Sands of Time – October 1995

4 – 10 October

 

Tap Dancing

When lot 78 of the 1993 Natal Yearling Sales walked into the ring, nobody paid much attention. The pint-sized filly by first season sire Barbarolli, out of dam Solar Drummer, who had won four races but came from a pretty uninspiring family, was passed over by most. However, she did not escape the astute eye of Mike de Kock, who secured the filly for a single bid for R1,000.

The little filly was named Drum Taps and has more than vindicated the R1,000 outlay. Placed third behind her stable companion Stormy Hill in last season’s SA Oaks, Drum Taps recouped her purchase price exactly 40 625 times over in one swoop when she won the IGN Silver Bowl over 3200m at Newmarket on 4 October 1995. Admittedly, only six rivals took her on, one of them the five-year-old winner of a Bloemfontein maiden race, but Drum Taps showed plenty of resolution to narrowly beat fellow de Kock entry Bluffit by a long head. The Silver Bowl may not have brought out a great field of stayers, and it was run at a pace which bordered on the funereal, but Drum Taps got the money. And that, really, is all that pays the bills.

Luck Of The Irish

The long awaited spring rains arrived in Gauteng – just in time to make a fine mess of Turffontein’s IGN Gold Bowl meeting on 7 October. The on-off showers saw track conditions degenerate from good to yielding to heavy to plain hopeless in a matter of hours.

A brave attempt was made to salvage the day’s Feature events, with the second, third and fourth races abandoned in a bid to save the track, but 100 meters after the start of the supporting Feature it became painfully obvious that there would be no Gold Bowl to back it up that afternoon.

The Supersport Three-Year-Old Sprint over 1200m was run in what was probably the worst going witnessed in more than two decades of racing. While one must view the result of any race run on ground which began to resemble an Irish bog with suspicion, there is no doubt that eventual winner Irish Ranger is a very good horse. Mike de Kock’s colt conceded weight to all but Smirnoff winner Gold Flier, and those further down the handicap included the likes of unbeaten Cape Nursery winner Ashtontown, SA Nursery runner-up Cape Hunt, and Freedom Forever, a colt as yet undefeated over sprints. Ashtontown was a hot favourite to make it five wins from five starts, but after attempting to make all the running he was collared in the final stages and beaten three-parts of a length by Irish Ranger under jockey Rene Bonham.

What A Winner!

Aside from Irish Ranger’s own performance at the weekend, What A Prospect paid Mike de Kock’s horse another compliment by walking off with the Kwazulu-Natal Breeders Championship over 1800m at Scottsville on 7 October.

What A Prospect finished almost a length second to Irish Ranger in the Clairwood Park leg of this series in August, but he subsequently won the Kwazulu-Natal Provincial Guineas and on Saturday posted the fifth Feature race success of his career.

Only the very promising Gauteng visitor Cato Court looked to have any chance of unseating What A Prospect, but James Goodman’s runner proved nowhere good enough for the task at hand. The relative proximity of moderate last-start maiden winner Give It A Bash in third makes it doubtful that Cato Court ran to his very best form, but What A Prospect was the class act of the Scottsville field and he more than proved it. With regular jockey Robbie Fradd engaged elsewhere, the ride on What A Prospect fell to Glen Hatt. He sure made the most of it, keeping Cyril Naidoo’s colt about five or six lengths off the early pace set by Cubic Crystal and then sending the favourite about his business half way down the straight. What A Prospect simply glided into the lead, and there was no way that the chasing Cato Court would ever get near him. The margin at the wire was three lengths, promising more for What A Prospect before his sophomore season is over.

Sukhumi Tops Sale

The Swynford Paddocks HIT Dispersal Sale was held at the Rand Show National Exhibitions Centre on Sunday, 8 October and included 57 horses in training, 8 unraced 3yo’s, six 6yo’s and an additional 22 horses ‘suitable for equestrian sports’.

The world seemed to have gone mad when lot 10 was knocked down to Dean Maroun at a shade over R200 000. A son of Formaz out of Plum Bold mare Bold Lady, the bay Sukhumi is a winner of 2 races from seven starts to date. He has shown himself a consistent performer, with an ability rating of about 90, which projects him as a comfortable 4 or 5-time winner. But R200,000?

A few lots later Cape trainer Patrick Labuschagne went to R170,000 for Vigliotto’s Flame, a staying bred filly with useful form around a mile. Vigliotto’s Flame is out of imported Irish mare Cabinet Level (4×4 Nasrullah), who is the dam of an Italian stakes winner.

