Sands Of Time – March 1995

6-12 March 1995

High Speed Chase

The late Russian Fox lent credence to the theory that many stallions enjoy their best results after they are no longer around by enjoying one of his best seasons. The deceased son of Nijinsky was responsible for another Stakes winner when Hunters Chase captured the Computaform SA Oaks Trial Futurity at Newmarket on 9 March. The Cliffie Otto-trained filly was a well backed 7/2 second favourite and her supporters obviously knew what they were about, because Hunters Chase came home with more than a length to spare.

Tony Millard’s promising Argentinian import Carolera was sent out favourite, but found herself in front before leaving the back straight. The early pace was slow, and Carolera pulled her way to the front, showing the way to Hunters Chase, Sharp Affair, and Ruby Gift. Second Millard runner Mufski was held up near the tail of the 13 horse field. Carolera still held a narrow lead half way down the straight, but was coming under severe pressure from Hunters Chase, who swept into the lead coming to the last 200m. Topweight Stormy Hill threw down a challenge, but the concession of 5.5 kgs to Hunters Chase proved too much and the Australian import was 1.25 lengths back at the wire. Dancing Telegraph ran on to relegate Carolera into fourth, with Mufski not disgraced in fifth as she could not have been suited to the way the race was run.

Blitz Polka

If jockeys were judged only by how often they win on horses you didn’t even know were in the race, Marthinus Mienie would be champion. He’s been at it for years, winning race after race on long priced outsiders, and once in a while a nice Feature falls his way. The Gr3 Gosforth Park Fillies & Mares Stakes on 11 March was one of them. Mienie teamed up with unconsidered 20/1 shot National Dance in this 1600m event, leading from start to finish to win with a degree of ease which belied her starting price.

The Gosforth Park race looked open, with little to choose between five-year-olds Muscovy and Complete Lee. A pair of decent three-year-olds in My Sweet Love and Tales Of Winter represented the best chance for the younger generation, but National Dance showed up the lot of them. This was almost certainly a false run race, however, and one whose result must be viewed with a degree of scepticism. It’s frequently a sign of just such a race when the first three horses in the early stages are still the first three at the finish, and in the same order no less.

That was precisely the situation here, with National Dance setting the pace from My Sweet Love and Tales of Winter, then turning the race into a 400m sprint up the straight. It all worked like a charm, with National Dance (best known as a sprinter anyway) leaving her rivals flatfooted to win by almost four lengths from the two younger fillies. Complete Lee ran on for fourth, but those horses racing well off the early pace had been left with an impossible task in the short Gosforth Park straight.

This was some upset, considering that National Dance had managed just one third place from her last ten starts and that she had flopped the only time she previously tried 1600m. It also poured cold water on last week’s Sunday Times article saying that bookmakers were to be pitied after a run of well fancied Feature race winners. The paucity of winning favourites at recent Gauteng meetings (not one market leader was successful last Saturday) makes the timing of the sob story even less appropriate than would normally have been the case. Punters who’ve caught a Jo’burg Pick Six these last couple of weeks are as rare as camels in Alaska.

Man of La Mancha

La Mancha staked his claim for Greyville’s forthcoming SA Guineas, cruising home with more than three lengths to spare in a B Division 1600m handicap at Milnerton on Saturday, 11 March.

Greg Ennion’s gelding looked to have a simple task, as reflected by his starting price of 1/3, but he proved full value for his restricted odds. Jockey Gavin Howes had little to do but stay in the irons as La Mancha strolled home clear of some admittedly unexceptional rivals. However, La Mancha must be taken seriously as an SA Guineas prospect. He was only beaten half-a-length behind Bushmanland in the Cape equivalent at Milnerton in January, and it is worth noting that he had beaten Bushmanland in all three of their previous meetings, on three different racecourses – and over three different distances.

Sires Off The Mark

Sires to get off the mark this week were Elandskraal Stud’s imported Thunder Cat (USA), who got on the scoreboard with Qualify who made a winning debut (at odds of 5/10) at Arlington last Friday. Thunder Cat, an American import not to be confused with the sprinter of the same name who raced successfully at the Cape a few seasons ago, won seven races up to a mile in the USA. He has looked an interesting sire prospect, if only because he is the sole Storm Bird stallion at stud in South Africa.

