Even Tellytrack, or should we say Telkom, couldn’t derail this one?!
Champions Day at Turffontein on Saturday had all the human and equine ingredients of a real winner. A maiden Triple Tiara winner, a rocket propelled daughter of Var and trainer Gavin Van Zyl’s first Group winner, were undoubtedly the highlights on an afternoon capped by the welcome and emotional return to the big time of the much maligned Joe Soma, who bowled punters the biggest curved ball of the day, with the longshot Happy Landing grabbing the spoils in the President’s Champions Challenge.
A disturbing pattern has developed in recent times with technical problems associated with the televised broadcasts of the big days and while my technical knowledge is limited to changing toaster plugs, I have a sneaky feeling that it may just have something to do with the additional feed to the Supersport channels. We saw it recently at Turffontein and the J&B Met day was also a comedy of errors on the technical front – with loss of picture and sound characterizing the early part of the day – just as it did on Saturday. But in this techno –driven world it is not so much the problems themselves but rather how they are dealt with that counts – and that is sadly where horseracing scores a standard grade fail. Credit is due though, and somebody was obviously wide enough awake, to ensure that the first few races that were not shown were re-broadcast in between other events on Saturday. It would have done little for the stay-at-home owners and tote punters though and betting turnover was obviously also adversely affected. But why no communication from Tellytrack? What harm would be done with a short press release, stating the fact that Telkom stuffed up (or did they?) and with an undertaking that the situation will be addressed going forward? This could be closed with a brief apology to everybody inconvenienced. Simple. As we go to print on Tuesday I could find nothing – I do note that ridiculously embarrassingly outdated Tellytrack reference on the Saftote website though. Which further reinforces the self-imposed Mr Bean label. Let’s get on to the good stuff rather.
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Super Sexy
What a booming day for Var and Avontuur Stud! Where does one find original fitting superlatives for this bomb of a filly? The fortunes of South Africa’s top sprinter have been well documented in these pages, but the manner of Val De Ra’s annihilation of her fifteen highly vaunted male rivals in the R1 million Grade 1 Computaform Sprint, was breathtaking indeed. Having only recently returned to racing after a life threatening illness, the brilliant daughter of Minelli, arrived in Johannesburg from Durban on Thursday, having travelled without a companion in her two-berth float, and showed the temperament of a serious champion through the entire four day round-trip. The Mike Bass-trained What A Winter appeared to wobble as the gates opened and Alec Forbes capitalized with Val De Ra’s superior gate speed to have her opponents gasping for air after just a few strides. The records show that she ran the 1000m in a blistering 56,5 seconds and the boys never got to even smell her perfume as that hot and sexy bum disappeared into the sunset. Apparently within an hour after the race, she had her head in her manger and every now and again popped it out over her Turffontein box door to check out the goings on. “ Like a bloody retired riding horse she is !” said an ecstatic Pippa Mickleburgh who stressed the role played by her champion’s God-given temperament and laid-back nature. “ She conserves all her energy for the track and has Big Match Temperament in abundance!” she said.
Pippa was also once again full of praise for Dr Rob Crossley and her highly experienced trainer Dennis Drier – jokingly describing the latter as ‘a real star and first-class communicator who bordered on the neurotically cautious and caring’ , at times. Reports from the Drier yard at Summerveld on Monday indicate that Val De Ra pulled up well and was none the worse for wear after a mission well accomplished. Her next mission is the SA Fillies Sprint at Scottsville at end May and the bigger question – where to thereafter? An international campaign is obviously on the cards and the USA or Dubai are the realistic possible destination options. Pippa said it would not be a rushed decision and she needed to give it much thought:” I need to deal with the right people and make the right decisions for the right reasons for her. But we will take it one day at a time,” she said.
Overall it was a great day for Var and Avontuur’s Advertising Agency were almost presented with a dream brief after Val De Ra’s explosive exhibition of speed when the Var filly Princess Of Light ran second in the Group 2 SA Oaks – over 2450m! Granted she had no chance with Mike De Kock’s brilliant Igugu- but if we regard the daughter of Galileo as something of a freak – in the nicest possible way that is – and the fact that the third horse was somewhere near the Vaal Dam , then it was not a bad day at the office by any means and few stallions provide such honesty, versatility, temperament and good value – besides getting them that fast and that good over ground. In the inevitable scientific lottery that is racehorse ownership, you really cannot go too far wrong than opting for a Var.
