Andrew Harrison

IT was hard going for most punters at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Saturday and although the results were not always in favour of the majority, there was still some memorable performances. With many of the trainers away hoping to top up their strings at the BSA Two-Year-Old Sale in Gauteng, Gareth van Zyl was on hand to saddle his two winners with After The Rain and Anton Marcus getting his season off to a belated start on Alittlebitnaughty in the last and also giving the International Racing Club and Mike de Haast their third winner of the afternoon.

Gary Rich has a small string and it is something of a mystery that he is not better supported by owners. Daughter and assistant, Tessa saddled Kitten’s Adventure on Saturday and the stable were quietly bullish in spite of a flood of money for Mike Miller’s filly October Song.

Jarred Samuel had his mount out and running from the jump and with 100m to the line was afforded the luxury of glance at October Song bobbing in his wake.

In the final analysis, Kitten’s Adventure was never in danger of defeat and October Song well beaten. However, the dangers of backing first timers with no racing experience was there to see as the benefit of a run was clearly obvious. The winner kept straight as an arrow while Serino Moodley had to cope with a mount that wasn’t sure what it was all about.

October Song will sing a better tune next time out.

The stallion Admiral Kitten stands in the relative backwaters of the Great Karoo outside of Colesberg – once the heart of the thoroughbred breeding industry – and as such gets limited access to the better performed and bred mares. But David Southey and partners appear to have unearthed a gem as Admiral Kitten was backed up by Family Favourite in the next. 

Owned by Southey, Dennis Bosch’s filly was not high on the list of possible winners, paying over R64 on the tote, but she did give young apprentice Donald Geerthsen his second winner of his short career. While all were looking for favourites One Bite At A Time and Poppy Of Bayeux, Geerthsen snuck up the inside to hold off a late challenge from Gareth Van Zyl’s Drive By ridden by Mandla Ntuli. After a three-year stint as a work rider in China and Hong Kong, Ntuli had his holiday at home extended after the outbreak of Covid and a Chinese lockdown.