Post race information and news relating to major horse races. We review and analyse how these races played out and discuss the details relating to performance and any other interesting facts people in the horse racing industry find useful.
Fairytales and freaks. In the nicest possible way, these are two vital components of any good horseracing story. The modestly bred Dancewiththedevil made a huge statement for the fairer sex and the ordinary and unfashionable when she swept through wide on the outside to beat eleven male rivals in the Gr1 Gold Challenge
Mike Bass strenghtens his Vodacom July hand with a 1-2 in the final rehearsal, in which Cask is an eye-catching fourth finisher from well back in a slow run race
Riding like a man possessed, Felix Coetzee gets Fragrant Al home by a nose from Happy Archer
Never underestimate a champion trainer and always exercise caution with Gauteng feature form. The unstoppable Mike De Kock threw punters a curved ball at Turffontein on Sunday 12 June when he produced the Argentinian–bred Candy Singer, at a generous 18-1 to win the R200 000 Gr3 Jubilee Handicap
The Apache would have left South African shores by now had things gone according to plan, but an outbreak of African Horse Sickness while he was in quarantine forced exports to be suspended. Plan B worked out well for when he came from almost last turning for home to win the Daily News 2000.
Igugu turned her first KZN appearance into another display of sheer dominance when she floored seven other three-year-old fillies in the Woolavington 2000 at Greyville on Saturday.
Former jockeys seldom make it to the big time in the training ranks, but Summerveld-based Gavin Van Zyl bucked that trend when he followed up his first Gr1 win as a trainer recently in the SA Derby with Seal, when he sent out The Apache to win the R1 million Gr1 Daily News 2000
Joey Ramsden has an unparalleled record in the Gr3 Langerman and won it on Sunday 5 June for the seventh time in eleven years
The Lonsdale Stirrup Cup looked to be about as open and competitive a race as you could find. With 18 runners competing on handicap terms over 2400m, it was always going to be a tricky contest to unravel.
Any doubts that Val De Ra would not prove as effective over 1200m as she is over the minimum distance were swiftly allayed when she made all the running to win the SA Fillies Sprint at Scottsville
This time it was Shea Shea who lifted the spoils, which neatly perhaps answers the question of why Earl Of Surrey was not in the line-up again.
It is eerie to think that there would have been no Siren’s Call, Sound Of Warning, or for that matter Call To Unite, had fate not decreed that Enchanted Cove follow her dam to South Africa, and that Peter de Beyer had the foresight to return Elusive Fort back home from the States as well!
There’s lots more to play for!
