Gerrit Schlechter looks like being out of action for several weeks after his back injury flared up painfully when he returned after three months off at Kenilworth on Saturday.
The July and Met-winning jockey said: “I was fine on Aspen Fire in race two and when True Brave played up badly going down the chute for the next. But I really felt it when he began doing the same thing going to the start.
“Three months ago I had what they call a prolapsed disc – basically a torn ligament in my back. My neuro-surgeon said that the last thing he wanted to do was operate because there would be no comeback if he did. He said to rest it before it tore completely. Now I will have to go back to him again.”
When Schlechter eventually reached the start, several minutes late and still in pain, he was promptly stood down and his mount withdrawn. The race was won by Karl Neisius on Nabisco, the middle leg of Justin Snaith’s second treble in as many days, but the former champion trainer seemed just as impressed with Black Arthur even though the newcomer finished with only two behind him after being backed from 8-1 to 7-2 second favourite.
Snaith said: “He is a special horse but we had no alternative but to drop him out from his wide draw because he didn’t have the experience to go to the front. Also this was my last opportunity to run him for seven weeks.
“I’m not knocking Durbanville – the track is in great nick – but he is a heavy type of horse and the undulations wouldn’t suit him.”
Stable companion Twinkle Toes, who would have started favourite for the Pravda Maiden, has had a setback which saw her going lame on her off-fore and having to be scratched on Thursday evening.
Snaith related: “She injured herself in her first race but it didn’t come out until after her final sprint.”
There were some high trainer expectations for several newcomers in this race but victory went to 8-1 shot Sails Set, the most experienced horse in the field. Aldo Domeyer’s mount is trained by Brett Crawford whose Midnight Breeze, sixth after being backed from 20-1 to 7-1, had a genuine excuse because Robert Khathi’s saddle slipped back from the start.
Vaughan Marshall has some ambitious hopes for Olympian who romped home four lengths clear in the Michaud Agencies Handicap without even having to be shown Domeyer’s stick.
Marshall said: “This horse has got more in the tank and hopefully he is good enough to run in races like the Cape Flying Championship.”
The Mike Bass stable had a frustrating afternoon – two beaten favourites including Arabian Winter being pipped on the post by no more than the hair on the nostrils of the Glen Kotzen-trained Deep Secret – but Greg Cheyne employed much the same inspired last gasp tactics to snatch the last on Sheer Trouble and raise the roof in the Milnerton Medi-Clinic.
Candice Robinson said: “My father is now doing well. He is out of Intensive Care and in a ward. He is still weak – he needs to get himself exercising to get stronger – but he is talking and eating.”
Shock of the day was Piet Steyn’s Belcourt Castle, 28-1 outsider of the ten-runner Perpetua House Handicap. He made all under Brandon May after having the blinkers taken off for the first time in more than 20 races.
By Michael Clower
Picture: Gerrit Schlechter