Gold Bowl prospect Zelator, not the soundest of horses, but a solid stallion prospect, fetched R170,000.

In total, 87 lots were sold for an average of R24,000 and a gross of R2,1 million.

Sweet Revenge

The photo finish camera is a marvellous invention, but it can be a cruel one, too. It denied The Monk first prize by the narrowest of margins in the 1994 IGN Gold Bowl, with the laurels instead going to Surfing Home.

Fast forward twelve months, to the next renewal of the Gold Bowl on 9 October 1995. The Monk and Surfing Home are back to take each other on; they again finish first and second but with one crucial difference – this time, the honours fell to The Monk. Has revenge ever been so sweet?

A pity, of course, that the Gold Bowl had to be delayed by 48 hours because of poor weather, but there was simply no possible way that the race could be run on Saturday. The 3200m marathon at Turffontein deserved a bigger audience than the one it got, but there is nothing that anyone can do about that. Favourite for the R750,000 handicap was, of course, Teal. The Rothmans July hero had never been out of the first two from 15 career starts, and was always favourite to add the Gold Bowl to his score. The David Ferraris-trained pair of Travel North and Pinehurst had their backers, as did proven stayer Classic Hero, but there was a singular lack of interest in Surfing Home’s chances.

That disregard for Surfing Home’s chances nearly proved to be the mistake of the season. Jeff Lloyd had the 1994 winner well placed as Reach For The Star set the pace, with Classic Hero, Zelator and The Monk just in behind and Teal racing midfield. Surfing Home attempted to steal the race turning for home, where he came to the outside fence and rapidly opened up a five length lead. Travel North and The Monk quickly collared Surfing Home inside the last 400m, and it looked as if the old warrior had done his bit.

Never, ever underestimate a good horse. Surfing Home clawed his way back from the brink, to snatch second place from Travel North. There was nothing he could do about The Monk, however. Despite appearing to run much of the two miles with a slipped saddle, the former SA Derby winner responded gamely to a vigorous ride from Stephen Jupp to beat Surfing Home by a good length.

Pinehurst made late progress to finish fourth behind Travel North, making it a smashing one-three-four result for David Ferraris and pushing him to the head of the National trainers’ table. What a way to start his Gauteng career, and a real chip off the old block!

Teal was never a real threat in finishing sixth, but even that was enough to make an equine millionaire of him.

Gale Force

Foveros is no longer with us, but this outstanding sire is well on his way to yet another championship title. The son of Averof went a mile clear at the top of the table after The Monk won the IGN Gold Bowl, and he had another Stakes winner just 24 hours later when Grecian Gale won the George Azzie Memorial Handicap at Newmarket on 10 October.

If this helps to underline the stallion’s dominance, it points just as unerringly to his versatility – the Gold Bowl was run over 3200m, and the George Azzie over 1200m! What other stallion of the modern era has sired Gr1 winners over every distance from a sprint to a marathon, time and time again?

The George Azzie is only a Listed event, of course, and Grecian Gale had her shortcomings well and truly exposed when she could only finish sixth in the Gosforth Park Fillies & Mares Challenge four days later, but she is a very useful filly for all that. The George Azzie marked her first start since returning to the care of her first trainer Buddy Maroun, having been in the care of Louis Goosen in the interim. My Sweet Love set out to make all the running in a bid to win for trainer Mike Azzie the race named in memory of his grandfather, but she again ran out of steam in the last 100m. Star Award briefly looked as if she might post a long overdue return to the winner’s enclosure, but her moment was short-lived as first Young Baton and then a flying Grecian Gale charged to the front in the dying stages, with Grecian Gale finishing much the stronger to win by one length.

11 – 17 October

 

Lady Is A Champ

When David Ferraris moved to Gauteng at the beginning of the season he brought with him a pair of undefeated crackerjacks from the Cape.

Ashtontown was beaten, but very far from disgraced when failing by less than a length to make all the running in the bottomless mud of the Supersport Sprint; Lady Of Cadiz fared better at Gosforth Park on Saturday, 14 October keeping her record intact when she blitzed home to win a bottom division 1000m handicap.

The daughter of Golden Thatch had won both the Ascot Fillies Nursery and the Kenilworth Fillies Futurity for jockey Robert Sweetman, and stable rider Weichong Mawing made way for Sweetman to partner the filly again at Gosforth Park. Why tamper with a winning combination?