Golden Acres’ second season sire Tropicante (1989 Gold Cup winner) posted his first winner when Periante won a 1300m maiden juvenile race at Gosforth Park. For good measure, another Tropicante filly Flocante finished second.

13-19 March 1995

Killer Mountain

The Computaform SA Derby Trial Futurity over 2000m on Thursday produced arguably the biggest shock of the Gauteng season, and heaven knows there have been a few.

Argentinian-bred Vladimir, an own brother to Illustrador who looked to be going from strength to strength, was largely expected to defy top weight in this handicap event and started odds-on favourite. The son of Cipayo let his backers down with a thump, appearing to fight for his head early and then just plodding on to finish fourth and more than five lengths off the winner.

That winner, in what was almost certainly a false run race, turned up in 20/1 outsider Singing Mountain. This Jean Heming-trained son of Elevation looked to have precious little chance after being beaten a combined distance of 39 lengths in his last two starts, one over the same course and distance as the Derby Trial. Singing Mountain rose to the occasion this time, tracking early pacemaker Injun Joe and inheriting a sizeable lead when the leader packed up 300m from home. Singing Mountain thus stole something of a march on his rivals and kept going strongly under Glen Hatt to hold off Pinehurst by almost a length.

If this race did tell us anything at all about the SA Derby at Turffontein it is that Pinehurst must have a fair shout of winning it. The son of Foveros was racing for the first time since November, he conceded Singing Mountain 2.5 kgs as well as too much start, and he will certainly relish an extra 450m. He has already won twice over 2700m and has long been top of our list of horses most likely to add to trainer Ormond Ferraris’ splendid record in the Turffontein classic. If nothing else, though, Singing Mountain was a shrewd buy for the R15 000 it took to acquire him at the 1993 National Yearling Sales. He is the third foal and third winner of the Jamaico mare A Song Is Born, winner of nine races including a listed handicap up to 2400m.

PE Whitewash

Congratulations are due to Fairview-based trainer Dumas Coetzee, who achieved a rare feat at his home course on17 March. Coetzee sent out four of the 15 runners in a maiden juvenile race over 1400m, and they took the first four placings. For the record, the race was won by Al Mufti’s daughter Desert Shade from Veldt Flyer (another of that sire’s progeny), with Ngosi Cat and Sultan’s Song completing the stable whitewash.

National Joy

Long range predictions, in any sport, can cause as much embarrassment as amusement. Sometimes, though, they are right on the money. National Emblem has been tipped for big things from the moment he first stepped on a racecourse, more than a year ago. The handsome chestnut finally delivered the really big win always expected of him, when he captured the R500 000 Gr1 Turffontein Classic on 18 March.

National Emblem was a popular 14/10 favourite for this 1800m event from the moment betting opened, even though he was racing beyond a mile for the first time and wasn’t certain to get the trip on a testing course like Turffontein. There have been some major surprises this Gauteng season, but National Emblem proved to be one people’s choice who came to the rescue.

The early pace was not very fast, with Golden Globe showing the way to Royal Showman and no-hoper Race Me, while National Emblem waited some five lengths behind. Amberpondo quickly passed horses to be in a challenging position at the top of the straight, but he just as rapidly went out the back door again. National Emblem, meanwhile, was making smooth headway down the inside, with Wave Spray and Teal in hot pursuit. The favourite took over racing into the last 300m, as the early leaders dropped away, and it was clear a furlong out that only Teal posed any real threat to the market leader. National Emblem always had Teal’s measure, though, and held on well to win by half-a-length. Final Coast suffered the first defeat of his career, but was hardly disgraced in running on well to finish one length further back third and a similar margin ahead of Wave Spray.

