Great Lady! Mrs Bridget Oppenheimer celebrated with three winners tonight.
A memorable evening for one of the great families of SA horseracing and a jackpot of winners for rising star jockey Raymond Danielson. Throw in a great double apiece for trainers Gavin Van Zyl and Dean Kannemeyer and the curtain came down on KZN racing for 2011 with a sparkling evening’s entertainment at Greyville on 27 December.
The distinctive black and yellow Oppenheimer silks have graced the racecourses of South Africa for over half a century and the famous horseracing family have captured an unbelievable six Vodacom Durban July winners, amongst a trophy cabinet that shows touches of every major race in this country. But besides the distinctive silks, Mauritzfontein Stud also had a hand in owning one of the other winners and bred another- that’s five of the eight races on the programme!
While the First Lady of SA Racing was not on course, she would have enjoyed the added distinction of the family stud farm Mauritzfontein having bred all three of their winners, and thus a total of four on the night. Two of the three were by the deceased Strike Smartly, while the third and longest shot of the lot was by the Zabeel stallion Grey’s Inn, who stands at Rosedene Stud. To add to all the celebrations, Mauritzfontein Stud also owns Jack Hobbs, winner of the penultimate race and this top stud also bred the last race winner, America’s Cup. That’s quite an outstanding and domineering family stranglehold on the evening.
Craig Eudey trained the first Oppenheimer winner with the Greys Inn gelding Neck Or Nothing improving out of all proportion to win the opener, a Maiden Plate over 1300m, under Alec Forbes. Gavin Van Zyl and Raymond Danielson then partnered to win the first two legs of the jackpot with the two talented Strike Smartlys, Red Book and Wild Type. Never short of marketing enthusiasm, Van Zyl observed that communication was one of the biggest challenges facing the modern racehorse trainer and said that his website was proving a remarkable success.
Pet of the Month! Penthouse gives Danielson his third.
It is not often that a jockey rides a jackpot, but such was the overwhelming Oppenheimer dominance tonight, that Danielson’s achievement is relegated to a paragraph here away from the bright lights! He followed up his Van Zyl double by riding the next two races for Dean Kannemeyer, to seal the jackpot.
It took Dean Kannemeyer a decade to make up his mind about the virtues of a satellite yard but the Milnerton man has never rued the decision to leave some of his string behind after the KZN Champions Season of 2011 at his familiar Clairwood raiding base. He saddled a double this evening and this means that he has averaged three winners a month since launching the satellite-from a string of no more than ten horses.
Bill Rae has been a longstanding staunch DKR supporter and his Dupont filly Penthouse turned on the charm after a consistent earning run recently to record her fourth win from 19 starts. The Gauteng visitor Polina set the fractions in the MR84 Handicap over 1400m and despite the threatening challenge of the trojan Fast Filly under Anton Marcus, Danielson extracted the best out of the Kannemeyer filly to win easily. Casey Da Lady looked threatening but an almost tentative Muzi Yeni had Marcus throwing his weight around in the latter stages and the mare went out the back door thereafter. The Normandy Stud bred Penthouse looks worth following.
Big Four! Raymond Danielson is all smiles after he seals the jackpot.
Danielson put the cap on his extraordinary jackpot evening when he steered the enigmatic Jack Hobbs to an easy win in the MR77 Handicap, to register the Kannemeyer double. The son of Right Approach is so laid back that he just doesn’t jump but Danielson knew what to expect and bustled him into the race as the pacy Starfire made the pace. Sean Veale and Anton Marcus got into a tussle for the places with Superman getting the upper hand- and even calling for a peek at the latter stages movie. Jack Hobbs started his career in dazzling fashion but appears to be right at home in KZN – and has found his form in great fashion.
Muzi Yeni rode the very final KZN winner of 2011 when he steered the consistent Rich Man’s Gold mare America’s Cup to a long overdue second win in the MR69 Handicap over 1400m. Yeni inevitably rides a lot of bad horses in his endless forays around the country in search of winners and this may account for his marginal hesitation at times – we saw it on both Casey Da Lady and Live Controversy tonight. He made no mistakes to bring the curtain down on the evening for Alec Laird, on a horse that has been haunted by shocking draws for what feels like forever.
A happy New Year to you all from KZN. And if 2011 ended with such drama and fireworks, we cannot wait for the sparks and flames of 2012!
