Dean Kannemeyer is to wait until Power King recovers from his exertions in Saturday’s Vodacom Durban July before making any plans about the four-year-old’s future. He said: “Power King was a little wobbly and exhausted straight after the race so we will let him get over this and then decide where we go.”

Kannemeyer, winning the great race for the third time, explained that the horse had not been straightforward to train:  “He had a few soundness problems as a young three-year-old. Then he was haemoconcentrating and so I said to Lady Christine Laidlaw that there was only one way to deal with that and we gelded him.

“But the July is the ultimate race for a trainer in South Africa and I am over the moon to win it again.”

Lady Laidlaw raised the interest levels of the foreign media contingent by reacting positively to overseas campaign suggestions but the horse seems far more likely to stay in this country.

Stuart Randolph had to shed almost four kilos in three weeks to do 53k – “It wasn’t a strict diet but I watched it and the weight slowly came off”- and he is now facing a fortnight’s suspension.

Nothing to do with the Punta Arenas bumping match but everything to do with the way he came across Legal Eagle, Gold Onyx and Halve The Deficit as he began his run. “He cleaned up half the field,” commented a brassed-off Sean Tarry who trains all three.

This was the second successive year that the historic race has been decided in the boardroom but, even more remarkably, the first three are all by Silvano and were all bred by Maine Chance.

Duncan Howells has already mapped out Same Jurisdiction’s future and, after the way she justified 17-10 favouritism under Anton Marcus in the Jonsson Workwear Garden Province, he was talking about her in the same breath as Via Africa. He said: “You cannot believe the improvement she has made in the last two months and not even Via Africa galloped the way she did last Tuesday. She won’t run again this season and next term we will go to Cape Town for the Paddock Stakes and the Klawervlei Majorca.”

Marcus has amazing talent at both ends of a race but even he excelled himself when getting up in the last stride on 12-10 favourite Seventh Plain in the Durban Golden Horseshoe. The superlatives flowed like champagne at a wedding but owner Markus Jooste remarked tongue-in-cheek: “With what Anton costs one expects that sort of ride!”

The former champion added: “This win was a testament to the horse’s courage. He had every opportunity to spit the dummy but instead he dug down deep.”

Trainer Dennis Drier, who initiated a notable Grade 1 double with 16-1 shot Chestnuts N Pearls in the Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper, said: “You dream about Grade 1 winners but to have two in one day is unbelievable and I am blessed to have jockeys like Anton and Sean Cormack.”

Seventh Plain is to be put away for Cape Town and the Cape Guineas but the Thekwini on July 25 is a possibility for the filly. But it’s worth noting that Brazuca, beaten a short head in the Horseshoe, would almost certainly have won had he not been baulked 300m out and been switched to get a clear run.

Also with an eye to next time when the first three in the SABC Gold Vase meet again in the Gold Cup: Solid Speed, who started favourite and was beaten less than a length into third behind the Gavin van Zyl-trained Heart Of A Lion (Muzi Yeni), lost a front shoe.

Dynamic proved the July selection committee’s point when weakening close home in the TabGold 2200 won in all-the-way fashion by S’Manga Khumalo on stable companion Ultimate Dollar but Justin Snaith is still very much concerned about the pens. He said: “This trip was a little bit too far for Dynamic but we have always rated Ultimate Dollar highly. We were going to use the same tactics on him in the Daily News but he got injured at the start.

“These stalls come from Australia and there is too much of a gap between the back gates. We have complained but I feel that the guys are not taking us seriously.”

The stipes certainly took Warren Kennedy seriously when he used a few choice words to the starter – his mount Sun On Africa was injured in the pens and had to be withdrawn from this race. He was fined R1 000 for “abusive language.”

By Michael Clower

Picture: Same Jurisdiction (Nkosi Hlophe)