Oh So Charming

One of the widest smiles at Turffontein on Saturday, 18 March must have belonged to the TBA’s sale manager Graeme Hawkins. Expensive horses bought from the National Sales have a very thin time of it in major Feature events so far this season, but they completed a Gr1 double at this meeting when Harry’s Charm won the SA Nursery Plate over 1200m. The daughter of Harry Hotspur had cost R120 000 at the 1994 Nationals and this, coupled with National Emblem’s triumph in the Turffontein Classic, was just what Hawkins must have wanted to see on the eve (literally) of the 1995 sale.

To say that Harry’s Charm won the Nursery would be a mild understatement. Mike Azzie’s filly turned it into a procession, disputing the early lead with Golden Line and French Braid and then streaking clear over the last 300m to beat Cape Hunt by almost seven lengths. The late scratching of unbeaten Morris Lipschitz Memorial winner Amazon Fighter can have had little effect on the result, the way things transpired. She had only beaten Cape Hunt by half-a-length in the Newmarket race, the form of which generally stood up very well in the Nursery. Not only did Cape Hunt again finish second, but French Braid took third place as she had in the Lipschitz.

Harry’s Charm is inevitably being touted already as a female equivalent to Special Preview. Whether she will continue to dominate the juvenile scene as Special Preview did a year ago remains to be seen, but she is certainly the best of her age seen so far in Gauteng if not in South Africa generally.

All the Action

One of National Emblem’s main rivals for winter season honours is Counter Action. This son of Complete Warrior had his first start since an unsuccessful bid for the J&B Met when leading throughout under top weight of 57 kgs in a 1400m B Division handicap at Milnerton on Saturday, 18 March.

Counter Action needed little urging from jockey Gavin Howes to put almost two lengths between himself and Dual Of Angels, leaving the impression that he had a fair amount in reserve. Counter Action has long appealed as a progressive sort who could be one of the stars of the Natal season, and we have no reason to change our mind. His disappointing performance in the Met could be attributed to either his inability to stay 2000m (nothing unusual in Complete Warrior’s progeny), or his inability to handle the soft going. His excellent effort when finishing third behind Bushmanland and Special Preview in a blanket finish to the Argus Guineas makes Counter Action about as good a three-year-old miler as we have anywhere and his presence could only help to make the forthcoming SA Guineas at Greyville one of the real highlights of the Natal season.

20 – 26 March 1995

Renewed confidence

The 4-day National Yearling Sale showed remarkable market confidence. Of 634 yearlings catalogued, 507 were sold, 40 withdrawn and 87 not sold. The aggregate was R29 765 000 with the average up 17% from last year to R58 708.

Highveld trainer Mike Azzie went to a South African record R560 000 to secure the sale-topping colt, Hot Masala. The colt, by Harry Hotspur out of Hot Madras was consigned by Highlands Stud, which also sent second top-priced lot, Decision Made, for R500 000. Hot Masala will be campaigned by Messrs Graham Beck, Laurie Jaffee, Rodney Thorpe and Roger Zeeman.

Highest priced filly of the sale was The Alchemy’s Favourite Flavour (Foveros – Goldenflo), a half-sister to top sprinter Flobayou, who was knocked down to Wally Brits for R350 000.

Highlands Stud headed the list of vendors with receipts of R2 881 000 for 24 yearlings sold. Maine Chance Farms, like Highlands Stud owned by Antony Beck, took second place on the vendors’ list with 26 yearlings for R1 870 000 to narrowly shade Summerhill Stud as agent with 24 sales for R1 864 000, Summerhill Stud in their own right, being fourth at R1 563 000 with 18 yearlings sold. For the third year in succession Summerhill Stud’s Northern Guest (USA) emerged the most popular sire on aggregate, 38 of his progeny realising R3 884 000 at an average of R102 211.

Premier League

Gallic League has made a nice start to his South African stud career, with three individual scorers in his first local crop already. Sire of a listed stakes winner in the UK from two crops conceived while at stud in Ireland, Gallic League had his first South African Feature race winner when Shanjar captured the Hibiscus Nursery over 1000m at Greyville on Thursday, 23 March.

Shanjar had beaten subsequent dual winner Sarafina by more than two lengths in the maidens second time out, but was allowed to start a 12/1 outsider in this conditions race for two-year-old fillies.

