A racing fairytale unfolded at Kenilworth on Saturday when the unheralded Gavin Van Zyl-trained KZN raider Budapest scorched to a dominating 4,25 length win in the R2,5 million Lanzerac Ready To Run Stakes over 1400m under Anthony Delpech, despite odds of 33-1.
Congratulations and celebrations – The Budapest connections
While pundits were scrambling to find out who the gelding’s sire Lithuanian was, a vindicated few celebrated triumphantly in various parts of the world and their overriding thought was, “Yes indeed, he does have gears!”
The vindicated included ebullient owner Brian “Buffalo Bill” Burnard, trainers Gavin and Gareth Van Zyl, Budapest’s sales consigner Spencer Cook, Breeder Johan Loftus of Witzenberg Stud, Bernard Kantor, who owns Lithuanian, and Jannie Meyer, who stands Lithuanian at his Rietvlei Stud in Mossel Bay.
Spencer Cook: Happy pin-hooker
Spencer Cook began planning a pin-hooking strategy for the CTS Ready To Run Sale three years back.
He was loathe to put himself under pressure by spending big money at the yearling sales, so scoured the Cape looking for “precocious colts” to purchase off the farms. He had identified the sire Great Britain as a precocious sire, so visited Witzenberg Stud who had a few by him. He failed to find any suitable Great Britains, but “Lofty” then whispered, “I do have this one very nice specimen, but unfortunately he is by Lithuanian.”
Cook recalled, “I liked him from the second I saw him.” He had to have him and forked out R30,000 for the youngster.
Cook broke Budapest in and was also the only person to ride him in the lead up to the sales.
The colt impressed him from the beginning and then came the unforgettable morning when he decided to “sprint him up”.
Budapest strides clear under Anthony Delpech to grab the attention – and the money!
“I realised this horse had proper gears and he had an overdrive gear too.”
Cook was so excited he jumped off the horse, ran to his office and immediately dialled bloodstock agent John Freeman, asking him to pass on the message to Bernard Kantor in London that he had found a Lithuanian that was “very, very good”.
John Freeman – had a good look
Freeman was true to his word and inspected the horse on behalf of Kantor at the sale grounds.
Later, Cook bumped into Piet Steyn, who spoke highly of Budapest’s mother, the three-time winning Count Dubois mare Fashion File, whom he trained.
She was raced by four Cape stalwarts in Mike Gelb, Barry Katzeff, Pepe Dos Santos and Mossie De Nobrega.
Katzeff and Gelb tried their luck at breeding from her after her track career, and produced Last Tiger (Eyeofthetiger – 3 wins) and Fashion Scout (Toreador – 2 wins), who are still in training with Dean Kannemeyer and Yvette Bremner respectively – and paying their way.
Gelb wished Brian Burnard the best of luck:”Breeding is a long and costly game. And we saw Budapest as a weanling when Lofty gave us a chance to get involved. But you know how things go – we opted not to.”
Steyn was also impressed by Budapest.
Then Cook had a chance meeting with Van Zyl and while sitting on a bale of straw discussing their respective career plans, he confided, “Gavin I know you are not going to believe me, but I have a proper horse for you.”
Gavin van Zyl – secured Budapest
Van Zyl was impressed by the specimen, as well as by the rider’s breeze up gallop report. Later, Burnard reviewed the gallop and was determined to buy the horse.
Van Zyl secured him on behalf of Burnard for R160,000 much to the delight of Cook, who had made a handsome profit. Van Zyl revealed that Burnard had been prepared to bid quite a lot higher. Freeman’s final bid had been R140,000, despite his pedigree page “being quite light”.
Cook recalled one of his breeding friends asking him how he could sell a Lithuanian for that price and not feel guilty. His serious response to the quip was that “R160 000 for a champion was cheap”.
Budapest travelled from Summerveld last Tuesday under a bit of a cloud as his final gallop at Summerveld had been “moderate”. The connections had always felt anything better than fourth or fifth in the Lanzerac would be a bonus. Strangely enough, he had also put up a moderate gallop before his only previous win, an impressive 6,75 length romp in a maiden over 1200m on the Greyville poly.
The other concern was the starting stalls. He had to be schooled after rearing in the pens in one of his early starts. Gelding helped and he was fine for the next couple of starts, but then refused to load in his final intended preparation race for the Lanzerac. Malan du Toit and Michael Shaw worked with him and he was passed for the stalls shortly before the Lanzerac acceptances.
During Saturday’s race, standing on the deck of the Lanzerac marquee, Van Zyl and Burnard were pleased with Delpech’s placing of Budapest, but then wondered whether he would “stop or go”.
“Then he increased … and increased … and we started to go mad in the last 200 metres!” recalled Van Zyl.
The defeated owners were all sporting, including big guns Chris van Niekerk and Markus Jooste.
The latter told the connections the victory had been great for the game as it showed that every buyer had a chance.
Burnard has poured millions into his passion for racing and is a fine horseman in his own right.
Van Zyl has compartmentalised his training operation, with son Chesney in charge of the Turfontein satellite yard and son Gareth in charge of all of Burnard’s horses at Summerveld. Gavin oversees the operation as well as giving his full attention to the rest of the horses at Summerveld.
Bernard Kantor – paid decent money for Lithuanian
Delpech was glowing in his feedback on Saturday, mentioning the athletic bay’s range of gears. Budapest will now stay on in Cape Town for the Gr 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas.
Kantor bought the Australian-bred Lithuanian, by Nureyev, for Aus$525,000 as a yearling, and he won three races in eight starts between the UK and South Africa. He has had limited numbers of mares, but sired a Listed winner in his first crop (born 2008), Pacific Breeze.
Budapest looks likely to add more black type and it would be no surprise to hear the words, “He’s by the sire from Mossel Bay” once or twice later in the season.
www.goldcircle.co.za – additional reporting by SP Editorial staff
