Graeme Hawkins

While Richard Fourie took the riding honours with a treble at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on Saturday, the highlights of the day were arguably a race-to-race 1500/1 double for the “underdogs” Paul Reeves and Devin Ashby and an exciting victory by the progressive Boundless Energy in the seventh race, a Class 4 Handicap over 1400m.

The first leg of the Reeves/Ashby double, for the recently formed Turf Talk Syndicate, was particularly noteworthy as Garden Of Eden stormed home on debut from well off the pace to mow down the luckless Tuscan Romance in the very last stride. Garden Of Eden at 125/1 was completely ignored in the betting but fortunately for Pick 6 punters the first-timer rule came into play and followers of the tote favourite Tuscan Romance also survived. But not so in Jackpot 1 which returned a massive dividend of R42 653-60. Tuscan Romance has now finished second in all four starts to date, and her winning turn cannot be too far away.

Ashby and Reeves completed their double with I’m The Buzz (12/1) showing terrific resolution to hold out What A Fortune (25/1) and Dream Searcher (16/1) in the sixth race, a Cape D Stakes over 1400m, in a driving finish which saw only half-a-length cover the top three home. The outcome of this race resulted in the exit of many Place Accumulator tickets but on the whole fancied horses fared pretty well over the 10-race programme, with four tote favourites winning on the day.

Boundless Energy scored impressively in the seventh race, quickening smartly in the closing stages to beat the heavily supported Das Gute by nearly a length going away. The very well-bred lightly-raced 3yo son of Vercingetorix has a touch of class and is bred to be effective over a lot further – early days, but he could be a Derby prospect in the making.

Fourie rode his three winners for three different stables. In the opener, a Maiden Plate (F&M) over 1000m, Fourie partnered the good-looking debutante Alltheboysiveloved for Lucinda Woodruff and although drifting somewhat in the market as race time approached, the daughter of Master Of My Fate raced home comfortably clear of another first-timer Catch A Penny. Make a note of the runner-up, an eye-catching daughter of Vercingetorix, as Cole Dicken came oh so close to parting ways from his mount 300m from the line.

Fourie was back in the winner’s enclosure following the third race, a Maiden Plate (F&M) over 1250m, after steering the Snaith-trained Champagne Kisses (16/10) to a pillar-to-post victory. She was chased home by newcomer Ocotillo (40/1) with the pair finishing well clear of third-placed Special Glamour, who will certainly improve over middle distances. Fourie then had to wait until the tenth race, a Maiden Plate over 1600m, to round off his treble. Refitted with blinkers by Vaughan Marshall, Happy Days (9/4) proved far too good for the opposition and gave Fourie an armchair ride, winning with more than three lengths to spare.

The Greg Ennion stable has been in very good form and celebrated another successful afternoon with a double of their own. Sir Korski (8/1) showed plenty of courage in only his second start and after going really hard under Anthony Andrews in the opening leg of the Pick 6, a Maiden Plate over 1250m, Sir Korski stuck to his task well to hold out the faster finishing Zeitz (9/4) by the narrowest of margins. The runner-up took some time to find his feet but is clearly progressive and he could prove a tough nut to crack next time out.

Ennion also saddled the ninth race winner, Glee Club (5/2), who was fitted with a set of blinkers for the first time. Glee Club has been a model of consistency without winning for more than a year, but blinkers certainly seemed to sharpen her focus, and she kept going well under pressure to hold out Jet To The Sun by a neck.

Andrew Harrison

Rachel Venniker has yet to win at the highest level but that day cannot be far off. She rode a terrific race to get Back In Business home for Joey Soma in the Gr2 Betway Joburg Spring Challenge at Turffontein on Saturday and was back in business when winning a cracking contest on Care Forgot in the Beach Beauty Mile at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday.

Venniker was deputizing for Muzi Yeni who partnered the 50-1 shot Smart Star to victory in the Gr1 Grand Singapore Gold Cup at Kranji in Singapore on Saturday, the last racemeeting to be held at the track with the government closing the venue down for housing development in the island state.

Care Forgot was also Barend Botes’ swansong in KZN as he is soon to relocate back to Gauteng after just two seasons in this province with Equus Champion Quid Pro Quo now also headed north.

The Beach Beauty Mile was reduced to just six runners with the scratching of ante-post favourite Spirit Of Levana and then the grey The Ghost who injured herself when loading.

The race turned into a muddling affair with James Lihaba setting pedestrian fractions with none willing to go forward. Venniker made an early move in the straight and Care Forgot moved smoothly into the lead. She was quickly challenge by favourite Destiny Of Fire who looked to go on by but just when Serino Moodley looked to have the race in hand, Venniker got one final burst from her mount to regain the lead when it counted.

