King Rat. The Mouseketeer is on the up after Emerald Cup win.
Africa’s richest race on sand, the R600 000 Gr2 Emerald Cup was run at The Vaal’s flagship meeting on 24 September and produced a fairytale result for the partnership that proudly owns him. Francois Diedrechsen and Neil Andrews are poles apart when it comes to pure horseracing experience – but the victory would have been a memorable one for both.
It was also a bumper day for versatile leading Summerhill stallion Kahal, as besides fathering The Mouseketeer at Bush Hill Stud down the road, he also sired the winner of the Listed Settlers Trophy run over 2400m at Durbanville in the Western Cape just ten minutes later. The son of Machiavellian is currently in second position on the sires log by stakes earned.
Legend has it that Supersport presenter Andrews met his partner at a golf day and got him involved in racehorses. Diedrechsen apparently now has seven horses to his name. That has very often proven to be the death knell of many a friendship and association but in this case it has had a very happy continuation with The Mouseketeer recording his sixth win from thirteen starts and his first Group race success. He cost R200 000 as a youngster and has amassed earnings of over R800 000. As a colt his future prospects look extremely bright and he appears equally capable on both surfaces.
Young Mauritian apprentice Nooresh Juglall- he was appropriately the Sporting Post’s Star of the Week – rode a faultless race aboard the Sean Tarry horse from a pole position draw and saluted in dramatic style as he cruised past the post. Roy Magner’s Eastern Cobbler ran a game second. The Kimberley raider Comedy Caravan, once described by Andrew Fortune as one of the best sand horses he has ever sat on, ran out of his skin to stay on for third under Muzi Yeni. Described by his trainer, Sean Tarry as a ‘miler at best’, Tarry said he was happy to let Juglall take his chances and more so after his great win in the August Stakes, once they had pulled a nice draw here. The owners deserve an accolade for their commendable loyalty in sticking with the young jockey.
A beautiful day greeted visitors to Durbanville on the second official day of spring, and fairly favourable results were the order of the day. The scenic country course sadly lacked any noticeable effort by the racing operator to acknowledge National Braai Day, or Heritage Day, as it is officially known and with the weather playing ball, it was a marketing opportunity lost. One would also like to see the Western Cape production crew of Tellytrack upping their game a notch or two, with some of the television pictures of a poor standard. The co-ordination of the canter-down with the commentator’s call needs urgent attention, the camera work also left a lot to be desired. It is alarming to watch such incompetence in what should be a routine process!
Feature winner. MJ Byleveld rode Sun City to win at Durbanville.
The afternoon’s feature, the Listed Settlers Trophy, produced an upset with MJ Byleveld powering home and producing the battle-hardened Sun City at his 46th outing to get up and beat the classy In Writing, with Blake a fair third. Hospitality, as per usual, made the pace before folding in the run for home. Karl Neisius had been tracking that one for most of the race, and he produced Blake earlier than usual. The son of Dynasty became one-paced in the final 200m though, as Sun City, and then In Writing collared him. It was a bitter sweet race for Dean Kannemeyer, who trained the second and third horses. He once counted the winner Sun City as part of his string.
Kannemeyer, had suffered a setback last weekend with one of his leading classic charges, Depardieu, running a moderate race in his season opener. But the smashingly handsome Fastnet Rock colt , Liancourt Rock, wiped that disappointment out in the blink of an eye at Durbanville this afternoon. Karl Neisius had the undefeated colt within striking distance of his pacemaking stablemate Acapulco Gold and squeezed the Fieldspring Racing horse about 200m out. He showed class and heart by outstaying his opposition – which included a late flourish by Joey Ramsden’s highly vaunted Silvano colt, Silver Haven.
Rocker. Dean Kannemeyer sent classic hope Liancourt Rock out to win.
The favourite Macarda Tormenta was expected to round off a nice day for the Kannemeyer yard in the final race, but Karl Neisius wiped over 15000 of the live 24000 odd PA tickets off the board, when he failed to make the frame. The race saw a narrow win for jockey Gareth Wright and trainer Stephen Page when Abbey Creek kept going to thwart a determined Andrew Fortune on the Var filly, Falling Blossom. The winner is a daughter of St John Gray’s Jam Alley and was bred by Terry Andrews out at Sorrento in Paarl. She is a R30 000 Vintage Horses-In-Training graduate, and being out of a Badger Land mare, she should stay on as she gets older.
So a few of us got burnt on National Braai Day. With Clairwood rained out on Sunday, we will stay at home and enjoy a quiet day licking our wounds.