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Signed And Sealed
The Group 1 Samsung SA Derby presented former top jockey Gavin Van Zyl with his very first Group 1 winner when the gelded son of Silvano, Seal, ran out an emphatic winner under the ‘comeback kid’ MJ Odendaal. The pony-tailed jock didn’t seem to enjoy Neil Andrews’ lighthearted post-race banter too much but he is now firmly back on the road to his brilliant best – as long as he stays in the saddle. Seal is also probably the only horse named after an animal in this country that is not trained by Paul Lafferty, and the KZN – trainer quipped afterwards that he had been the under-bidder at the Sibaya Sale where the bay had been purchased by the Douglas family. Bred by Dr Ian Heyns of the Drakenstein Veterinary Clinic in Franschhoek, Seal made a mockery of the merit ratings and while his previous win was in a workrider’s race, he looks to have some serious ability. Whether he will turn out half as good as previous winners like Elevation and Horse Chestnut remains to be seen, though. Trainer Gavin Van Zyl is the ultimate eloquent marketer and nobody’s fool and he has attracted some top –rank owners to his business in a relatively short time. His brave decision, in these hectic economic times, to set up a Gauteng satellite operation also looks to be paying dividends and he was quick to credit his son Chesney, who runs the yard. On a day – Africa’s richest raceday – that disturbingly appeared to lack sponsors, kudos must go to Samsung Business Solutions for optimizing their exposure as sponsors of this third leg of the SASCOC SA Triple Crown. If commentator Clyde Basel said ‘Powered By Samsung’ once during the running of the Derby, he said it ten times. Nothing wrong with that and it is certainly a great advert for an aspect of the sport that needs serious attention, fast. I really couldn’t imagine trying to sell racehorse sponsorship to anybody of sober mind.
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Happy Preview
Horseracing has an amazing knack of unifying and dividing folk. Money, politics, bulldust and egos combine in a toxic cocktail and we tend to love today and hate tomorrow, somehow. That said, trainer Joe Soma has been called all kinds of things in a chequered and colourful career – the most recent being ‘Slomo’. Not sure if I get that one. He has also come under serious pressure by many of the knowledgeable posters on the Scotfree Racing Website for questions around his support by one of our most powerful owners under circumstances which were debated at the time. Also the fact that he paid R525 000 for a horse that battled to win his maiden at first and was deemed ‘ordinary’ has been debated at length.
The wheel turns though and all said and done, I don’t understand the unhappiness and criticism and I am not really that interested. I am also seriously tired of politics dominating our horizon and I hope that readers will join me in wishing Joe all the very best on his big win in Saturday’s R2 million President’s Champions Challenge with the lightly raced son of the recently deceased Al Mufti, Happy Landing. This gelding has, after winning the recent Listed Drum Star Handicap, and now Saturday’s rich purse, shown he is above average and handsomely recouped his purchase price and is running with a healthy personal balance sheet. We could well see him as an entrant in the Vodacom Durban July if things go well and I enjoyed Muzi Yeni’s post-race retort to suggestions that the second –placed Anthony Delpech was cheesed off : “ I don’t get to ride all the good horses…”. Well said Muzi.
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Cash Loan?
One of the many unwritten golden rules when frequenting betting establishments is that one does not flash cash about the place, but Phumelela CEO Rian Du Plessis is obviously not a regular visitor to the these gambling dens of ill repute and probably thus unaware of the confidentiality and discretion codes applicable in the murky world of punters. I made this observation from his on-course announcement of the big cash prize lucky draw winner’s cell-phone numbers in the Betting World Competition held at Turffontein on Saturday.
It very definitely did none of the drawn ticket holders any favours having their names and cell-phone numbers announced on-course and to millions of television viewers . One would have thought that the cell-phone number was there in essence for an initial cursory verification of anybody stepping up to claim the prize. Publicising the telephone number could have only potentially put the recipient ‘in the eyes’ as they say and the winner should have at least had the choice of spreading the news of his good fortune on his own terms – beyond the immediate watching crowd that is.
All said and done, a great day and now Champions Season is upon us!
Gareth Wright
Gareth Wright
The Wright Stuff!
Cape-based apprentice jockey Gareth Wright celebrated his 21st birthday on Friday 22 April and has marked the momentous occasion in his life with a brace of winners in recent weeks.
The former Maritzburg College pupil joined the SA Jockey Academy in 2007 in the same intake as Grant Van Niekerk and JP Van Der Merwe amongst others and is currently attached to the powerful Justin Snaith yard out at Phillipi, where he lives on the farm.
Gareth tells me that he was ‘the smallest guy at school’ and this, with his natural love of animals, made him a natural jockey prospect. He rode his first winner at Scottsville on 22 July 2009 on a filly called Flying Day for trainer Lowan Dennyschen and has never looked back since that day.In January 2010 he moved down to Cape Town and credits trainer Stephen Page for supporting and encouraging him initially.
His father died tragically when he was just twelve years of age but Gareth says that he is very close to his Mom and sister Natasha, who live in the Strand. He has adopted Felix Coetzee as his mentor and role model and says that he thoroughly enjoys his job and the hard work that goes with it. Described as ‘incredibly enthusiastic and hardworking’ by a Cape Town owner who spends a lot of time in and around the stables, Gareth is focused on building his career and being the very best jockey he can.
When questioned about his recent disqualification on the Snaith –trained Danish Diva, he said that he was working on putting the experience behind him and learning from it. Calling the incident ‘inexplicable and completely unfortunate’ he said that his penalty still had to be verified by the NHRA in mid –May but that he would prefer to just get on with his career for now.Watch this chap!
