He claimed that the fractured disc gave him no problems “once I warmed up” and there was certainly no sign of it as he brought 20-1 chance Waiting For Rain from last to first in the straight of the Soccer 3 Handicap to give Piet Steyn, 57 tomorrow, reason to celebrate early.

Aldo Domeyer

The 2013 Met-winning jockey was really back in the groove by the time it came to the last and his determination enabled the Paddy Kruyer-trained Beulah to make light of joint top weight.

Richard Fourie also served notice that he is back in business with a vengeance by riding his first winner for four weeks when making all on hitherto perpetual bridesmaid Breathless Bertie in the Rugby 5 Maiden.

“It’s been a while but it feels like a whole lot longer,” grinned the jockey who would now be chasing the title had his season not been repeatedly ripped apart by the after-effects of that horror fall last June.

Fourie was intrigued to hear that Mike Stewart intends to run the headstrong Breathless Bertie on the Fairview polytrack later in the year and said: “He is a nice type of horse for that. By the time the others straighten up he will be gone!”

Andrew Fortune, Domeyer’s father, believes that Prince Of Thieves, is going to be a prolific scorer even though the odds-on shot only just scrambled home against Schachar in the first – and he blamed himself for making things look difficult.

He explained: “I made a mistake in that, after we went quite hard to the corner, I probably slowed him down a bit too much and Grant van Niekerk went straight past me at the 400m mark.

“Did I panic? For a second because I could see this was going to be a bunfight. But I think he is a smart horse and he is going to win four or five races.”

Joey Ramsden, watching from the sales, was also inclined to blame the tactics and said: “Prince Of Thieves made heavy weather of it but he wants holding up.”

Fortune was interviewed by the stipes about the interference he caused when slowing his mount and was suspended for seven days. Van Niekerk was given the same for the same offence on Supreme Star in the last.

BLOB The Girish Goomany name saga has taken a new twist with the Mauritian saying that he asked the NHA to change his first name to Lovekushsingh when issuing his jockey’s licence. The NHA is prepared to change it back to Girish but Goomany said: “I wanted Lovekushsingh because it’s the first in my passport. But either name will do – I really don’t mind!”

However, in amongst the equine nobility a “cheapie” provided one of the stories of the day.

Passionate racing fan Shashin Govender experienced the joy of having a winner with his first ever runner. Govender took a chance by buying the Tiger Ridge filly Charter’s Creek for an affordable price of just R6,000 at the recent Mike Holmes Bloodstock Shongweni horses-in-training sale, and the filly, who is out of a Western Winter mare and is a half-sister to the fair sort Piano Man, won her first race for both him and the Dennis Bosch yard when getting up to win a Maiden Plate for fillies and mares over 1400m on the polytrack under Sean Veale at odds of 55/1.

Charter’s Creek (Nkosi Hlophe)

Tommy Crowe, a newcomer to the game, was another owner who had his first winner when the Justin Snaith-trained Horse Chestnut colt Star Chestnut won a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1200m. He owns this horse in partnership with prominent owner Nick Jonsson.

Jonsson’s luck turned later when his classy Snaith-trained Jet Master gelding Ultimate Dollar was objected against by his fierce Cape Town rival St. Tropez after a ding dong tussle down the straight. St. Tropez, ridden by Anthony Delpech, has a history of hanging to the right and duly moved inward just past the 300m mark. Ultimate Dollar, ridden by Sean Cormack, moved slightly outward at the same time and the horses bumped. About 150m later Ultimate Dollar moved outward again and took up St. Tropez’ running. St. Tropez was moving forward to challenge at the time and the eventual winning margin was a short-head, so the stipendiary stewards decided to uphold the objection. However, many on course were of the opinion that the long-striding Ultimate Dollar, as a type that takes a while to wind up, would not have been overtaken had a straight course been maintained by both runners. Ultimate Dollar had to concede 3kg to St. Tropez and could be a huge runner in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 on May 30 and could also be a contender in the Gr 2 KRA Guineas on May 2. Silvano gelding St Tropez could have a chance in both races too.

Snaith had further bad luck when his charge Ash Cloud, a former Gr 1 SA Oaks winner, got her foot caught over the parade ring rail that has been widened to prevent horses standing in the flower beds on the standside. Gold Circle have reacted by agreeing to look into a solution to this problem. That race, a handicap for fillies and mares over 1600m, was won in good style by the promising Glen Kotzen-trained Royal Air Force filly Cathy Specific. The Neil Bruss-trained Zante gave 6kg to Cathy Specific and only just failed to reach her, so is one to watch over further.

In the second race on the poly over 1200m first-season sire Tropical Empire had his first winner when the Chris Erasmus-trained Daiquiri won at odds of 35/1 under Billy Jacobson.

The Mike Stewart-trained three-year-old invariably lives up to his name, rushing off in a hell of a hurry and running out of puff before the end. He has finished second in his last four starts and needs to win here to avoid being made an honorary member of the bookmakers’ benevolent fund.

To be fair, he would have won when he was odds-on last time had Sean Cormack’s saddle not slipped sideways shortly after the start. “He is quite genuine,” says Stewart. “The only thing I am worried about this time is that he and Hilaria could end up cutting each other’s throats. They both go hell for leather and you can’t tuck in Breathless. If this should happen I think Downton Abbey could have a chance.”

Fortunately for Breathless Bertie, Mohammed Allie is determined that Hilaria should be ridden with more restraint than usual. “If you try to hold her, she fights and then she will run out of steam,” he says. “She was used a bit too much in her last two runs, particularly the last one. But she will relax if her rider keeps his hands down on her and so Lucian Africa must sit with her on Saturday.”

