The Equus Horse Of The Year elect Futura and last season’s Horse Of The Year Legislate have both arrived safely at Drakenstein Stud where they will enjoy a one month holiday before being brought back for the Cape Summer Of Champions Season.

The Justin Snaith-trained pair of five-year-old Dynasty entires finished first and third in the Gr 1 Champions Cup over 1800m at Greyville on Saturday. Futura put in a phenomenal performance and will thoroughly deserve the country’s highest accolade. He hit the starting gates before they had opened and this caused him to lose ground.

Snaith revealed the reason for him hitting the starting gates was probably due to getting a fright when Legislate alongside him kicked the back of the gate. Legislate did the same in the IOS Drill Hall Stakes and had to be scratched after his foot became momentarily stuck between the two back gates.

However, Gold Circle reacted to this and a subsequent incident by padding the back gates with rubber, which not only softens the blow but also prevents the foot from slipping through, and this paid dividends in respect of Legislate on Saturday as he ran his race and was beaten fair and square by two firecrackers.

After losing about a length-and-a-half Futura had to be used up significantly by Bernard Fayd’Herbe to get into the desired handy position. The effect of such fuel burn is usually revealed in the latter stages of the race, but not in the case of Futura, who must have a massive engine on top of his athleticism and wonderful action.

Ice Machine, who was given the perfect tow by Legislate until being switched out at the 300m mark used his tremendous turn of foot to overtake Futura and looked to have the race in the bag, especially considering he had the peerless Anton Marcus aboard. But amazingly Futura fought back under hard and superbly rhythmical driving from Fayd’Herbe to snare Ice Machine on the line.

Ice Machine has blossomed in the Charles Laird yard and deserves a Gr 1 victory. There looks to be no reason why he can’t continue racing as a seven-year-old, especially as he is by Silvano, whose progeny get better with age.

Snaith paid tribute to the gallant Futura, whom he felt beforehand would be in tip top condition and he proved correct.

Part-owner Jack Mitchell pointed out that one of Furura’s best career runs was in the Vodacom Durban July, considering he had carried a welter 60kg.

Both Snaith and another part-owner John Freeman paid tribute to Futura’s groom, Cyprian Mkhonowana, who gained some fame in 2008 because the decision to fly him in from Cape Town half-way through the Champions Season appeared to turnaround the fortunes of the filly he was devoted to, Dancer’s Daughter.

Drakenstein are part-owners in both Futura and Legislate and will be looking forward to them standing at stud one day, although not before they have likely added more big race success to their already glittering CV’s. They have now each won four Gr 1’s apiece and Futura has won the Champions Cup two years running.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Legislate left Futura right (John Lewis)

Duncan Howells landed his second Gr 1 victory of the Champions Season when retaining his crown in the Thekwini Stakes over 1600m at Greyville on Saturday with the Elusive Fort filly Lauderdale and jockey Muzi Yeni has certainly grabbed the opportunity of being stable jockey to this powerful yard with both hands as this was his second Graded race win for them in the space of two weeks.

It was the third time Howells had won the Thekwini and was his first Gr 1 winner for a new owner in the yard, Brian “Buffalo Bill” Burnard, who also won this race with the Gavin van Zyl-trained Along Came Polly two years ago.

Lauderdale, who was bred by Dr Jim Antrobus, was pin-hooked by Allan Bloodlines at the Cape Thoroughbred Sales (CTS) March Yearling Sale last year for a mere R40,000. The filly is from the second crop of the Fort Wood stallion Elusive Fort, whose first crop filly Siren’s Call went within a stride of landing this year’s Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara. Lauderdale was later bought by Burnard on the Bloodstock South Africa Emperor’s Palace Ready To Run Sale for R220,000.

Lauderdale was sent off at odds of 12/1 on Saturday.

Howells said after the victory that he had been confident of finishing in the first three, “If you watch her last race she broke well from a good draw and then was kept out the whole way, so she had to race flat out the whole 1400m and it was very difficult for her to finish the race. I knew she was crying out for the 1600m and also knew she is quite precocious in herself so thought this would make it a lot easier for her to get a good position before holding her up and making a sprint for home. Muzi, I must hand it to him, rode a great race.”

Yeni got Lauderdale right up there from the off from his tricky daw of eight and it then panned out perfectly when the big striding Mike de Kock-trained Persian Rug went to the front as this enabled Yeni to shadow her about a length behind.

Persian Rug stretched away impressively in the straight and looked to have it won until being confused by the grandstand shadow and digging her toes in. This must have been a heartbreaking moment for owners Nathan Kotzen and Steven Jell, who are assistant trainers to De Kock and own the Ideal World filly together. However, it enabled Lauderdale to pounce from the perfect position on the outside and stay on to win by 0,25 lengths from the Mike Azzie-trained Querari filly Melliflora, who ran on well from midfield under Donovan Dillon. Persian Rug did amazingly well to pick herself up and run on for third and she will undoubtedly be a big horse for the classics this season.