Favourite Al Mufti’s daughter Charming Princess, was aiming to give Gauteng trainer Tobie Spies a Hibiscus Stakes double after his success with Salima one year earlier. Charming Princess ran on nicely to finish second, but on a day which seemed to favour frontrunners, Clodagh Shaw’s Shanjar made all the running and held on to win by half-a-length. The presence of Little Bit Saucy in third, beaten less than two lengths by Shanjar, must cast some doubt over the value of this form as she had been defeated a similar margin against modest maiden company at Clairwood Park only five days earlier.

Newmarket Racecourse’s Rand Sporting Club has been declared fully operational, with access costing R5 for Day Members or R75 per annum.

Hot Ash

The rain which engulfed much of the country last weekend was no doubt good news for some, but from racing’s point of view the timing could not have been worse. In one foul swoop, Greyville lost its “Royal” meeting and the country’s richest race was relegated to midweek status. The Premier’s Cup was subsequently cancelled altogether and may be rescheduled for a later date, subject to approval from the Jockey Club. At least Durban Turf Club knew its fate at dawn Saturday morning, but incredibly Gosforth Park was still trying to salvage its Premier’s Cup meeting less than an hour before the start of the first race.

Anybody unfortunate enough to be outdoors in Gauteng at that particular time will appreciate that the East Rand club deserves some kind of award for optimism in the face of hopeless odds. Following days of intermittent rain, the final coup de grace arrived sometime on Saturday morning in the form of a deluge which reduced visibility to a few hundred metres and threatened to turn Johannesburg into a seaside resort. Of course Gosforth Park were reluctant to postpone a race which they only host every other year to begin with, but from all accounts the decision to hold racing over could have been made much earlier than it was and thereby saved die-hard racegoers a fruitless trip in treacherous conditions.

All of which left Milnerton to save the day for those who can’t abide the thought of a weekend without racing. Suddenly Ashtontown found himself on centre stage. This talented two-year-old looked to have a simple task in the Saldanha Plate over 1100m on 25 March. He’d won his first two career starts with ease, beating a competitive maiden field on his debut in January and then landing the Nursery Trial by more than five lengths the following month. His task in the Saldanha Plate was made even simpler by the late withdrawal of promising filly Queen Of Space, and Ashtontown was duly dispatched as 4/10 favourite. Karl Neisius had Ashtontown a couple of lengths back as Royal Move set a brisk pace, but the market leader was clearly travelling well within himself and approaching the last 200m he began to close on the leader. It was no race as David Ferraris’ Ashtontown strode away to win by a fluent 1.5 lengths from Northern Fair, who came from well back in the seven horse field to relegate Royal Move into third place.

WPOTA Grooms Race Series

Vusi Nombexaza won the Ladbrokes Grooms Challenge Series by one point after finishing second in the fourth and final leg at Milnerton on 25 March 1995. The final results were as follows:-

V Nombexaza	18 points
S Mzayiya	17 points
B Masuan	13 points
S emtengwani	11 points
W Ngozi	9 points
M C Gopie	1 point
J Mangoyi	1 point

The first four riders in the series were awarded R1 200, R900, R600 and R300 respectively.

27 March – 5 April 1995

Fit For A King

The ability to race handy often makes all the difference between winning and losing, especially on a sharp course like Greyville.

Jean Heming-trained Wengener Hof is inevitably at or near the front throughout his races, and he kept on gamely to defeat former Cape Derby winner Comareen in the delayed King’s Cup over 2100m at Greyville on Monday, 27 March (the race is normally a 1600m event nowadays, but was returned to the distance over which it was run at the time of the last Royal visit in 1947). Comareen looked a worthy favourite after a good effort behind Unaware in a slow run 1600m event at Clairwood two weeks earlier, but the concession of 5.5 kgs to Wengener Hof proved just too much for the Liloy gelding.