 Deryl Daniels has got over some serious speedbumps in his life which are hopefully all behind him but he has aIways been a talented rider. Since his comeback to riding he has had to battle his way through the ranks and was more appreciated in Zimbabwe than Summerveld.

He rode fine double yesterday, both for Robbie Hill, also a talented rider in his day, and Daniels’ fortunes could be turning for the best.

In spite of some solid form to recommend her, there were concerns that favourite Princess Goldie would find the 1100m a touch on the sharp side in the first and so it proved as Hot Lava and Blowin In The Wind kept finding ahead of her and she could only manage a well-beaten third. Hill was full of praise for Daniels who place Hot Lava perfectly behind the favourite and pressed for home at just the right time. Are You Sure vied for favoritism and the lead with Blowin In The Wind but faded tamely when the chips were down.

Barry de Grond has always shown promise and confirmed that with a comfortable win in the second. A little headstrong in the early exchanges, once Daniels gave him his head in the straight he quickened up smartly to get the better of favourite Star Of The Future with Catavar finishing off nicely for third.

There was little form to go on in the opening leg of the PA which was born out by the fact that one could have thrown a blanket over the first six across the line. But it was Garth Puller’s charge Got The Word who scraped home under Siphesihle Hlengwa. Hlengwa got a straight run through the pack as one-time leader Whereverilaymyhat ducked out badly under pressure and third-placed Rooster Bradshaw also looked to hang in spite of all of his rider’s efforts to keep him straight. 

The fourth came with the sad news of the passing of legendary bookmaker Morris Vee. One of the old school bookmakers who stood on course with the likes of Som Singh and Tommy Morgan before computers took over and individual bookmakers lost their face to the big corporates.

Once horse racing is in your blood, it never leaves. Willie Pieters was a successful trainer in his time before leaving to run safari lodges. He is back along with bloodstock agent Andy Williams in a start-up syndicate operation, Classic Racing. They had their first winner yesterday as JP’s Palace landed the Morris Vee Maiden Plate for Darryl Moore under Athandiwe Mgudlwa who brough the gelding home with a rattle. One of Paul Lafferty’s pet hates is his horses running wide and the well fancied One Arm Bandit was caught three wide throughout before running out of gas late.

Formagear was not short of betting support in spite of dropping back to 1200m from a mile, and replacement rider Mgudlwa was given an armchair ride as Peter Muscutt’s gelding quickened up smartly to win the fifth as he liked.

It was two on the board for Muscutt as Quasiforsure proved far too classy in the sixth. Serino Moodley replaced the indispose Gavin Lerena and in spite of giving weight to all and a wide draw, there was never an anxious moment for his supporters as he cruised through up the outside of the opposition to win as he liked. African Skyline held on gamely for second with Mexican Pete coming from a long way off the pace for third and one to watch next time he goes a little further.

Moodley put the Beach Beauty behind him with a copybook ride on Andre Nel’s runner Selukwe. Making good use of his inside draw, Moodley tracked the early pace and then made a winning move up the inside rail with Tyrconnell finishing off nicely from well back for second.

Favourite Warrior Royale was always travelling like a winner in the last as his Mike Miller-trained stable companion Twilight Bay set the early fractions. But once Mathew Thackeray released the brake, Warrior Royale was not for the catching allowing him the luxury of gearing his mount down before the line.

Local Quartet pools with fractional betting on selected UK race meetings will return to the TabGold betting menu from this Thursday following a mixed reception from customers to the introduction of commingled Quartet pools on all UK and Irish race meetings last month.

Such commingled Quartet pools have been welcomed in some quarters, but many TabGold customers have complained that this has resulted in them being unable to play fractional Quartet bets on UK races.

TabGold have taken note of the complaints and from this Thursday 12 September customers can enjoy the best of both worlds. As before local Quartet pools with fractional betting will be offered on two UK meetings most days with commingled Quartet pools on all other UK and Irish meetings.

Whether an Irish or UK meeting has local or commingled pools will be displayed clearly on Tab sheet race cards in store and online.

Unfortunately for several reasons, including vast differences in exchange rates, it is not technically possible to offer fractional bets on pools commingled internationally.

The minimum unit for commingled bets is R1 (more in the case of countries like the USA) and this is itself a fractional bet in international tote pools.

As an example, the unit of a UK Tote Quartet is one Pound and a customer playing a R1-unit Quartet with TabGold on a UK race is buying about 1/24th of the bet, depending on the exchange rate on the day. And if that bet is the only winning ticket, the customer will get 1/24th of the pool and the remainder will be carried over. To get the full UK Tote payout on a commingled Quartet requires playing the bet to a R24 unit.

