David Thiselton
THE PAUL MATCHETT-TRAINED WAR OF ATHENA landed
her sixth Graded race in succession and second Grade 1 when pulling away from
five classy rivals at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday in the Grade 1
Woolavington 2000 and she has in no uncertain terms vindicated the high marks
owner Dr Rose Waterman-Wentzel gave her when first meeting her.
Dr Waterman-Wentzel has been around horses from the age of six and said,
“I was at the Sale
and I particularly looked at the Act Of War progeny. He was a brand-new
stallion and I had just bought a lovely young Act Of War colt for my daughter
and he will go overseas to the U.K.
as her next ‘forever’ horse.
‘When selecting a horse, after the conformation inspection, for me, it is all
in the eye and finally, and most importantly, if the horse ‘speaks’ to
me. If that happens, that horse is coming home with me. War Of Athena was
coming home with me and that was the end of that.”
Rose and her husband Roy Wentzel had watched her breeze up gallop earlier and
had liked that too, “her action was beautiful”.
However, Rose’s buying method for dressage and eventing competition has always
been to view the horse and then wait and see whether there is any communication
between herself and the horse. In War Of Athena’s case their was.
The racing industry is in fact “brand new” to Rose but she has been
involved in dressage and eventing her whole life and her daughter Major
Waterman, was short-listed to be a a member of the British dressage team at the
Olympics but sadly her horse developed a problem with his foot and had to be
withdrawn.
Roy has been a racing fan for decades and was a
prominent owner in Zimbabwe
for some 30 years where his horses were trained in Harare by Paul Matchett.
He had been out of the game for about 15 years when receiving a phone call from
his son suggesting it was time his colours were seen in the winner’s enclosure
again. He met Rose during this period in the racing wilderness.
Roy’s son duly bought him a horse called Senor
Lizard for Roy’s
birthday. Senor Lizard, selected by Paul Matchett, went on to win three races.
Rose recalled, “It was as I became involved in the racing world I decided
to become a colour holder and owner, and so it began. We now have twenty
horses, including 4 broodmares!”
One of the first horses Roy and Rose bought together was Twilight Moon. They
bought this Wylie Hall colt for R20,000 at the BSA KZN Yearling Sale and after
a Listed win, a Grade 3 win and a Grade 2 second for Matchett he was sold to
Hong Kong for R2 million.
Rose’s eye for and affinity with horses must be one of the keys to the couple’s
eyecatching pink and black colours becoming such a familiar sight in the
winner’s enclosure.
Another current Act Of War three-year-old who must have spoken to her at the
Sales is the Matchett-trained Battle Force. He has won five of his last six
starts and is one of the favourites for Saturday’s Grade 1 Golden Horse Sprint.
He was purchased by the Wentzels at the KZN Yearling Sale for R130,000.
War Of Athena faced her sternest test on Saturday as she was up against a
strong representative of Cape three-year-old
form, Princess Calla. She beat the latter as a two-year-old in the Grade 1
Thekwini Stakes but Princess Calla was having only her second start in that race
and has since won a Grade 2 and a Grade 3, placed second in the Grade 1 WSB
Cape Fillies Guineas, third in the Grade 1 Cartier Paddock Stakes and fifth in
the Cape Town Met.
Princess Calla had plenty of supporters and they had a moment of hope when she
moved up strongly in the straight after War Of Athena’s trusty stablemate Only
The Brave, also owned by Roy and Rose, had set no more than a steady pace.
However, War Of Athena still had plenty in the tank. She treated Princess
Calla’s challenge with contempt and drew away from her in effortless fashion to
win by 2,10 lengths.
The small filly will now be attempting to emulate the great Igugu by winning
the Triple Tiara, the Woolavington and the Vodacom Durban July in one season.
To add to the parallel between these two horses, both of them were bought at
the Emperor’s Palace Ready To Run Sale and to date War Of Athena’s only defeat
in her official sophomore season has been in the race attached to that Sale,
the Emperor’s Palace Ready To Run Cup, and that race was where Igugu suffered
the only defeat of her career in South Africa.
The stark difference between the pair is purchase price, Igugu, a daughter of
Galileo, fetching R1 million and War Of Athena going for a paltry R30,000,
testament to Rose’s equine instinct and Roy’s racing knowledge, a lethal
combination.
Muzi Yeni faces a Vodacom Durban July riding choice that will make him the envy
of every jockey in the country. He is attached to both the 7/2 joint-favourite
Got The Greenlight and to the now roundabout 7-1 shot War Of Athena.
The Wentzels will be hoping he stays aboard their filly as they will have a
headache trying to find a jockey of Yeni’s calibre who is able to ride at 52kg.