Despite enjoying some of the most beautiful coastline in Africa, life’s not always a beach for Port Elizabeth-based owners and trainers. And when Mike Bass comes to town on a cherry-picking escapade with a decent big centre stakes performer, it’s pay-pay.
Night Trip (Grant Van Niekerk) strolls in to win the Listed Memorial Mile (Pic – Coastal Photos)
Nobody is advocating anti-competitive controls of the nature of the playpen rules introduced in the KZN off-season some time ago, but it must be a bitter pill to swallow for the locals when a top Cape yard trots into town and loots the feature kitty the way the Night Trippers did in the R150 000 Listed Memorial Mile at Fairview on Friday.
It was no race as Grant Van Niekerk simply played with the steering mechanism on the 4-10 Night Trip, to give the dual Listed Darley Arabian champion his seventh victory from 34 starts, taking his stakes balance to R684 355.
His collateral form to some big guns spoke for itself.
It was under a month ago that local die-hard horseman Mitch Wiese called it a day with his string and this week we listened to shock retiree Dominic Zaki painting a picture of some doom and gloom in his farewell post-race interview.
Zaki suggested that many of his colleagues were just not making it financially. That’s a scary reality – not that we are surprised, given ever spiralling costs and the economic climate.
It really has become a rich man’s game.
Grant Van Niekerk – hat trick of winners
Against that background, Mike Bass’ winning double – the long battling R1 050 000 buy Roman Silvanus finally shed his maiden certificate a half hour before Night Trip’s exercise gallop – must really be tough muti for the local boys.
Grant Van Niekerk had Night Trip tracking the leader Zestful in the nine-horse feature and simply let his mount go as he stretched clear to win easing up by 5 lengths in a time of 98,44 secs.
The Sham’s Symbolik ran on strongly late to deny the Joostes a feature exacta when he came on powerfully under Karl Zechner to nab the consistent Red Barrel.
Grant Van Niekerk rode a hat-trick of winners on the afternoon, after booting home Rocking Donna for Gavin Smith in the second.
Night Trip was bred by Drakenstein Stud and is by Trippi out of the twice winning Irish bred Machiavellian mare, Pleine Nuit and was a R400 000 National Yearling Sale graduate.
