Sands of Time – January 1995

3 January – 9 January

Stakes increases

Stakes at the three Gauteng racecourses are raised by five percent. Going forward, handicaps are worth R63,000, R48,000 and R39,000 for top, middle and bottom divisions respectively. Graduation / Juvenile Plates are worth R33,000, Novice / Maiden Juvenile Plates R30,000 and Maiden Plates R27,000.

Champ retires

Empress Club retires from racing. The Argentinian-bred mare, owned by Laurie and Jean Jaffee, has gone to Graham Beck’s Gainesway Farm in Kentucky and will be covered by Lyphard.

Cape Sale Buoys Spirits

TBA’s January Cape Summer Yearling Sale at Goodwood showed a promising upturn with two lots sharing the top price of R85,000. Riverton Stud consigned the filly Mantra by Model Man out of Logarithm (Lost Chord), which was knocked down to Summerveld trainer Ricky Maingard after a ding-dong battle with Gauteng trainer Bartie Leisher. Odessa Stud shared top honours with their colt The Hunk, by Elliodor out of Double Chance (Taxiarchos) bought by Herman Brown snr for his Summerveld-based son. With 250 of the 300 lots on offer finding buyers, the aggregate reached R4 842 500, up from R4 338 000 for 245 lots last year. The average price was also up 10% to R19 370.

The TBA’s Mixed Bloodstock Sale featured multiple graded stakes winner Wainui, part of a 17-lot draft offered without reserve on behalf of the estate of the late Jock Hume. The 11-time winner, sold with a Rampaging Native colt at foot and in foal to Flaming Rock, was secured by Mauritzfontein Stud for R130 000. With 107 of the 172 lots finding buyers, the sale reached an aggregate of R1 238 500 at an average of R11 575, up on 1994’s figures when 135 of the 200 lots sold grossed R859 500 at an average of R6 367.

The sale also featured a happy ending when filly Child Of Fortune was knocked down to trainer Bert Hayden for R12,000. Child Of Fortune is out of 15-time winner Queen Of Fortune, one of the mares saved from the butcher at the 1992 Goodwood Mixed Sale by Pat O’Neill.

Two Strikes You’re In

NATFED announces that maidens can only be eliminated twice from a race. After that they will be guaranteed a run.

Cape Argus Guineas Day

Herman Brown, in his role as assistant to his Summerveld-based son, saddled his third Stakes winner of the summer when Sleek Machine scrambled home in the Gr3 Peninsula Handicap in the Cape Argus Guineas undercard on Saturday, 7 January. Son Of Man was a surprising early leader, showing the way to Milkman, Great Swinger and Bacio. The pacemaker was a spent force 300m out, when Sleek Machine came forward to challenge with market rival Bold Approach in hot pursuit. Bacio also threw down a strong challenge in the last 100m and the three hit the line almost together. The camera showed that Sleek Machine had held out Bold Approach by a nose, but the result would have been different in another stride or two. It was a good effort by Bold Approach as he conceded the winner 2 kgs and is finally living up to the promise he showed as a three-year-old last season.

No Beating Around The Bush

Betting for the Cape Argus Guineas was dominated by Champion Juvenile Special Preview and champion Cape filly Shepherd’s Moon, going for her sixth-straight win. Special Preview, flown to Cape Town the Wednesday before the race, went off at 2-1 with Shepherd’s Moon at 5-2. Bushmanland, drawn at 16, was sent off at 20-1.

Special Preview was well drawn at No 6 but was fractionally slowly into stride and champion jockey Piere Strydom had no option but to drop the chestnut back and let him find his feet. The result was that Special Preview was among the backmarkers and racing on the outside of the field as Shoe Express dictated the tempo through the turn, with Foreign Assault in second place, ahead of Trojan Hero and Northern Host. Bushmanland raced midfield and several horses wide, having to cover extra ground with Shepherd’s Moon a length behind him and some five lengths off the pace.

The outcome was in the balance throughout the straight with a finish that ranked alongside the best in the long history of this classic. Northern Host edged ahead of Foreign Assault, Counter Action and Shoe Express at the 400m pole, only to give way to Bushmanland as the runners charged into the final 200m. Special Preview was only a length back and closing and Strydom, whose swooping late runs have yielded so many victories, must have thought he had it in the bag as his mount charged alongside Bushmanland 100m from home.

But Special Preview didn’t sustain his charge and Bushmanland fought on bravely to thwart his rival by a nose, with Counter Action a neck back in third. Shepherd’s Moon had to settle for seventh place but was far from disgraced with only a length covering the first eight home in a race that was run only 0,20 sec outside Empress Club’s race record.

