L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate 2013
Queen’s Plate 2013. I was a little nervous after a couple of days of rain and then a pumping South Easter, but the racing and weather gods conspired to deliver a peerless day for a peerless day’s racing.
Having heard murmurs about distant car parks and shuttle buses, my shoes and I were enormously relieved to be waved onto the infield by a friendly and smiley security man. Like receptionists are the face and voice of an organisation, security are usually the first people one encounters on big race days. I find that they often set the tone for what is to come and I have to compliment last weekend’s team. There is always the odd hitch, but for the most part they were friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. There was a short queue when we arrived, affording us the chance to chat to some of our fellow race-goers. Most were encouragingly back for a repeat visit, although it seemed to be an annual event. The ladies on the gate were also super nice and efficiently found our names and directed us to the media centre. I loved the baskets of complimentary race cards, Sporting Posts and the absolutely fantastic Winning Form booklet, which was packed with interesting info. Just a pity it wasn’t more obvious that they were free as I didn’t see too many people taking advantage of them. At the media centre, more efficient young ladies helped us with our wrist bands and ensured we had everything we needed. So armed, we headed off to take on the day.
Getting around
I loved the layout which was easy to move around and kept things feeling spacious. There was plenty of seating and lots of shade to escape the sun. It also kept the party people to the party areas and the race goers to the main part of the course. There were lovely, practical touches like the mobile ATMs, bet assistants and superb food stalls ensuring that everything felt within arm’s reach. I also have to mention the Merchants on Long kiosk which served glamorous sorbet cocktails served up in one-off hand-decorated ostrich eggs. A fantastic idea and rightly a massive hit.
Who was there
The older generation crowd included well known rugby personalities such as Hennie Bekker, Francois Hougaard, Rob Louw and ex WP loose forward, Piet Geldenhuys, who is a regular racing enthusiast. The younger areas were frequented by the usual beauty queens, TV personalities, IT girls and sports stars, but they had plenty of competition. Cape Town has long been beautiful people HQ and our bright young things do effortlessly chic in their sleep. The dress code was an eclectic mix of funky, vintage and understated elegance, no-one looked over (or under) dressed and everyone seemed to be relaxed and having a good time.
The fashion
Fashionista Sam Walker (aka La Muse) writes a fantastic blog (www.popyacollar.co.za – well worth bookmarking for future use) which was full of great hints, tips and fashion ideas for the big day. It is great to see our big race days spilling back out into the mainstream. As I’m more Eskadron than Laboutin, I asked Sam for her views on the day. She was originally invited as one of the fashion judges and had so much fun that she’s been coming back every year. She says the event gets better year on year and this year she took a big group of friends along. Sam loves the blue and white theme which lends itself to creative and comfortable fashion and makes it great for people watching. Sam describes the feel of this year’s Queen’s Plate as ‘old-world glamour, timeless style and understated chic’ and I think she got it spot on. She says the event has an exclusive feel and despite the crowds, one never feels overwhelmed. Her favourite bits were the music and DJ Lora in particular and she loved dancing the night away in the marque. Did she bet? “Not this year”, she answers candidly. “We used to bet on Pocket Power, but this year none of us knew who the runners were. Maybe next time.”
Luckily for our number crunchers, it seemed that lots of other people did know who the runners were, or were at least brave enough to have a go as the bet assistants did brisk business in the hospitality areas and further afield I noticed patrons at most of the betting windows.
Runners & riders
The racing delivered too.
Mzwandile Mjokwa is a familiar face in the winner’s enclosure on big race days and brought Estivation home to win by a stylish 4.25 lengths in the day’s card opener. This really set the tone for the day and we were treated to some fantastic displays of riding.
I had a few errands to run and stopped in for a quick chat at the Wilgerbosdrift box. A racing icon in her own right, Mary Slack always has an entourage of fun and fascinating folk and any visit is guaranteed to serve up a chocolate box of surprises. Saturday was no exception with the ebullient Susan Macdonald, Mike Javett and the utterly charming Martin Irish amongst others. We discussed our picks for the day while watching Robert Khathi piloting Masked Lady to a 2 length win in the second for thoroughly delighted breeder Duncan Barry.