Sweetman made no mistakes. Lady Of Cadiz was always in touch with the leaders in a race which was run at a cracking gallop, and when asked for an effort she responded immediately. She drew away over the last 150m to win by a very easy 2.25 lengths from the front running Wild Spender, and in the process became one of a handful of horses to run 1000m in under 56 seconds. Lady Of Cadiz was barely half-a-second off Treasure Cove’s long standing Gosforth Park course record and Ferraris’ filly is obviously a sprinter of very considerable promise. She has yet to beat top class rivals, but she demolished some useful two-year-olds during her Cape campaign and was clearly a cut or two above the rivals she faced on Saturday. Lady Of Cadiz is almost certainly going to remain a sprinter. Not only is she by Golden Thatch, but her dam Fair Spanish Lady posted all three career victories up the straight and was successful in the Gr3 Varsfontein Sceptre Stakes over 1200m. Lady Of Cadiz is now five-from-five and is probably being targeted for such races as February’s Computaform Sprint. Lest we forget, David Ferraris’ father won that race with a filly (Tracy’s Element) in 1994.

Brilliant Disguise

The keenly awaited rematch between Mosszao and Dancing Danzig promised to make a humdinger of the 14 October Gr1 Gosforth Park Fillies & Mares Challenge. The two had met in the Voyager Stakes at Turffontein one month earlier, where Mosszao stormed home full of running to beat Dancing Danzig by two lengths. Could Mosszao beat the dual Arcsa Award winner again, to prove just who exactly is queen of the South African turf?

Well, yes and no. Mosszao did beat Dancing Danzig again, which was only to be expected considering there was a 3kg swing in Mosszao’s favour this time. The problem is, Garb Of Guise slammed them both silly. It was a slightly peculiar race between one thing and the other, though, and the result may flatter the winner slightly. Garb Of Guise has been a new horse since arriving in Gauteng, where on her local debut she trounced the capable Young Baton by seven lengths in a bottom division fillies handicap over 1300m at Newmarket in late September, but one doesn’t have to look hard to try and prove that neither Mosszao nor Dancing Danzig ran to their best form at Gosforth Park.

Mosszao appeared to be slightly slow into stride, and attempted to come from an impossible position. The Australian filly was one from last turning into the short straight, and on a course which is sharp at the best of times and which was running faster than an ice rink on Saturday that really left Mosszao with a hopeless task. She stormed through to finish second, but the race was over by the time Anton Marcus could get her going. Dancing Danzig, in contrast, found herself racing much handier than normal. She had the widest draw in a 1 horse field over the tricky Gosforth Park 1600m, and rather than leave his mount with the same dilemma as Mosszao, jockey Rhys van Wyk opted to go around the field early to race second behind pacemaker Vino Rosa.

Dancing Danzig quickly hit the front once straightened up, but her early efforts had taken their toll. She had nothing much to offer when Garb Of Guise tackled her 200m from the line, and in final strides she surrendered second place to Mosszao. Given all that, and the fact that Dancing Danzig was conceding 2.5 kgs and 4 kgs to the field, her supporters may well think she has done enough to prove her previous defeat by Mosszao all wrong. Maybe so, but we would prefer to wait for a third (and hopefully decisive) encounter between the two.

Not that Garb Of Guise was exactly a shock winner, even if the manner of her success was almost insultingly easy. She had finished only three lengths behind Dancing Danzig in the SA Fillies Guineas at Scottsville in May, a time when the Millard stable was far from firing on all cylinders, and on Saturday she did meet Diane Stenger’s filly on 4kgs better terms. Garb Of Guise was also much better drawn than her rival, and was able to race handy in around fourth spot before throwing down her challenge soon after turning in. It all went right on the day for Garb Of Guise, a highly talented filly no doubt, and one who may yet prove that she is every bit as good as this makes her look. We shall see.

One can only heap praise on Tony Millard for his training of the winner. Garb Of Guise began her career in Port Elizabeth, where she showed very useful form but where she was no match for a strong local crop of three-year-old makes which included La Fabulous. She has clearly improved since then, and her victory at Gosforth Park finally credited her sire Al Mufti with a long awaited first Graded Stakes winner. The second foal of the very mediocre Top Security mare Special Security, four-year-old Garb Of Guise has won six of 17 career starts and purses of R219 625.

