Piere Strydom gets Siren’s Call home (with an inside out saddle-cloth) to beat stablemate Trophy Wife (Raymond Danielson) in the CTS Bk2 Graduates Race (Pi:: JC Photos)
Overzealousness, nerves and a desperate chase for the big cheque added to the knife-edged drama of an incident-filled R2,5 million CTS Book 2 Graduates Race run over 1400m under the Turffontein lights on Tuesday evening. The contest was a memorable one though for trainer Sean Tarry and the fairer sex, with the top trainer’s fillies Siren’s Call and Trophy Wife banking the top two cheques.
‘When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is’.
Oscar Wild’s pearl of wisdom just about sums up the needle and motivational edge injected into any game we play by that wonderful commodity that makes the world go round.
“With money this big on offer, the guys rode like crazy. It was mayhem,” is how Siren’s Call’s rider Piere Strydom summed it up.
Winning owner-breeder Peter De Beyer admitted that the plan from early on with his smart 3yo was to skip the Cape features and focus on the big money:
“We went for the money rather than the glory,”he said with the confidence of a man who had been party to a rewarding plan come sweetly together.
Piere Strydom – Cool Hand Luke made the difference!
At the end of the day, it all worked thanks to the tactical genius, experience and confidence of that battlefield general, Piere Strydom.
Sixteen CPYS Book 2 graduates lined up to fight it out. They came from all over South Africa.For many it was a new experience. The lights. The right-handed turn. The desperate scramble for glory.
Today a few are counting the lolly – but many are licking their wounds.
In the race Strydom had Siren’s Call much further back than he would have hoped to be as he took a few bumps and knocks in his attempt to steer clear of the mayhem in the danger zone at the forefront of the action.
Strydom sat near last as the Jay Peg filly Genial overcame her wide draw to lead Spirit Of Hamilton into the home run.
Lumya made a forward move as high-riding Met winning jockey Bernard Fayd’herbe gave Spirit Of Hamilton the office with Forest Fox launching smoothly down the centre.
Into the final 250m Raymond Danielson switched Trophy Wife out for a run and the Tiger Ridge filly found herself the ham on the samie as she was sandwiched between Spirit Of Hamilton and Forest Fox, both of whom appeared to be shifting about under pressure.
While the mini drama unfolded in the centre of the track, Siren’s Call was ghosting up the rail from way back.
Strydom had enjoyed a relatively trouble-free run in the final 500m and he brought the Elusive Fort flyer down the inside and into the picture at just the right moment 200m from home.
Siren’s Call produced her usual late flourish and she got there (almost casually!) to beat her luckless stablemate Trophy Wife by 1 length in an unsurprisingly fast time of 83,62 secs.
Some may have picked up that Siren’s Call ran with her saddle-cloth inside out, with her number 11 back to front. An omen?
Stuart Randolph produced the poorly drawn KZN visitor Easy Lover very late down the middle and he made good ground to wrest third place from Forest Fox.
The latter, another De Beyer bred, had looked very dangerous going into the 300m, but just ran out of puff late in proceedings.
The Bass’ Cape raider Spirit Of Hamilton was just not good enough in the end, but was made liberal use of and appeared to run green under the lights. Between him and Forest Fox, they probably cost Trophy Wife the race.
The Stones picked up R37 500 in tenth place as the last horse to earn..
Trainer Sean Tarry – big night at the office
Winning trainer Sean Tarry confirmed that Trophy Wife may have given the winner a run for her money.
“She was a touch unlucky. But it was a great team effort all round and thanks to Peter. I am the moodiest person who anybody could live and work with, but it has all come together. And I’d like to suggest gumguards and headgear for the million dollar race the way things unfolded tonight!”
Owner-breeder Peter De Beyer, who also bred the fourth placed Forest Fox, said that he had been watching the weather every day.
“The weather held out. It was a fantastic ride by Piere. Not many jocks would have pulled this one off,” said De Beyer.
The dual stakes placed Siren’s Call has now chalked up 3 wins with 2 places from her 5 starts and with this cash turbo boost took her earnings to R1 434 375.
Nobody with anything to spend seemed to be too interested when she went through the ring at the CPYS Book 2 Sale and she was bought by trainer Glen Kotzen for R60 000.
Winner’s sire Elusive Fort seen winning his 3rd Gr1
She hails from Klipdrif Stud’s exciting young stallion Elusive Fort’s first crop and is bred and owned by Cape-based Peter de Beyer.
Siren’s Call is out of the twice winning West Man mare Siren’s Cove, who only won up to 1200m.
Siren’s Call appears to have inherited her sire’s need for ground and she will be a serious contender for honours in the feature season that lies ahead.
CTS’ Adrian Todd and Amanda Carey were on course to hand over the cheques, as well as a R10 000 donation to the HHCU.
It was CTS’ first big race outside Cape Town and against the backdrop of the night racing, made for an all-round exciting event.
But guaranteed – there will be plenty of post-mortems and a few hard luck stories.
Stipes Report Excerpt:
THE STARTER REPORTED:
- a) TROPHY WIFE (R Danielson) lost 1 length.
THE STIPENDIARY STEWARDS REPORTED:
- a) At the 800m ANAFESTO (M Byleveld) had to check when tightened between LONDON (J P van der Merwe), which rolled out slightly, and FOREST FOX (S Cormack), which rolled in slightly. SIREN’S CALL (P Strydom), which was following, had to check to avoid the heels of ANAFESTO (M Byleveld) and was buffeted between TROPHY WIFE (R Danielson) and ASTRO (D Mansour), which raced tightly on the inside of MILTON (W Marwing).
- b) Approaching the 250m TROPHY WIFE (R Danielson) was switched out to continue its run off the heels of SPIRIT OF HAMILTON (B Fayd’Herbe) and was bumped by LUMYA (G Lerena), which shifted in away from the crop. Immediately thereafter FOREST FOX (S Cormack) and TROPHY WIFE (R Danielson) were carried outwards by SPIRIT OF HAMILTON (B Fayd’Herbe), which shifted out suddenly, away from the crop. The Stewards ruled that this was a racing incident and took no further action.
- c) Jockey K de Melo reported something amiss with GENIAL. The Veterinary Surgeon was requested to examine this filly.
- d) SIREN’S CALL (P Strydom), the winner, was selected for the taking of specimens for analysis. Trainer S G Tarry advised. (SW)
- f) EASY LOVER (S Randolph), placed third, was selected for the taking of specimens for analysis. Trainer D C Howells advised. (SW)
