

Carry On Alice will be joined by Liege, who runs in next weekend’s R2,5 million Lanzerac Ready To Run Stakes over 1400m at Kenilworth.

Last year’s J&B Met runner-up, the evergreen eight-year-old Gold Onyx, will also be heading down to Cape Town, having thrived there last season.

Zambezi River is already down there and ran a good third in the Gr 2 Cape Merchants over 1200m on Saturday.

Liege, a progressive Dynasty colt who finished second in the Gr 3 Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m last time out behind the classy Muwaary, might also go for the Gr 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas on December 19. Furthermore, he was in joint 15^th on the latest CTS Million Dollar log. Tarry is planning to send down more horses for the latter 1400m event, which takes place on January 23, although Swift Sarah (joint 9^th) and Old Em (joint 19^th) are the only others he currently has on the log.

The Captain Al four-year-old filly Carry On Alice made her seasonal reappearance on Saturday at Turffontein and was touched off a head by the new kid on the block, the Dominic Zaki-trained Little Genie, in the Listed Gardenia Stakes over 1000m.

Little Genie, who is by Judpot, is the same age as Carry On Alice but has only had seven starts and has won the last five of them. She was receiving only 1,5kg from 115 merit-rated Carry On Alice on Saturday and the pair might clash again in the Gr 2  Southern Cross Stakes over 1000m at Kenilworth on December 5 as Zaki is considering raiding for that race.

Legal Eagle (JC Photos)

Carry On Alice finished a fine third in the Gr 1 Betting World Cape Flying Championships over 1000m last season, despite having had to stand for ages in the starting stalls, and that race, which will now be run on J&B Met day for the first time, will be her main aim again. However, there is an excellent program of sprint races for fillies during the Cape Summer Of Champions Season, including the Southern Cross, and she will likely take in a couple of those races too.

The 115 merit-rated Trip To Heaven was a touch unlucky to be beaten by Brutal Force last time out in a Pinnacle Stakes event over 1160m at Turffontein, as he lost ground at the start and Tarry reckoned S’Manga Khumalo then “panicked”. Tarry hoped the starter would have taken notice of Trip To Heaven’s tendency to miss the break when asked to stand in the stalls for too long. He will likely defend his crown in the Gr 2 Merchants over 1160m on Sansui Summer Cup day, November 28, before being put away for a Johannesburg Autumn campaign.

Legal Eagle’s “blue print” plan remains the J&B Met, although he will be prepared in Johannesburg. Tarry added that an African Horse Sickness outbreak such as the one which occurred last year had the potential to affect his and other horses’ Cape Town programs.

Legal Eagle’s top class contemporary French Navy is still on track for the Summer Cup and Tarry was “very happy” with his Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile run in which he carried top weight and ran on powerfully from way back in the running to finish an eyecatching 3,9 length sixth.

Trip To Heaven (JC Photo)

Meanwhile, Tarry’s KZN yard had a treble on the Greyville poly on Sunday and are now one off the pace in the race for the KZN Championships behind the many-times KZN Champion yard of Dennis Drier, while another former KZN Champion Duncan Howells is just one winner behind Tarry. Tarry was not even thinking of the KZN title at this early stage but was full of praise for the “fantastic” job being done by his Summerveld assistant Dishone Steyn. Steyn has now been at Summerveld for a year and clearly knows the tracks well as he always has the yard’s charges in tip-top condition as was the case on Sunday when all of Arabian National, Strategic Move and Chennai Babe won to add to the Friday night poly victory of Jade Vine and last Tuesday’s poly win with In Other Words.

Tarry looks likely to make a bold bid to wrest the KZN title, as he is carefully selecting horses from his Johannesburg string who look likely to be suited to the Greyville poly. He will not just be sending the sand horses, of which he had many a good one, lock-stock-and-barrel down to KZN as he pointed out that while the now defunct Vaal Sand track tended to suit galloping types, the Greyville poly requires horses who can quicken.

The four-year-old Kahal filly Chennai Babe is one who has been a revelation on the poly, having arrived in KZN as a merit-rated 51 one-time winner and then reeling off four wins and two places in her six poly starts to date. Arabian National, a five-year-old National Emblem gelding who has tremendous early pace and the ability to kick again, also looks suited to the surface and his three 1000m Greyville poly starts to date have yielded two wins and an unlucky third when missing the break.

By David Thiselton

In The Fast Lane, winner of the 2013 Cape Fillies Guineas and last year’s Woolavington for Justin Snaith, comes up for auction at the Tattersalls December Mare Sale at Newmarket.

The Jet Master five-year-old proved most disappointing in her three starts for William Haggas in England. After taking fifth in a minor conditions race on the all-weather at Chelmsford, she finished second-last in Listed races at Newmarket and Kempton.

By Michael Clower

Anthony Delpech, fresh from winning Victor Ludorum in this weekend’s Jockeys International, carried through to Greyville on Sunday as he wrapped up the first two races although  he did have to share honours in the first.

He was aboard favourite Black Agate in the opener for Dean Kannemeyer but after pinching an early lead in the straight he had to work hard to keep his mount going as Delirious Nomad and Sean Cormack cut into his lead with every stride.

The judges were unable to separate them at the wire, declaring a dead-heat. Delirious Nomad was a touch unlucky as he appeared to falter for a stride at the furlong marker but he regathered smartly and was a winner both sides of the line.

Delpech had no problems in the second as Arabian National bowled out of the gate and was never in danger of defeat. The son of National Emblem simply pounds the ground with his heavy action and he is likely to add to his tally of wins if Sean Tarry can keep him sound.

“I know that he is a horse with problems,” said Delpech. “But he felt really good gong to the start today. It was just a case of jump and run. Just the way he likes it.”

Punters have been having a tough time of things on the poly of late and they took another body blow in the third where outsider Ginger Biscuit got up late to catch Black Velvet on the line.

Muzi Yeni, who last week rode the 1000^th winner of his career, was a late replacement in the International Jockeys team after S’Manga Khumalo was injured before the first at Turffontein yesterday, was back in the winner’s box as he drove the Duncan Howells-trained The Gingerman to victory in the fourth.

He was at the son of Brave Tin Soldier from a long way out and the gelding kept finding to hold off the challenge from a slightly unlucky favourite Saarikh who battled to find a run early in the straight.

The absence of ante-post favourite Spanish Captain left the fifth wide open and the Frank Robinson-trained Second Lieutenant, a surprise winner of his maiden last time out, took advantage and kept running strongly to beat Aware and Strategic’s Pride.

Warren Kennedy scored a double on the day as he kept the Tarry-trained Strategic News going in a driving finish to deny Off Ramp and Deep Down Rebel in a driving finish to the sixth.

Chennai Babe has really taken to the poly and scored her fourth win from just five starts on the surface. Rain forced the switch from turf to poly yesterday and although there were a few trainers cursing their luck, Sean Tarry will have been more than happy with the switch.

Favourite Lobelia looked to have the final race sewn up with a furlong to go but Alzerra, giving Stuart Randolph is first win back from injury, finished too strongly and the daughter of Jay Peg rattled home to win going away.

By Andrew Harrison
Picture (Nkosi Hlophe): Arabian National and Anthony Delpech