Azzie Signs for Top Lot

Gauteng trainer Michael Azzie bought top priced juvenile Bold Viking at the 15 October Ready To Run Sale for R70,000. Consigned by Summerhill, the son of Northern Guest is out of Gate Money, a 3-time winning Gatecrasher mare from the family of Anarch. He failed to reach his reserve earlier this year at the National Sales.

Summerhill was easily the leading consignor at the sales. It also had On The Roll (R50,000), Dancing Legacy (R60,000), Itsa Ball (R40,000), de Bourbon (R60,000), Keep Guessing (R50,000), Song Of France (R55,000).

Karoo breeder David Southey can always be found with one of the top lots, and this sale wasn’t an exception. His Mistral Dancer colt Patchouli Dancer, first foal of Georgio’s winning full sister Perfumery, fetched a handy R47,000.

Of the 86 catalogued lots, 59 found new homes, at an average of R21,000.

Irkutsk Makes A Ton

Millard inmates Irkutsk and Secret Swan topped the boards at the mixed sale, going for R100,000 and R80,000 respectively. Both horses were consigned by Luke Bailes. Roy Magner was the buyer of the top lot. There was quite a drop to the third highest price, R37,000 for Let’s Rock, also from the Millard yard and consigned on behalf of Litchfield Stud.

A total of 65 horses were catalogued, of which 47 sold for an average of R11,000.

18 – 24 October

 

Staking A Claim

A new name was added to the list of Fillies Guineas candidates when Final Claim posted an impressive victory in the Gr3 Diana Stakes over 1400m at Milnerton on Saturday, 21 October.

This fillies-and-mares Weight For Age event around the near bend attracted a useful, if not top class field, and Final Claim was rising sharply in class after winning a graduation plate last time out. Despite that, Patrick Kruyer’s runner attracted a ton of support to go off as a heavily fancied 9/2 chance, and her backers certainly knew their business.

Little Eaton set the early pace with Northern Girl and Eternal Dancer taking it up soon after the turn for home, but nothing stood a chance once Final Claim began to deliver her challenge. Kruyer’s filly had been some four lengths back at the top of the straight, but she made up the leeway without much fuss and strode away in the closing stages to beat Lady Celeste by 2.75 lengths.

This was a handy performance by the winner, but it must be said that things really went her way. One possible danger was effectively taken care of when the useful Queen Of Space lost valuable ground at the start, while eventual third finisher Amorous Moon was baulked for a run and may well have finished somewhat closer with a trouble free passage.

Still, Final Claim did run out a resounding winner of her first start beyond sprints, and she clearly has to be considered very useful, even if time alone will show how she compares with such leading female classic hopefuls as Ahmatir or Dance Every Dance.

Runner-up Lady Celeste was nowhere near good enough for the classics in her three-year-old last season and actually finished last in the SA Fillies Guineas at Scottsville. Final Claim nevertheless could only win, and she won it in a manner that strongly suggested an additional 200m would be within her compass.

Final Claim has won three times from five lifetime starts for purses of R68 735 and, win or lose, she surely has earned a right to try for the Cape Fillies Guineas coming up at Milnerton on December 9th.

No Beating The Bush!

The Diana Stakes was not the only race at Milnerton to provide an important clue to the forthcoming summer season.

Bushmanland threw down a serious challenge to any would-be candidates for big race honours when he bolted home by 3.5 lengths in a top division 1000m sprint. This distance was largely considered too sharp for last season’s Cape Guineas winner, who had commenced his current campaign with an easy victory in the 1400m Matchem Stakes four weeks before Saturday’s sprint, but nothing could have been further from the truth.

The presence of some lightning fast speedsters made certain that the race was run at a cracking gallop, and that suited Bushmanland just fine. Always in touch with the leaders, James Lightheart’s colt blew them away over the last 200m to win going away and in the process break the course record – in yielding going! Whether you actually believe that Bushmanland covered the distances in 56.6 secs (and for Milnerton that is almost unbelievably fast), there is no arguing with the manner of his victory.

Not that Bushmanland’s ability to sprint with quality rivals will surprise those who remember the son of Centenary finishing less than a length behind Flobayou in the Merchants Stakes at Kenilworth as an early three-year-old. He will quite likely have another tilt at that race on November 4th, and it seems evident that Bushmanland will be a force to reckon with in any race up to 1600m this summer season.

Olympic Gold

Racing is not a game for the faint-of-heart, and anybody who took the odds on red-hot favourite Olympic Lord in the Highveld Breeders Plate at Newmarket on 24 October was made to sweat.

