A collection of opinions and thoughts on all aspects of horse racing from around the world.
Often a last chance saloon for battling horses from the major provinces, Eastern Cape racing is seen as something of a second-rate centre where the horses are average, the stakes okay and the racing community extremely friendly and hospitable. We may just have to revisit our perceptions now that Dennis Drier has had a run on the stakes cheques in the past two KZN meetings
Champion Jockey Anton Marcus found himself outmanoeuvred by promising young apprentice ‘Doctor’ Siphiso Lembethe in the final race at Scottsville on Tuesday 7 June. What makes the young man’s enterprising ride so much more impressive is that he beat Superman on
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
A true blue Monday on 6 June at the sand venue of Flamingo Park in the Northern Cape. Supporters of the fancied horses Claverhouse and Glass Sky, would have justifiably felt rather aggrieved after they both burst through the gates at the start of the Kimberley feature event and ran accordingly. The eventual winner was
The top ten riders on the national log make an absolute mockery of the contrived transformation in other sporting codes like cricket and rugby. One must wonder why this is not utilised to promote the game and sow the seeds of positivity?
In stark contrast to the previous day’s Scottsville meeting, exotic bet punters had a torrid time of it at the Vaal on Thursday 2 June where the Jackpot paid an extremely healthy, and what must be close to a record dividend, of R294 000.
The depth of the Mike de Kock string must surely send shivers down the spine of every trainer in South Africa and the 47 year old horseman showed his prowess and foresight at a low-key midweek meet at Scottsville in the Capital of KwaZulu-Natal
The all-powerful two-man ‘Awards Committee’ of the Cape Breeders Club caused a bit of controversy late last year, when it succumbed to hubris. It picked J J The Jet Plane as the Cape Breeders’ Horse of the Year over the official Equus winner Irish Flame.
Champion sire Jet Master has been much in the news this last weekend of January 2011. A pair of yearling colts topped the inaugural Cape Premier Sale, at 2.5 million apiece. And 4yo Past Master won the 2.5 million J&B Met. But the price of success differs.
Barry Irwin is South Africa’s most successful international buyer. Has been for years.
Barry’s eye for a horse is unrivalled. His purchases come at all sorts of prices, with all sorts of pedigree backgrounds.
Barry’s a trend setter, making fashion for other to follow, but only years later.
And he’s a seller of note, too, nowadays.
So here are tomorrow’s trends.
Today.
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