Back down in the parade ring I confess to feeling nervous for MJ Byleveld in the third as the attractive Silk Road put up a lively performance in the parade ring, but he made short work of the 6 horse field to storm home by 1.25 lengths. The Marshall yard always turns their horses out beautifully and I liked the addition of the colourful new browbands – nice touch guys.
I did a quick recce of the best dressed and best hat awards and there were a bevy of well-dressed beauties as well as some fantastic millinery confections on display.
I watched the 4th from the little trainers lounge opposite the parade ring and it was a joy to watch Glen Hatt power home on Northern Heritage. A jockey’s profession is a peculiar one – they can win a grade one and finish last in a MR60 on the same day and have to be tough enough to let neither extreme get the better of them. A quick scan down racing’s feature history shows just how many Glen has won and witnessing a vintage ride remains a privilege.
There is always a mass exodus from the private boxes to the parade ring for a big feature and between saying hello and exchanging belated season’s greetings, there was hardly time to take in the Paddock runners before they disappeared down the chute. Beach Beauty is, as her name suggests, an exquisite beauty and made good her 2012 defeat in emphatic style, giving Sean Cormack probably the easiest ride of the day to trounce her rivals by a solid 3.75 lengths. A truly memorable result for new sponsors Maine Chance.
Hanneli Rupert is the force behind Merchants On Long, an African salon store which sources exquisite fashion, art and home ware from around the continent (eagle eyed fashion fundis would have noticed examples on course). If you haven’t been to their beautifully restored art nouveau premises, I highly recommend a visit. Merchants On Long sponsored the 6th race, widely tipped to be a walkover for Cap Alright with his generous 4kg apprentice allowance. Indeed, it was all going according to the script until half way up the straight, when Karl Neisius conjured an extra gear out of Cape Royal to turn the result on its head and provide one of my favourite rides of the afternoon.
Vaughan Marshall and MJ Byleveld were back in the winner’s box after bringing home Captain’s Lullaby for Fred Crabbia and then the big race was upon us.
Again, the parade ring crowd swelled as if by magic with everyone trying to catch a glimpse of their favourite. With the scratching of Changingoftheguard, the field had shrunk down to 14, but what a field it was. We had our Horse of the Year squaring up to our Champion Sprinter, last year’s July winner, Cape superstar Jackson, a slew of out of town raiders and in short, a stellar line-up of current turf greats. It is overwhelming to see so many extraordinary horses assembled in one place and sad to know that only one can come back victorious, but such is the game.
THAT start
There has been a lot of controversy about THAT start. I confess that am not kindly disposed to badly behaved horses. Apart from the nuisance factor, the more pertinent fact is that they pose a danger to other horses and riders. However, despite the wild speculation, I don’t think the horse was to blame in this particular case. Yes, the incident blew a lot of carefully laid plans. Yes, everyone had to rearrange their tactics accordingly. Yes, it quite possibly played right into Variety Club’s hands. However, whatever would, could or even should have been (and whether any of it would have changed the outcome a single jot), it is always a shame when the integrity of a result is called into question, but never more so than on one of our premier race days and during one of our premier races.
Now our current Horse of the Year and arguably one of the best we’ve had the privilege of seeing on our tracks, will forever have a shadow marring this victory. Without the mishap, the result would likely have been the same. But people will always wonder. And that to me is the greatest tragedy of all. If for no other reason than that, it is imperative that steps are taken to ensure this does not happen again.
Moving on
The Politician Stakes was a triumph for another KZN raider with a blanket finish having punters anxiously clutching their betting slips. With 10 horses finishing within 4 lengths of each other it was hellishly close to call, but the charmingly named Love Struck landed the spoils. Shane Humby, who has been care-taking the Paul Lafferty charge, looked over the moon, as did syndicate partner Alesh Naidoo who was on course to lead his horse in.
We had got chatting to some of the Drakenstein connections earlier on and it seemed a fitting end to the day to be in their box when Jeppe’s Reef held on for a courageous victory in the last.
As the last of the horses were loading for home, the music and the energy changed and I was glad to leave the bright young things to their revelry. I’d had a nice day and while the hospitality areas were all about the gloss, as long as I stuck to the ‘racing areas’ I was still been able to get sufficient ‘hoss’. So perhaps there is a happy compromise.