Mike de Kock’s gelding eventually emerged triumphant in this 1600m event for three-year-olds, but the way he went about it was hardly designed to give stable companion Irish Ranger any sleepless nights as far as the forthcoming classics are concerned.

Olympic Lord had hacked up by eight lengths in a Truffontein graduation race when first tried with blinkers and on that performance looked impossible to oppose against some decidedly moderate opposition in the Highveld Breeders. The ‘good thing’ was well back turning for home and raced very wide into the stretch, none of which was designed to make his supporters feel comfortable. The chestnut came under a ride from Johnny Geroudis a long way from home, and until very late into the proceedings it looked as if he could not get up. He was making painfully slow progress as Leavenworth shot to the lead in the last 200m, but Olympic Lord eventually wore his rival down to snatch victory away right in front of his hyperventilating supporters.

Olympic Lord is no Guineas horse on this form, but he has clearly benefitted from the use of blinkers and he gives the impression that distances beyond a mile will suit him better. A son of little known Majestic Light stallion Lord Of The Manor, Olympic Lord is out of the Averof mare Ballad Of Reading and is a half brother to useful Gauteng filly Sharp Affair.

The latter stays 2000m despite being by sprinter Sharp Romance, and there is in fact considerable stamina to be found in the pedigree. Olympic Lord was acquired for R14,000 at the inaugural Transvaal Autumn Yearling Sale and has now earned prizes of R75,075.

The fillies’ division of the Highveld Breeders brought out an even less quality packed field than its counter-part for males. It also looked a great deal more open as a result, with Plus Expenses and Joy Of Spring weak market leaders. They had to settle for fifth placed and third respectively, as 5/1 chance Rebecca collared Polar Circle in the final stages to deny the latter of what had seemed a certain victory 100m from home.

Rebecca had finished unplaced in her only start since beating a moderate maiden field at the Vaal in July and she hardly looks to be any special, but her victory provided emerging trainer Danny Gonsalves with a career-first Stakes winner.

It is appropriate also that Rebecca is owned, and was bred, by one of Gauteng racing’s biggest supporters in David Makins. Mr Makins has emerged as one of the biggest players in the breeding industry of what used to be known as the Transvaal, where history will show that top class horses can be raised – despite whatever the more traditional breeding areas might think.

25 – 31 October

 

Racing: No Cigar!

The fortunes of South African racing plunged to a new low when a demonstration by dissatisfied punters brought the 28 October Gosforth Park meeting to an abrupt and premature halt.

The problem was sparked, at least at first glance, by the decision to uphold an objection lodged on behalf of sixth placed Merlot against well-backed winner Greek Affair in race six. Many racegoers felt that this was grossly harsh, and simply refused to allow racing to proceed unless the decision was reversed. Which, of course, it couldn’t be.

Yet, some good may come of all this, because there are clearly some lessons to be learned from it. Firstly, that the manner in which objections are decided, and by whom, needs to be streamlined. And secondly, on a much broader scale, that racing must realize once and for all that its customers are no longer prepared to be taken for granted. It is easy to see how Joe Public can interpret this as just another ploy to pick his pockets.

We will not enter into the fatuous argument of whether the punter is the most important man (or woman) in the sport. While there can be no doubt as to who provides the money to make the whole thing work, it is equally true that punters, owners, jockeys, breeders, trainers, and racecourses / TABs are all inter-dependant on one another. Remove one component, and everything stops. We may as well try and debate whether a car’s engine is more important than its transmission. The fact is, though, that racing needs to conduct itself more as a business hell-bent on turning a profit than as a rich man’s hobby, and that accordingly it must address the grievances of its clientele.

Specifically in this case, the average punter doesn’t have a clue how objections are decided, and by whom, simply because nobody has ever seen fit to tell him. It is a crushing indictment of the ‘club’ system that the constitution of the board which decides the outcome of an objection can vary from one racecourse to another. Allied to the fact that the guidelines for deciding objections are much too vague and therefore vulnerable to an excessive degree of subjectivity, this must and does allow for an unacceptable degree of inconsistency. Simply put, an almost identical objection at another (or even the same!) racecourse could very easily result in the exact opposite decision.

The opportunity for reading all kinds of ulterior motives into even the most slightly controversial of objections is all too plain to see.

