I have been an owner for approximately 30 years.I have always been passionate about the industry and have had my fair share of success and disappointments over the years, which comes with the territory, writes Dr Kevin Bakos in the Sporting Post Mailbag.
Rockin Russian chases Lady In Black home in the Gr1 Thekwini
I feel I need to vent and ask for answers, as soon as possible, regarding my filly Rockin Russian’s omission from the $500 000 CTS 1600 to be run on Sun Met day.
Rockin Russian won on debut and subsequently ran 2nd in the Gr1 Thekwini, 3rd in the Gr2 Joburg Spring F& M Challenge and 4th in the Gr2 Golden Slipper.
Trainer Sean Tarry decided that after her successful Durban stint, that we travel to Cape Town for the CTS 1600 as her main mission. She was entered in a powerful colt’s race and was not disgraced, finishing only 4.5 lengths behind top 3yo Tap O’Noth. The latter is rated amongst the top 3 year old colts in the country with an MR104 and his form- line has been franked repeatedly. Rockin Russian’s merit rating at this stage was 99 – not surprisingly.
Sean Tarry – trains Rockin Russian
She was entered into the Fillies Guineas and ran a dismal race – due to her shocking draw, 2nd run after a 3 month rest and being caught wide and being continuously bumped during the race.The handicappers did not see it this way and dropped her to a 95.
As I have said before, the CTS race was our main mission, and Sean thought he would give her one more run to ensure peak fitness. She was not fully wound up for this race and ran a creditable third, but the handicapper still decided to drop her a further 5 points to a 90.
Despite this, she was still 12th on the CTS log to qualify, so it came as a huge shock to me when I was informed that she did not make the final cut.
To my horror when I looked at the final field, I saw a horse as low as an 84 qualifying before my horse. In fact, there are 6 horses either rated equal or below Rockin Russian that got in.
I need an explanation as to how all these horses qualified ahead of mine. As far as I can see, none of these horses have performed at my filly’s level.
There is a huge expense for horses to travel from centre to centre. Sean Tarry convinced us that it was important to support the Cape season building up to this race, rather than raiding, as he has with his other filly in the race.
We do like to support other centres, but to get a slap in the face like this is an absolute disgrace. The injustice has left a sour taste in my mouth and I am thinking twice about continuing in this industry, as well as continuing to get any of my friends involved in this sport – as I have done to a huge extent.
I also decided not to buy any horses at the CTS sale this past weekend.
When the playing fields are not level, and the rules and decisions are skewed to assist weaker horses to qualify for a race – for reasons only known to the powers that be, I am finding this very hard to swallow.
I feel Rockin Russian qualified for this race on merit, and if those lower MR horses raced and performed, as she did, at Gr1 level, I would understand. MR is merit rating and my 90 merit rating gives me the right to be in that field. This is not even a borderline decision.
Final field – The CTS 1600
| 1 | 6 | Cot Campbell | 60 | 100 | A | B Fayd’Herbe | Justin Snaith | |
| 2 | 17 | Captain And Master | 60 | 99 | T A | A Delpech | Sean Tarry | |
| 3 | 10 | Flying Free | 60 | 98 | A | K de Melo | Gavin van Zyl | |
| 4 | 15 | Rocket Countdown | 60 | 96 | A | A Domeyer | Candice Bass-Robinson | |
| 5 | 12 | Talk Of The Town | 60 | 94 | A | A Marcus | Joey Ramsden | |
| 6 | 14 | Ancestry | 60 | 92 | BA | P Strydom | Joey Ramsden | |
| 7 | 11 | Vacquero | 60 | 92 | A | M Yeni | Robbie Sage | |
| 8 | 1 | Undercover Agent | 60 | 91 | A | C Orffer | Brett Crawford | |
| 9 | 3 | Big Pleasure | 60 | 87 | A | M Seidl | Joey Ramsden | |
| 10 | 19 | Aurelia Cotta | 57.5 | 90 | A | *L Hewitson | Sean Tarry | |
| 11 | 2 | Midnight Moonlight | 57.5 | 90 | G Cheyne | C J Burger/R van Reenen | ||
| 12 | 13 | Too Phat To Fly | 57.5 | 90 | A | R Fourie | Glen Kotzen | |
| 13 | 18 | Awesomeness | 57.5 | 88 | A | A Andrews | Candice Bass-Robinson | |
| 14 | 7 | Raya Baya (AUS) | 57.5 | 88 | A | C Murray | Candice Bass-Robinson | |
| 15 | 4 | Rings And Things | 57.5 | 86 | A | R Khathi | Candice Bass-Robinson | |
| 16 | 9 | Dynamic Diana | 57.5 | 84 | A | G van Niekerk | Justin Snaith | |
| 17 | 20 | Freedom Charter | 57.5 | 87 | A | Reserve 1 | Candice Bass-Robinson | |
| 18 | 5 | Apollo Star | 60 | 84 | A | Reserve 2 | Joey Ramsden | |
| 19 | 8 | Tsitsikamma Dance | 60 | 81 | A | Reserve 3 | Brett Crawford | |
| 20 | 16 | Full Of Attitude | 60 | 86 | A | Reserve 4 | Joe Soma | |
| Same Trainer – Not Coupled on Tote | ||||||||
| (1,16) (2,10) (4,13,14,15,17) (5,6,9,18) (8,19) | ||||||||
I also used the services of the South African champion trainer and he comes at a price. He obviously knows what he is doing to get where he is today, knows when and how to place his horses, working and timing the horses preparation for the eventual goal. He knew that with a rating of 90, he would qualify our filly as he kept monitoring her position on your log.
Given all this, maybe the panel should inform Mr Tarry how to train and place his horses to qualify for a race of this nature. He obviously needs their assistance as he has done his job, as far as he and myself are concerned.
We are now obliged to place her in a Gr1 race on Met day as a one-time winner, which does not fit the original plan for her.
Due to the expensive cost of bringing her to the Cape, also taking in consideration my bookings of flights and hotels in advance, knowing we were a definite runner on merit ratings, he thought it is only right to race her in order for me to have a runner on the day.
I would like to understand how Rings & Things and Dynamic Diana warrant their places in in the CTS 1600 ahead of Rockin Russian!
Ed – we note that the final field is selected at the sole discretion of a panel appointed by the racing operator. This letter was addressed by Dr Bakos to the various authorities involved in the selection process on Thursday last week.