Delighted trainer James Lightheart never had the slightest doubt about Bushmanland’s ability saying, “He’s brilliant and what made me so confident was his run in the Merchants Stakes. He ran Flobayou to three-quarters of a length in spite of finding trouble. I never like to be quoted beforehand, but I said in The Argus the night before the race that he would win.” The Centenary colt, bred at the Excelsior Stud, will transfer to Summerveld-based David Payne for the Natal winter season.

Special Preview, suffering only his second loss in an eight-race career, was magnificent in defeat. Trainer Joe Soma commented “It was a great run. He had no luck in running. He was leaning back when they jumped and was slightly slow. Piere said they were always in trouble after that and he decided to ease him back. There was no runner on his outside to help him through the turn.”

10 – 16 January

In Full Flo

When race caller Jehan Malherbe described Flobayou as South Africa’s champion sprinter he was not inviting much controversy and few would argue after the four-year-old’s impressive performance in the R150,000 Gr1 Cape Flying Championship at Milnerton on 14 January.

Only seven lined up for this weight-for-age event, but in Signor Amigo, Taban and Golden Taipan we had the winners of three Gilbeys’ Stakes, an equal number of Natal Mercury Sprints, and one Computaform Sprint. Flobayou treated them, and the rest of his six rivals, to a rare old lesson in the fine art of sprinting. Karl Neisius had Flobayou a couple of lengths back as Winnetka, Secret Pact and Taban showed the way, with Golden Taipan bringing up the rear. Secret Pact took over from Taban with about 300m left, but Flobayou was now making good progress up the outside of his field. It took little more than mild urging from Karl Neisius for the odds-on favourite to come clear in the closing stages and win very comfortably by more than a length. Golden Taipan ran on strongly for second without ever looking like getting closer, while Secret Pact narrowly snatched third from Winnetka.

Top Team Lost In Crash

Saturday, 14 January 1995 will go down as the blackest day in the history of thoroughbred racing in Zimbabwe. Disaster struck when one engine and a wing of the twin-engined Baron Beechcraft plummeted to earth minutes from Harare International Airport, killing all six occupants. On board were four-time champion trainer Murray Lindley and his wife Sally, leading jockeys Paul Muscatt, Gordon Whyte and his wife Corrinne as well as Ian Sandeman, pilot of the plane as well as a major owner, steward of the Mashonaland Turf Club and one of Zimbabwe’s most important farming figures.

17 – 23 January

Purple Patch

Michael Roberts, enjoying his annual summer holiday in South Africa, gave yet another race riding masterclass in the Michael Roberts Handicap on 19 January at Scottsville. Pat Riley-trained Winning Purple has always looked best up to 1400m, but here was asked to try an extra 400m against top division rivals of the opposite sex. Even Michael Roberts cannot win races without a decent horse, but he knows how to get the best out of his mounts. He had Winning Purple racing in second as Solar Treasure set a pace which Roberts and (evidently) few others realised was not strong. He sent the five-year-old mare to the front turning for home, and she was soon a good three lengths clear. The race was decided there and then; Winning Purple was clearly running out of gas at the finish, but she’d stolen the race at the right time and held off Sly by the best part of a length. Race favourite False Pretender was set an impossible task, turning for home a good eight lengths behind and needing to sprout wings to ever get on terms in the sprint up the straight. He did well in the circumstances to finish third, but the Roberts magic had worked yet again.

Bright Side of the Moon

Shepherd’s Moon really does have a vice-like grip on major fillies’ races. Few were prepared to seriously back against her in the 21 January R150,000 Gr1 Arc-En-Ciel Paddock Stakes, and rightly so.

Reunited with old partner Mark Khan, Shepherd’s Moon was handily placed in about sixth spot as Our Embrace set a slow pace from Northern Girl and Gushing. Khan wasted little time reeling in the leaders once turned for home, making a bid right up against the inside rail. It was never going to be a real contest once Shepherd’s Moon was in full gear, Chris Snaith’s champion running on strongly over the last 200m to win by 2.25 lengths. The Woodruff-trained pair of Gushing and Northern Girl took the places ahead of Bacio.

New Facilities for Newmarket

Newmarket Turf Club opened its new R3 million betting hall on January 23. The original cold and unattractive area under the main grandstand has been converted into a lavish enclosed betting hall that will ensure that racing is more enjoyable for racegoers. Features of the betting hall include full betting facilities (tote and bookmakers), a VIP (Very Important Punters) lounge-bar area, ample seating, large TV screens and fast-food outlets and bars. Newmarket’s popular Club TAB, the four-largest TAB Transvaal agency, and Alberton Tattersalls have been incorporated in to the betting hall.