That aside, the introduction of commingled Quartet bets has given TabGold customers many more opportunities to play Quartets on UK and Irish races, and access to bigger pools and payouts.

David Thiselton

The KZN Racing awards will be held on 30 August in the Classic Room at Hollywoodbets Greyville and there is going to be a quandary this year about the KZN Horse Of The Season just as there was last year.

The Horse Of The Year award, unlike the other awards, are open to horses from the yards of trainers who are not domiciled in KZN as long as the subject horse has had three or more runs in KZN. It can thus be won by an out of province horse who has excelled in KZN during the season. The other awards can only be won by horses from KZN  yards, although Glen Kotzen and Dean Kannemeyer count as KZN yards because they have had satellite yards in KZN for many years.

The Horse Of The Year exclusion was probably made due to there not being a suitable candidate for some seasons in recent times. However, should not genuine KZN-trained horses like the Michael Roberts-trained See It Again last year and the Nathan Kotzen-trained Royal Victory this year be acknowledged in some way? Everybody in the industry would have viewed the former as the best horse from KZN in the 2022/2023 season, although the Peter Muscutt-trained Isivunguvungu could also have laid a claim, and this season Royal Victory is viewed by all and sundry as the best horse from KZN, although the Gareth van Zyl-trained Flag Man could also lay a claim having performed better on paper than Royal Victory in both the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July and Gr 1 wfa HKJC Champions Cup.

The Highveld racing awards could also potentially lead to an out of province horse being named Horse Of The Season. They are actually called the Highveld Feature Season awards as they go on performances of horses on the Highveld in features races during the season. Royal Victory was thus named the Champion Middle Distance Horse and Champion Older Male in the Highveld feature Season awards this year and he was only ousted in the Horse Of The Season award by the outstanding Mike de Kock-trained Gimme A Nother.

However, the big difference is that the Highveld features only have a sprinkling of out of province horses competing in them. The Horse Of The Season award will virtually always be won by a Highveld horse and was this year it went to the outstanding Mike de Kock-trained Gimme A Nother, even though Royal Victory became the first out of province horse in history to win both of the Highveld’s biggest races, the Gr 1 Betway Summer Cup and the Gr 1 World Pool Premier’s Champions Challenge.

The KZN horses, on the other hand, have to compete with every champion from every province, because all champions from around the country descend on KZN for the three month long world famous racing festival, The Champions Season.

Last year the Horse Of The Season was won by the Sean Tarry-trained Princess Calla, who won three Gr 1s in KZN during the season.

This year the favourite must be the Mike de Kock-trained Dave The King. He qualifies because he ran in KZN three times in the season and he won two open weight for age Gr 1s in KZN. He was in fact the only horse in the country to have won two open wfa Gr 1s last season.

However, Royal Victory is a history-making KZN horse. On top of being the first out of province horse to do the Highveld double of the Summer Cup and Premier’s Champions Challenge, he is in fact the first out of province horse to have ever won the Premier’s Champions Challenge and the second out of province horse this millennium to have won the Summer Cup.

He could well go home empty-handed on KZN Awards night. If Dave The King is to be named Horse Of The Season then he must also surely be named Champion Older Male. Furthermore, the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Green With Envy ran three times in KZN during the season, so qualifies for awards as explained earlier by Kannemeyer’s KZN status, and like Royal Victory he won two middle distance Gr 1s during the season and one of them was in KZN, so he must be in pole position to win the Middle Distance award.

So the widely acknowledged best horse in KZN, Royal Victory, might be completely unacknowledged in his home province.

There are special awards occasionally put on at racing award ceremonies and this might be a case in point of creating one.

However, what would probably be better considering the realities of racing in KZN during any given season, would be to create a new permanent award to acknowledge KZN’s best horse of the season. The award should only be open to horses from KZN yards. 

Here’s good news for TabGold customers who take Trifecta bets on races in Australia, the UK, Ireland and France. 

Commingled Trifecta pools with Tote Ireland will be offered on all Irish races for the first time from this Friday and simultaneously the unit cost of commingled Trifecta bets on Australian, UK and French races will be reduced from R2 to R1. The unit cost of the Trio on French races also drops to R1. 

Commingled Trifecta bets on racing in Australia, France and the UK were introduced last month.
The benefits of commingling Trifecta pools with host totes (Tabcorp in Australia excluding thoroughbred venues in Victoria and South Australia; PMU in France, the UK Tote and Tote Ireland), as opposed to local pools, are many more Trifecta betting opportunities on races in those countries and bigger pools, which in turn afford TAB customers the chance to win bigger payouts.