The early pace was strong, with Milkman setting it from Not Negotiable, Wengener Hof and Reach For The Star, while Comareen waited a good 15 lengths off the leader. The front pair had had enough turning for home and Wengener Hof quickly took command. Comareen came forward at the subway and looked to be going much the better, but the weight difference told in the end. He just couldn’t get to grips with a gutsy Wengener Hof, who held on to win by nearly a length. Instant Power ran on to finish third and so make it a one-three result for Gauteng trained visitors.

Birds of a Feather

The Gr3 Queen’s Nursery Plate over 1000m at Greyville on 27 March looked a match race between the unbeaten pair of David Payne’s Rocky Marriage colt Weather Bird and Gold Flier, and that is exactly the way it panned out.

Both youngsters had won twice from as many starts, and without a great deal of fuss. The George Rowles-bred Weather Bird was taken to the Cape for the summer while his rival stayed at home in Natal, so there was little collateral form with which to try and weight one up against the other. They started joint favourites at 13/10, and fought out a grandstand finish. Gold Flier held a narrow lead from Crash Of Drums and Weather Bird turning for home, where Crash Of Drums soon lost touch with his rivals. That left the fancied pair to fight out one of the best finishes seen at Greyville for some time, and it seems a real pity that it could not have taken place in front of a bumper crowd 48 hours earlier instead. Weather Bird seemed inclined to hang out slightly while Gold Flier performed more like an old hand, but despite his evident inexperience, Weather Bird wore down his rival close home to win by a head. Half Colours stayed on to finish third, but he could have been in a different race to the first two.

NATFED, OTA, NOTA, WPOTA

Natfed announced the approval of a national badge, which will allow members entrance to any racecourse in South Africa. A national Breeders’ Cup scheme was also approved.

Mr Cecil Baitz is appointed the new Chairman of NOTA and vice chairman is Mr Wayne Aldridge. KZN clubs launch a service whereby owners may view and discuss races on video tape in the trainers’ lounge. They also issue a public reminder that stipendiary stewards initiating a race review, do not automatically lodge an objection.

In the Cape, the 76th WPOTA AGM is held on 28 March 1995 and it is decided to build a Grooms School. Mr WE Hodson retires as Chairman and is replaced by Mr Billy Steele with Rodney Dunn as vice-chair. South African Stable Workers Union is formed with strike action threatened over pay disputes.

Jockeys’ remuneration proves a headache. Previously agreed fees were R163 per ride (R80 for apprentices) funded by 4,5 % deduction from winning stakes (over and above the mandatory 7%) with the clubs making up the balance. The projected 45 000 rides rose to an unexpected 49 250, creating a shortfall in the budgeted amount, which will need to be covered by owners and clubs. From March, riding fees are increased by 7.5 % to R175 per ride.

The Transvaal OTA held an OTA Benevolent Fund raceday at Newmarket on 29 March, featuring the R200 000 Gr2 OTA Handicap. The race was won this year by Tony Millard-trained Rose Of Arcole, owned by Terrance Millard and Robin Scott. All races on the card were sold to sponsors with all proceeds benefitting the Benevolent Fund which takes care of 22 indigent trainers and their spouses.

Fire Storm

The Premier’s Cup, originally scheduled for the rained-out 25 March at Gosforth Park, was finally run on 1 April at the revised venue of Turffontein and produced a rather surprising result.

Take a horse from Cape Town, who has never run a place in soft going, expose him to the rarefied Highveld atmosphere for a week, and for good measure throw in a trainer who’s never even sent out the winner of a tip division handicap. What do you get? A fine mess? No, you get Fire Arch, winner of the R1,25 million Premier’s Cup. In soft going, for good measure. Not that the result would have been more of a surprise had it occurred one week earlier.

Don’t let anybody tell you Fire Arch had no claim to the R625 000 first prize. In what was handicapping’s answer to a bag of liquorice allsorts, Fire Arch came into the race with 52 kgs, the lowest mass a four-year-old male could carry. This despite the fact that he was one of only five previous Gr1 winners in what was eventually whittled down to a 13 horse field. Why such a dim view was taken of his success in the Bloodline Derby last June is not for us to understand. The biggest obstacle in Fire Arch’s way was the weather which first resulted in a one week delay, and second left substitute venue Turffontein still on the yielding side. Fire Arch had never shown his best form on soft ground, and there was every reason to believe that eight days spent kicking his heels at high altitude would leave him as deflated as the proverbial pricked balloon. Forget it.