The favourite Chestnuts N pearls, who won the Gr 1 Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper over 1400m, stayed on for tie fourth with Flying Ice, who was the other hard luck story of the race as she had to be brought around them into the straight, then switched inward and was a bit tight for room in the last few strides.

Howells commented on how strong Lauderdale was for her age and is an admirer of her honesty. She will qualify for the country’s hitherto richest ever race, the CTS Million Dollar, which is due to be run over 1400m at Kenilworth on January 23 next year. She also qualifies for the R2 million Ready To Run Cup over 1400m at Turffontein on October 31 and will likely go for this season’s fillies classics .

The Burnards were unusually not on course on Saturday having had a family celebration to attend to on their farm, but were represented by on course presenter Warren Lenferna, who has a long association with the Howells yard.

Yeni’s first graded win for the Howells yard was with Cosmic Light in the Gr 2 Debutante Stakes over 1200m at Greyville on July 18. This was another feather in cap for Howells’ partner Cathy Rymill, who selected her at the National Yearling Sale where she was bought for R200,000, as she provided the exciting news season stallion Querari with his first Graded winner. Cosmic Light looks to have tremendous scope and will surely make her presence felt in next season’s classics.

Two years ago Rymill selected Same Jurisdiction at the Suncoast Yearling Sale, before Howells secured her for R270,000. This filly is from the first crop of Mambo In Seattle and proved herself possibly the best filly in the land when winning the Gr 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes over 1600m in ultra classy style on Vodacom Durban July day. Same Jurisdiction won the Thkekwini last year, having earlier won the KZN Yearling Sales Million, and her Johannesburg classic campaign this season was plagued by bad luck. Significantly, the Howells yard also have the probable second best Mambo In Seattle in the land too, the ever improving gelding Saratoga Dancer, selected by Rymill at the Emperor’s Palace Ready To Run Sale for a bargain R140,000. Saratoga Dancer looks sure to step up to the top flight this season.

Howells first winner of the Thekwini was Gypsy’s Warning, who was from the second crop of Mogok, and after her victory in this race at Clairwood in 2008 she was sold on and went on to win the Gr 1 SA Fillies Classic and the Gr 1 Matriarch Stakes in the USA.

By David Thiselton

Gr 1 eLan Property Group Gold Cup-winning owner Sean Phillips summed up the roller coaster ride he has enjoyed with his prized horse Wild One when saying at the end of his victory speech on Saturday, “He’s my Wild One”, and this will certainly become of one of racing’s feel good stories of the year.

Despite being six-years-of-age the Mike de Kock-trained Scott Brothers-bred Mogok gelding is at present as sound as a bell and relatively lightly raced, so he will likely be an interesting contender this season in big races like the Gr 1 Sansui Summer Cup and others.

In Wild One’s first start for De Kock in May last year he gave Phillips a first ever Graded victory, winning the Gr 3 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup over 2400m, and he followed up by finishing a 0,5 length second in the Gold Cup over 3200m.

However, a soft tissue injury then saw him side-lined.

Phillips later reached a point where he had  become “disappointed” with the game and organised a  dispersal sale at Summerveld.

He takes up the story, “I expected to get at least half-a-million for Wild One but he quickly went down from 500, to 400, 300, 200, I put in an offer at 200 and nobody else counterbid. I believed he was worth far more than that so kept him.”

The lack of bidding was perhaps not surprising considering the long layoff and Wild One also having been a notable scratching from the SANSUI Summer Cup.

In fact De Kock had initially believed the injury might be “career ending”, and praised Phillips for his “heart and patience” and allowing the yard time to bring the horse back to soundness.

The amazing faith Phillips showed in the gallant bay gelding has paid handsome dividends as he has earned over a million rand in his first three comeback runs.

Furthermore, Phillips admitted the Gold Cup win had “most definitely” re-ignited his own fervour for the game.

Phillips praised “the genius” of De Kock. He added that without disputing the skills of his many friends in training he was now of the firm belief that it was a “must” to send a top horse to a trainer who had had a lot of big race experience and success and this was especially the case where there was international opportunity, which he believed Wild One had. He said, “It’s these type of wins that make us come back.”

Wild One’s win provided De Kock with a third Gold Cup victory and saw Anthony Delpech ending a hoodoo, as he has come second in the country’s premier staying race on no fewer than six occasions.

De Kock and Delpech had an early morning start last Tuesday when leaving the Wild Coast at 4:30 a.m in order to gallop Wild One at Summerveld, before returning to the coastal resort to play in the second round of the popular Gold Circle Racing Masters golf tournament. De Kock said before and after the race that Wild One had enjoyed an absolutely  faultless preparation.