New, and much tighter, Jockey Club regulations governing both how and by whom objections are decided are urgently needed. The hands of the stewards and Stipendiary Stewards have to be tied to a much greater extent, for at least then everybody involved (punters included) will know exactly where they stand. And, in an era when television can invade a courtroom where a man’s life is at stake, there is no earthly reason why objection hearings cannot be broadcast over the racecourse closed-circuit system.

As far as last Saturday was concerned, Gosforth Park simply has to come clean. If there is any truth in the rumour that the board which decided the objection was improperly constituted in terms of the race club’s own rules, then they must be man enough to admit it, and face the consequences. We do not condone mob rule, and if turf club officials panicked in the face of a potential riot we quite understand, but we can also comprehend that racing has given its customers no other avenue for expressing their dissatisfaction.

Gosforth Park can at least hold out an olive branch and offer free admission to its showpiece November Handicap meeting this weekend. It would be an act of reconciliation, not of capitulation, and in some small way prove that racing does indeed appreciate those who keep it in business, that it understands that they have only one way of voicing their discontent, and that (despite everything that happened last week) their presence at the track is fervently desired.

Under Attack

The Gosforth Park fiasco rather overshadowed events elsewhere on Saturday, but there was still some good racing to be savoured. At Milnerton, a new staying prospect of note emerged when New Zealand-bred Star Attack blitzed 15 rivals to win the Woolavington Handicap over 2400m.

Patrick Kruyer’s four-year-old was having only his sixth career start and was jumping in class from having won a novice plate last time out, but he made it all look so, so easy.

Chief Beat and race favourite Dramdor were the first to move in when tearaway pacemaker Speed Cat ran out of steam in the last 200m, but Star Attack unleashed a burst of acceleration which carried him past the whole lot of them in the final stages and on to a resounding 1.75 length victory. For good measure, he broke the course record – not bad for a horse who was “1.5 kgs out at the weights”, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. Admittedly, Star Attack was receiving a hefty 4.5 kgs from runner-up and fellow four-year-old Dramdor, and that is a very real difference over 2400m, but Dramdor was good enough to be beaten less than two lengths in the Premier’s Gold Vase during the Natal season. And fourth finisher Zelator did win the Greyville 1900 last winter.

Running Shoe!

Shoe Shac is nowhere ready to stand comparison with the very best sprinters in training, but this fast emerging four-year-old has given Natal racegoers something to talk about in the midst of a typically dreary off-season.

The son of Shoe Danzig posted his sixth win in succession when leading throughout to win a top division 1200m at Clairwood Park on Saturday by a very comfortable 2.5 lengths. That was a smart effort even though Trevor Lange’s gelding carried just 49 kgs and was receiving 4 kgs from runner-up Peer Of The Realm. The runner-up is a talented sprinter, but by no means a top class one, and he had not raced since July.

Yet Shoe Shac could only win, and there is no telling just how good he really is. He has been beaten just once from seven starts (and that by a short head) since he was gelded, and his future will be watched with interest.

12th Running of Breeders Cup Live on IGN

Coverage of the 12th running of the Breeders Cup was broadcast on IGN courtesy of Sea Point Tattersall bookmakers Mansell & Price, who sponsored the broadcast. The flagship American meeting, held on a muddy track at New York’s Belmont Park was a triumph for Cigar, who won his 12th race in a row in the Breeders Cup Classic. Other winners were My Flag in the Juvenile Fillies, Unbridled’s Song in the Juvenile Colts & Geldings, Inside Information in the Distaff, Desert Stormer in the Sprint, Ridgewood Pearl in the Turf Mile and Northern Spur in the Breeders Cup Turf.

Swynford Raises A Million

The second leg of the Swynford Paddocks dispersal, mares sold off the farm, raised just over R1 million for 75 lots sold, an average of R13,600 on Sunday, 29 October.

Buyers were seated at tables round the ring rather than at conventional rows of seats, which provided a relaxed atmosphere. The Drakensberg Boys Choir serenaded buyers before the sale with a variety of mostly African songs.

The auction was conducted in an impressive way b Zimbabwean auctioneer Pat Devenish, on behalf of Northfields Bloodstock, which organised the sale. A top price of R70,000 was paid for Home Base (Argosy – Strike Two), with Icelander filly at foot and in foal to Icelander again.

A total of R60,000 has so far been raised for charity, as 2% of the sale’s turnover went to CHOC, the parent’s association of children with cancer.

The third of the Swynford dispersals is scheduled for Nasrec in Johannesburg, late in January 1996.