A collection of opinions and thoughts on all aspects of horse racing from around the world.
We know that jockeys are not allowed to punt on horses but if we allow them to hold colour privileges, what can be wrong with a declared flutter? Surely they are being encouraged to be devious?
The slightly underrated Splash Gold, overcame an outside draw to annihilate a top field of speedsters in the R300 000 Gr2 Post Merchants at Greyville on Friday.
The Western Cape visitors enjoyed mixed fortunes at Fairview on Friday. Justin Snaith’s smart Captain Al filly Ocean’s Swift won the Listed Lady’s Slipper over 1400m but the Listed PE Gold Cup run over 3600m was an entirely different story
They got it all wrong here and burnt their fingers. Punters somehow let the powerful Mike De Kock and Anthony Delpech combination run free in the eighth race at Turffontein on Youth Day 16 June
Team Kotzen celebrated a nice treble on the day with Platinum Cat’s win who won her post-maiden run at a generous 20-1.
The Gauteng Starting Team were under the spotlight again on Tuesday 14th June after a few recent bizarre incidents at the starting stalls up North. The backers and connections of the ironically named First To Finish in the seventh race may as well have stayed at home.
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
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
Chaos with unnecessary jockey changes and withdrawals, the National Horseracing Authority erring with the wrong scratched horse and first-timers filling the first three positions in the first leg of the Western Cape PA, made for a forgettable afternoon.
While the initiative by the racing operators to shuffle race- meetings this weekend in an effort to beat the weather bogey is to be lauded, the practical impact on the role-players may have warranted kinder consideration. The most controversial and brave move is, no doubt, the decision to bring the Kenilworth meeting scheduled for Sunday forward to Saturday. But why not the Turffontein meeting?
A notable highlight on Saturday’s Champions Season raceday at Clairwood is the running of the third and final leg of the fascinating and unique Var Speed Series.
The R1 million Gr1 Douglas Whyte Stakes Grade is the opening leg of the projected R15 million Pick 6 pool at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday
Cape Racing’s ongoing tussle with Mother Nature in what has been a wet July to beat all July’s, produced a fairytale at a sunny, but very chilly, Hollywoodbets Durbanville on Thursday
A Cape jockey has told of the enormous relief and the burden lifted from his shoulders on Friday after two well-known racing men took the cudgels up on his behalf some months ago to defend the father of four against an NHRA charge
A Pick 6 carryover of R2 million is set to take the exotic pool to R15 million, while the World Pool Gr3 Gold Cup sees a Quartet carryover of R1 million and a likely pool of R5 million