Phillips, having begun Saturday just thrilled to have two Gold Cup horses running in his colours, was pinching himself as the other one, the Joey Soma-trained Savage Wind, finished third.

He said, “I’m over the moon and very happy for Joey too, he’s done a great job for us as well.”

Wild One was spotted at the Suncoast Casino KZN Yearling Sale of 2011 by Summerveld trainer Jeff Freedman, who bought him for R95,000.

Phillips became the sole owner and it was soon clear that he and Freedman had a good horse in their hands.

However, the first up-and-down moment happened on day one of Wild One’s racing career.

The connections were confident he would win that debut over 1450m at Clairwood on 10 October, 2012 and Wild One was consequently backed in from 25/1 to 48/10. He duly won, but alas, the hot favourite Flyfirstclass was then declared a non-runner, having been adjudged to have not had a fair start, and all bookmaker winning bets were subjected to a massive deduction.

Wild One was already showing signs of ideally needing further after a subsequent third in the Listed KZN Guineas Trial and a strong-finishing sixth in the Dingaans.

In his second career victory over 1600m at Greyville he ran all over the course and has raced in blinkers ever since.

In first-time blinkers he was a very unlucky 0,5 length second in the Listed Derby Trial at Turffontein.

Potential buyers began showing an interest after he had subsequently finished third in the Gr 1 SA Derby over 2450m, having been dropped out from a wide draw and running on strongly.

However, Phillips held on and a dream came true when Wild One was accepted into the 2013 Vodacom Durban July field, despite an unlucky unplaced run in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000. Wild One finished unplaced in the July but Phillips, dressed in his yellow and red suit to reflect the colours, had a memorable day out with family and friends.

Freedman then took a share in the horse, but Wild One appeared to lose his way a bit and five runs later, after finishing fourth out of five runners in a Non-Black Type event over 1950m at Scottsville, Phillips wondered whether the horse was as good as they had originally believed. He was probably lamenting not having accepted those earlier offers to sell.

There was more disappointment next time out when only managing a 5,5 length fourth in a Graduation Plate over 1600m at Clairwood, although in retrospect the winner was none other than Futura.

However, Phillips retained faith and after becoming sole owner again he sent the horse to De Kock.

Having shown such versatility in his last three runs from 1600m up to 3200m the world now appears to be Wild One’s oyster and Phillips is in for some more of those heady highs and lows that are always part and parcel of the Sport Of Kings.

By David Thiselton

CEO Sean Coleman said: “It’s a matter of economics. Our margins are tight and we are averaging only ten or 11% gross profit on turnover which is less than half what the Tote gets. Its take-out averages 25%.

“There will still be some bookmakers offering ante-post but as an industry we have taken the view that there will be no more ante-post market – as it has traditionally been called – two days in advance of local meetings.

“But there will continue to be ante-post betting on the big feature race festivals like the July, Met, Summer Cup, Gold Cup, Emerald Cup etc.”

Coleman added that for most races and most bookmakers prices will go up at 10.00am on the day of the race and he maintains that the change will suit the majority of punters.

He explained: “The sharpies and the shrewdies like to get on early but most can’t afford to tie up their money 48 hours in advance. They want to invest and get a return.”

Several of the big firms are taking a slightly different line to the SABA policy change and Betting World, the biggest of them, says that it will price up all races at least 24 hours beforehand. Marshalls already price up the previous afternoon and the company plans to continue with this approach “If the market proves sufficiently settled.”

Hollywood has still to decide on a plan of action – “we are betwixt and between”- but it had its Fairview prices up at 9.00am last Friday and, interestingly, claimed that it was the first of the major players to do so.

Seemingly even the SABA could change its stance if the new policy proves unpopular with punters and they vote with their feet. Coleman said: “This is not cast in stone but rather something we would like to try.”

By Michael Clower

Dean Kannemeyer is toying with the idea of having a crack at the Sansui Summer Cup with his Vodacom Durban July hero Power King.

He said: “In weight-for-age races like the J & B Met Power King would be only about a kilo off the top weight so, with the satellite yard I now have at Summerveld, maybe we should continue to train him there and raid Johannesburg for top races like the Summer Cup (November 28).

“This is something that I have been giving thought to and I will talk to Lady Laidlaw about it and also discuss it with Jehan Malherbe.”

Kannemeyer has had success with raiding Jo’burg in the past, but from Cape Town, notably with Free My Heart in the 2002 Horse Chestnut. He sent the seven-time Grade 1 winner by plane four days before the race and he won comfortably.

Free My Heart went on to win the Champions Cup but Kannemeyer has no regrets about taking Power King out of last Saturday’s big race, saying: “The July was tough, he ran his heart out and he was tired afterwards.”

By Michael Clower