Fire Arch swooped to conquer in the final furlong of this 2000m handicap, and in the process elevated the name of Mike Stewart from “Mike who?” (in Gauteng, at any rate) to the ranks of somebody who can play and win in the big league. Not that Stewart had anything to be ashamed of. The drawback of making your reputation as a trainer with a knack of getting other people’s discards to win is that other’s people’s discards are invariably most of what you get to train. There is a limit to what any man can do with patched-up battlers, and winning the Premier’s Cup is miles and miles beyond that limit. The Noordhoek trainer was given the chance of a lifetime when he was sent a selection of Swynford Paddocks-owned bloodstock at the onset of the Cape summer season. One of them was Fire Arch, a colt clearly amongst the leaders of his generation from way back when (Even if the handicapper failed to notice). Traffic hassles at a vital stage helped to sink Fire Arch in the J&B Met, but all that changed at Turffontein.

The early pace in the Premier’s was almost farcically slow, with Crystal’s Garter ambling along ahead of Son Of Adelaide, Firle Beacon and Space Walk. Rusty Pelican and race favourite Imperial Despatch were a good six to eight lengths back at the top of the straight, definitely not great news in the circumstances. Son Of Adelaide took over soon after straightening up, with Firle Beacon and Festive Forever in pursuit while Imperial Despatch began to make some ground along the far rail. Fire Arch, though, had the legs on all of them in what became a sprint for home. Jockey Anton Marcus timed his finishing burst to perfection, hitting the front with less than 200m to go and going on to win by three-quarters of a length from fellow Swynford Paddocks runner Firle Beacon. Filly Summer Line briefly threatened success before making do with third place, while Imperial Despatch had to be happy with fourth in a race which (yet again) wasn’t run to suit him.

New Zealand-bred Fire Arch was bought for the equivalent of R110 000 at the 1992 Sydney Easter Yearling Sale and has now won seven of 20 starts for purses of R993 595. He is by twice French Champion sire Kenmare and is the first foal of his dam Fire Twig. A daughter of Twig Moss, Fire Twig won five races up to a mile and was Gr1 placed in Australia. As for Fire Arch, he presumably will turn up to contest the valuable Natal winter season races, where he surely won’t be so under-estimated by the handicapper?

Good Old Sheila !

William Inglis & Son Ltd can safely use Turffontein’s 1 April meeting to promote their upcoming Sydney Easter Yearling Sale. It can’t be often that graduates from one sale win a pair of Gr1 races in 40 minutes, never mind on another continent. Fire Arch was acquired from that auction in 1992, and so was Super Sheila.

Just when you thought the filly had lost her best form for all time, up she pops to land the Turffontein Sprint at big odds. Aside from a fast closing second in a fillies’ Feature handicap at Newmarket in February, Super Sheila hadn’t shown anything like her old form since who knows when. Not surprisingly, she was an unheralded 14/1 outsider against a glitzy line-up for Saturday’s Gr1 Star Sprint over 1200m.

Big mistake, as it turned out. Fellow Australian import Tracy’s Element set out to emulate her success in the corresponding race a year ago and sowed the way early from Golden Man, but Tracy had simply been given too much to do under 58 kgs and began to weaken more than 200m out. Golden Man was long gone by that stage and Super Sheila was quick to stake her claim, coming forward with Casey’s Honour and The Business in hot pursuit. Jean Heming’s filly was simply too good for them, though, and stretched away under jockey Andrew Fortune to beat Casey’s Honour by 1.25 lengths. The Business and Slew Per Squadron filled the places in what was a Quartet punter’s nightmare come alive in glorious (?) technicolour.

Super Sheila has always had bags of ability, of course, but a repeated habit of losing ground at the start was followed by what looked for all the world to be a loss of enthusiasm for the game altogether. As a form return it was overdue, but most racing fans would have been quite happy to see her stay right off song a while longer.