David Thiselton

Competition between operators in South Africa might have inadvertently led to a brighter outlook for the owner and breeder as they and their sponsors have driven stakes upward in order to attract the best horses to their respective jurisdictions.

SA Champion trainer Justin Snaith said, “I don’t think we have been in a more positive situation for years. We have gone through the hardest time ever in SA racing and the racing operators should be applauded for whatever they have had to do to pick up the pieces. Racing has been the winner at the end of the day.”

Towards the end of last year 4Racing announced a commitment to a total stakes increase from R186 million in 2021 to R207 million in 2022 and an announcement of handsome minimum stakes amounts for feature races.

Snaith said as a response to this commitment many Cape trainers had been set to take strings up to the Highveld at a time they would normally be travelling to KZN.

However, KZN then announced exciting stakes incentives at a glittering ceremony held on February 17 to announce a new Durban July sponsor. 

Gold Circle announced Hollywoodbets as the new sponsor and the two entities, who have been working together for some time to improve racing in KZN, then jointly announced a July stake increase to a record-breaking R5 million. A further R13 million has been injected into minor races and feature races from 1 March – 31 August, meaning a total R16m boost to the KZN stakes pot.

KZN also announced that from 1 March until the end of May 2022 grooms would receive R2000 for each winning horse, an increase of R1000.    

Snaith said the announcement by Gold Circle was sure to have attracted the attention of connections around the country.

He himself will be in KZN for the SA Champions Season which he has supported every year for the past 22 years.

He said the only negative in SA racing at present remains the export situation and he reiterated, “They would like me to send a horse to the USA but it takes me two weeks to get a horse from the Eastern Cape to Cape Town. They have to sit for two weeks in quarantine even if they return a negative PCR test. The horses we buy at the sales in other provinces will have to sit in quarantine halfway back to Cape Town before being allowed to go to their pre-racing centres. The question I have for the experts is, how is all of this seen to be ‘moving forward’.”

Snaith called his Grade 1 R1 million Jonsson Workwear Cape Derby winner Pomp And Power a “smart little horse” and added, “He needed his first run back and hasn’t put a foot wrong since.”

He revealed he had battled to book a rider for the Derby and divulged that Richard Fourie’s agent had said he was waiting “to see what else he could get” when initially offered the ride and had only accepted some time later.

Fourie was confident the son of Vercingetorix would stay and suggested a “happy bit” to try and help him settle. Fourie then surprised all and sundry by reining him back into midfield after a good break as everybody had expected him to lead. Pomp And Power proved himself to not be one-dimensional and ran on strongly in the straight to win easily.

He has only been given a 118 merit rating which will allow the connections an opportunity of targeting the Hollywoodbets Durban July by avoiding the classics and protecting his July weight. The route he takes is yet to be decided by the connections but he has not surprisingly been scratched from Saturday’s Grade 1 WSB SA Classic at Turffontein.

Pomp And Power gave Vercingetorix a third individual Grade 1 winner and saw him increase his lead in the national Sires Championship to just over R600,000 from reigning champion Gimmethegreenlight, whose son Cosmic Highway won one of the main supporting features, the R600,000 Grade 2 Khaya Stables Diadem Stakes 

Snaith was disappointed by the well beaten third of the favourite Double Superlative and said, “His Met run seemed to have flattened him. It was tempting to go for the Derby, but maybe it was the wrong call.”

He predicted a big future for the runner up, the Adam Marcus-trained Universal who had to do it the hard way in front, and called him “impressive”.

Snaith had one other winner on the day, his four-year-old Dynasty gelding Salvator Mundi winning the Listed Kenilworth Cup over 3200m.

In the Grade 2 Prix du Cap, won easily by the Adam Marcus-trained Princess Calla, he finished second with Rain In Newmarket (Kingsbarns) and said, “I couldn’t be happier with her and she has now finished second to two top horses, Marina and Princess Calla, but I’m not sure of her route because it will be hard to find races for a four-year-old filly of her class other than in the Grade 1s.”

He was disappointed with Rio Querari’s third place in the Diadem and said,  “He never traveled and was tailed off. He kicked but he has had some issues and an ordinary summer and I am going to have to change something.”

He said the reigning Equus Champion Sprinter was unlikely at this stage to defend his Computaform Sprint title.

He added if horses who had run at Hollywoodbets Greyville before were not allowed a gallop there it would be a detractor to Rio Querari going to KZN.

However, he concluded by saying all horses are checked for soundness and weighed after races to see where they are and it is taken from there.