History is made as Ilanga wins the first for Doug Campbell and Donovan Dillon
Despite a nervous build up with rumoured safety concerns from the jockeys, the Greyville Polytrack got off to a flying start on Wednesday with winning trainers and jockeys hailing the innovation as the best thing to happen to racing in KZN.
The well publicised Keeneland and Meydan synthetic rejection of recent times didn’t exactly make the Greyville move look too smart in the first place and the unseasonal rains late last year, coupled with the turf track’s own issues, have caused premature greying for Graeme Hawkins and his team.
And it really just wouldn’t be horseracing either if there was no speculation or dissension doing the rounds. There is always somebody who has an axe to grind or a bone to pick.
The irony here was that some may have just got a bitter taste of their own favoured medicine.
Certain jockeys (we know who they are) came out and expressed concerns about the proximity of the adjacent tar road to the track.
Too close for comfort?
We are not trying to make light of the risk factor of the tar road and, while no jockey may have gone over the rails in the part forty years, literally speaking that is, there is always a first time.
And from the photograph, it looks bloody damn close for comfort, especially, we imagine, from between a horse’s ears at 70km/h.
Social media was abuzz in the days prior to the meeting with the National Racing Bureau even issuing a rather bland, albeit unprecedented press release of sorts, via sms, denying apparent rumours of a change to the local racing progamme.
It gave new meaning to the politically correct, keeping it close to the chest, approach.
But we are used to the ‘on a need-to-know’ slant favoured by racing’s hierarchy.
In the end, no jockey protest happened, and the meeting went ahead.
Doug Campbell and apprentice Donovan Dillon had the honour of winning the first ever official race on the poly, with the Summerhill Stud bred daughter of Muhtafal, Ilanga.
Campbell was to enjoy a cracker with a treble on the afternoon. Even Doug will concede it has been some time since he had one of those.
Mike De Kock’s well backed Brazillian bred first timer, Osteria, romped home to win the second.
But then the trouble started.
Campbell struck again in the third, courtesy of a great ride by promising apprentice Callan Murray who steered the Jet Master gelding Charlie Trimble to a narrow win at any price.
Sean Cormack rode the first leg of his double, when Lion Tamer’s daughter Wimoweh led most of the way to win the fourth. She won from the widest draw at 10 to 1.
Frank Robinson’s Apple ‘n Spice romped home at R34-10 to win the jackpot opener.
Anthony Delpech rode a hat trick
The commentator shouted something really irritating like ‘she has been unlucky from the bad draws and gets it right.’ He either had the field in, knows the owner or punted a lucky number. Her form was plain bad.
Doug Campbell celebrated with his third winner of the afternoon when Dillon rode his second winner, Apple Pie, to beat the consistent Live Controversy to win the sixth. Campbell also bred the Miesque’s Approval gelding from the Spaceship mare, Little Green Apple, who knocked the world out of a Pick 6 once in what feels like the pre-apartheid days.
Marcus was unsighted on the favourite, A P Strike.
Anthony Delpech grabbed his double when he kept Kum Naidoo’s Roy Royale going from his 1 draw to last just long enough to hold the fast finishing Tulbagh Trip in the seventh.
Delpech made it a hat trick of winners when Alastair Gordon’s Milkwood bred Silvano filly Sephora finished well to win the eighth.
Sean Cormack sealed his personal double when he held off a flying Yesan Star to win the last.
Dennis Drier, who trained the winner, was full of praise for Gold Circle and the track. “This is a major innovation and it looks like it is going to be a winner. As long as well all pull together. I told Sean and MJ in the first just to give each other space. We are all learning,” he said wisely.
Shellshocked punters were hit for a six, and they won’t be excited about a possible rematch at Greyville in 48 hours.
The PA paid close on R9000, the Bipot paid R22 248, the almost impossible to catch these days Pick 6 had R100 000 carried over and the Jackpot paid R20 591.
Graeme Hawkins appeared relieved
Apparently all facilities are sold out for Friday evening. Thank goodness the Post Merchants will be run on the turf, but it looks a tough one to unravel.
Gold Circle Chief Operating Officer Graeme Hawkins closed the afternoon by saying that the most important aspect was that the track had ‘played fair.’
He was right. Horses won from the front, from off the pace and from varying draws.
The real test will come once the form starts coming together.
For now it looks a lucky dip.
Just include trainer Doug Campbell. The Sugar Hill Gang were on the mark and look to have the track sussed out.