The filly comes out best on merit ratings and her gate speed should make light of her poor draw. In fact she just might have a better chance if her jockey were to let her run. The Durbanville 1 000m is tailor-made for short-runners, horses with blinding speed who don’t last home on a normal course. Remember Isidingo?

Hilaria opened at 5-1 with Betting World yesterday, Breathless Bertie was 6-10 favourite and Downton Abbey an 8-1 shot.

Greg Cheyne’s mount started at 66-1 when beaten less than a neck by his stable companion last time. “That did surprise me,” says Stewart. “But I think he will get better and better as the winter comes.”

The other six are juveniles and, while they receive 5.5kg (equivalent to four lengths over this trip) less than they should under the weight-for-age scale, they are up against horses who were not good enough to win at two so they should not be ignored. Red Rex (7-1) has the best form and newcomer Barnstable (5-1) is the shortest priced.

Prince Of Thieves should confirm previous running with Schachar in the first and 2-1 chance Noisette makes marginally more appeal than 11-10 favourite Malachite Sunbird 35 minutes later. Matari, despite a near three-month absence, has the form to win race four at 5-2.

Strydom, who last won the championships in the 2012/2013 season, was seven winners behind reigning champion S’Manga Khumalo after the Vaal meeting on Tuesday, where he scored a rare blank.

Strydom recalled a recent discussion he had with Anton Marcus about the championships. He said, “You don’t want to keep on chasing the championships, because you also want to enjoy life and it is not enjoyable being on an aeroplane an average of five times a week. But the fact is guys like myself and Anton are always competitive and always doing well and end up in a position where we are able to give it a go. But the younger guys are hungrier and will go the extra mile, whereas we will probably only go the extra three-quarters of a mile!”

Piere Strydom

Strydom has currently ridden 5046 career winners.

However, 72 of those winners were ridden abroad so he has another 26 to go to reach his next target, which is the 5000 winners in South Africa milestone.

Strydom considers himself to have been lucky this season to have been associated with some top horses and said, “It is now just a question of staying aboard.”

One ride he will be keeping is the Sean Tarry-trained Siren’s Call, who will bid to become the third horse in history to land the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara when taking part in the R1 million Gr1 Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks over 2450m on Champions Day at Turffontein on April 25.

Strydom has little doubt that she will stay the 2450m trip and said that considering her lack of speed it was amazing that she was ever able to win over 1400m (she won the R2,5 million Cape Thoroughbred Sales Book 2 Graduates Race over that distance). He said , “She takes for ever to get going but still managed to get up to win the SA  Fillies Classic (over 1800m). She has a bad draw in the Oaks but has a huge heart and this has got to be a weaker field than the Classic.”

Triple Crown hero Louis The King as well as Amsterdam, Trip Tease and Isca will also all have chances of giving Strydom further Gr 1 victories on Champions Day. They run in the Gr R2 million President’s Champions Challenge, the R2 million SA Derby, the R1 million Computaform Sprint and the R1 million SA Nursery respectively.

Louis The King disappointed as favourite for the Gr1 HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes over 1600m last time, when Strydom virtually pulled him out of the race. The Woodruff yard were unable to find anything wrong immediately after the race, but he was clearly not himself and the professional yard should have him back to his best by next week. Strydom was surprised that Louis The King had started favourite for that race as he said that he simply did not have the speed for a mile and is much better suited to further.

Amsterdam stayed on resolutely from a handy position to run second in the Gr 1 SA Classic under Ian Sturgeon, despite appearing to have been in the inferior going, so looks likely to stay the Derby 2450m trip, although like Siren’s Call and Louis The King he does not have the best of draws.

Strydom believes that Trip Tease on his bare form has a chance on weight for age terms of winning the Computaform Sprint and felt he would have won by a length or two more if not impeded by a faulty starting gate in his last start over the 1000m course and distance last Saturday.

Isca, a speedy Var colt, is one of a powerful string of two-year-olds from the Gavin van Zyl yard and he could be anything having won his debut over 1000m in comfortable fashion. However, by recent trends he has the worst of the draw in barrier one, although the going at Turffontein does vary from time to time, so it might not end up being that bad.

Snaith said that both horses had settled in well at their plush Summerveld barn and he would be looking to gallop them together on the grass early next week.  The pair are the respective holders of the Vodacom Durban July and J&B Met crowns.

Their first big Gr 1 clash in the Champions Season is likely to be in the weight for age Rising Sun Gold Challenge over 1600m at Greyville on June 6.

The Vodacom Durban July first nominations were announced at Greyville yesterday and, as anticipated, both horses names were among the entries. However, the yard emphasised last month that Legislate was not a certainty to take part in the July, because the race that will really decide his future, after his disappointing run in the L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate, would be the Gold Challenge.

Meanwhile, Dean Kannemeyer was very pleased with his Equus champion stayer Hot Ticket’s Champions Season’s pipe opener last Friday at Greyville, which was his first run since a successful wind operation. This horse clearly loves Greyville and Kannemeyer was considering entering him in the July alongside Power King, who won his Champions Season pipe opener over 1400m at Scottsville comfortably. Hot Ticket’s chief target will obviously be the Gr 1 eLan Property Group Gold Cup.

Kannemeyer might also be entering his Gr 1-winning three-year-old Afrikaburn in the July, depending upon the outcome of a discussion with owner Fred Crabbia. This classy sort has just returned from a rest at Jane Thomas’ spelling farm and has begun cantering at Summerveld. Kannemeyer said he had been moving very well and predicted that he would be ready to race in about four to six weeks time.