24 – 30 January 1995

Tracy’s Back

Tracy’s Element started her four-year-old campaign in good style when she won the Syd Laird Memorial Handicap over 1000m at Newmarket on 26 January.

The Australian-bred had not raced since successive flops in the SA Gillies Sprint and the Gilbey’s Stakes last winter, but was on song at Newmarket, racing up with the pace from the start and finding more when challenged by Levendi to win by a neck. Levendi’s stable companion Golden Man put up another creditable performance to finish third. This was a useful effort by the winner as Tracy’s Element was giving the runner-up 6 kgs and she did appear to win with a little in hand.

Surf’s Up!

To finish first and second in the J&B Met is remarkable enough; to do so with a pair of horses that have both been laid up with tendon injuries must elevate Tony Millard to a level so near that of his legendary father as makes no difference.

The 28 January Gr1 J&B Met lifted Surfing Home to millionaire status, and there can be few seven figure earners who deserved it more than this gigantic American import.

Predictably, the lack of a true frontrunner in the Met field saw Surfing Home set a reasonable pace, but one that was by no means strong. Queen’s Plate winner Crimson Waves and sole three-year-old Counter Action stalked Jeff Lloyd’s mount, while Muis Roberts kept well in touch aboard second Millard entry Waitara. Crimson Waves and Counter Action disappeared from sight soon after turning for home, which left Waitara to set sail after Surfing Home.

That Millard would win his second Met in three years was something of a foregone conclusion half way down the straight. Waitara mounted a challenge, but Surfing Home is a notoriously difficult horse to overtake when he’s in front. He clearly has a heart to match his generous physique, and he kept on going to beat Waitara by almost one length while conceding the runner-up 3.5 kgs. Imperial Despatch and Rusty Pelican filled the minor placings, yet again running to within inches of the form they showed in both the Daily News 2000 and Rothmans July last year. They also completed a Met quartet for Gauteng-trained horses, which doesn’t’ do much for the much theory that Johannesburg raiders are at a disadvantage when they race in Cape Town. Counter Action appeared not to stay the trip, while Crimson Waves pulled up last of all after possibly failing to cope with the unseasonably soft track.

Spare a thought for the connections of Crystal’s Garter, who nearly impaled himself on a fence after breaking loose during the pre-race parade. The form shown by Imperial Despatch and Rusty Pelican suggests that Crystal’s Garter would have been in with a real shout of winning the Met; he was meeting them on between 2.5 kgs and 3 kgs better terms for a beating of little over two lengths in the Daily News 2000 and on that form was handicapped with a winner’s chance. On the other hand, he might have had as much joy trying to get past Surfing Home as everyone else, which yet again makes you wonder just what the Rothmans July result would have been had the ‘Yank Tank’ not taken a scenic meander down the Greyville straight.

Gr3 J&B Reserve Stayers

Amazing what clever jockeyship can achieve in false run races. Four-year-old filly Flower Filled looked a forlorn prospect to ever win a Graded stakes race, but she did just that in the Gr3 J&B Reserve Stayers Handicap over 2500m (the race was scheduled for 2800m, but had to be reduced after traffic crossing to the in-field parking had damaged the rain-softened track. Interestingly, not one trainer exercised the option to scratch his horse).

Flower Filled came into the race as a 2-time winner – a maiden and a novice – from 22 starts. She also credited her trainer “Crunchy” Cronje with his only success of the season when she won that novice plate at Milnerton in December. Not surprisingly, few punters expressed much interest and it was 1994 Natal Oaks runner-up Born Wonderful who was heavily supported to start favourite under Muis Roberts. The shortened distance may have removed most of the stamina doubts that existed over Born Wonderful, but she still made no show and finished well back.

The early pace was slow, with 1993 winner Queen’s Highway jogging along from Flower Filled, Speed Cat, and Moorea Atoll. Jockey Conrad Wilkinson took the plunge soon after they’d ambled past the 1000m disc, and sent Flower Filled into a three length lead. That, and his decision to make his run hard up against the outside fence, won the day for Wilkinson and offered him at least some consolation for the Crystal’s Garter fiasco. Speed Cat set out in pursuit soon after turning for home, but Flower Filled had poached a break and found the best going. She kept on rolling to beat Port Elizabeth visitor Mystic Swan by three lengths, with Speed Cat a head further back. The winner’s purse of R48,000 more than doubled Flower Filled’s career earnings; she had managed to pick up R47 445 from her previous races.