Tsogo Sun Sprint Racecard
Maverick: I feel the need… Maverick and Goose in unison: …the need for speed! If you grew up in the 80’s, you could recite that Top Gun scene (and probably a lot of the rest of the film) off by heart. Apparently the real Top Gun school now dishes out a $5 fine to any staff that quotes the movie. I guess Maverick is still an acquired taste!
Last weekend was KZN’s festival of speed, proudly hosted by the Tsogo Sun and City of Pietermaritzburg. The nine race card boasted no less than the Gr1 Allan Robertson, Gr1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion, Gr1 City of Pietermaritzburg Fillies’ Sprint, the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint and a line-up of the fastest horses in the country.
Background
Tsogo Sun Sprint Floating Trophy (credit: hamishNIVENPhotography)
All four races have a long and illustrious history. The Tsogo Sun Sprint, which started life as the Gilbey Stakes back in 1962, is the oldest of the four races. It was the first sponsored race in KZN and was run for the princely sum of R7k. Gilbeys commissioned a special floating trophy of an elaborately tooled golden spur, featuring a valuable diamond. I got to admire it up close on the trophy table and it is truly beautiful. I did a little delving into the Gilbey’s history and the SA Racehorse for February 1963 reported that “Epsom Downs had nothing on Scottsville on ‘Gilbey Day’. There were pipers in full dress marching and counter-marching in front of the stands, and after a fanfare of trumpets the runners were led on to the course by a beautifully turned out grey, ridden by a gentleman in hunting pink.” The rider in ‘hunting pink’ was there again this year and it’s nice to see these little traditions still being observed and respected. The inaugural running of the Gilbeys was won by Mr Chris Saunders’ Zealous after a rare tussle with Blithe in the final stages, prevailing by a head. Zealous was bred by the Birch Bros, trained by Fred Rickaby and ridden by Duncan Alexander. However, the report goes on to say that “the hero of the race was Inverthorn (9st 3lb) who was only beaten about a length and a half, trying to give the winner two stone.”
The Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion started life in 1963 as the Smirnoff Plate, when it was won by Mr C.T. Tehini’s Ptolemy, trained by L Coetzee and ridden to victory by Bennie Little. Interestingly, Ptolemy proved quite a versatile horse, winning both the SA and Cape Derbys as a 3yo and finishing a close third in the 1964 Rothmans July.
The Allan Robertson, originally named The Breeders’ Champion Fillies Stakes, was first run in 1964 when it was won by Raymond & Graeme Ellis’ Fantastic, trained by Joe Joseph and piloted across the line to win by a neck by Charlie Barends. The stake was a generous R5k and the SA Racehorse reports that “Certain prominent breeders kindly donated free services to their stallions to be selected by the owner of the winning filly.”
The City of Pietermaritzburg Fillies Sprint is the youngest of the quartet. First run as the Scott Bros Fillies Stakes, it was inaugurated in 1971 and won by owner/trainer JV Goss’s Swan Song, ridden by Brian Passmore.
Schedule of events
Tsogo Sun Group’s Southern Sun Elangeni
Firstly, I must say a HUGE thank you to the sponsors, who rolled out the red carpet for the media contingent and what a contingent it was. Femi Jobam and Unathi Athenkosi from Good Morning Africa, Selimathunzi’s irrepressible Joshua Mudau and Siphesihle Vazi, Gugulethu Mhlungu from City Press, Suthentira Govender and Thuli Dlamini from the Sunday Times, Celebrity Masterchef judge Benny Masekwameng and Zaahid Kader from Online Spectrum, who combines school (he is 16!) with being a tech, lifestyle and fashion blogger. As you might imagine, it was quite a lively group and Tatum Lowe and Jabulile Maloisane did a great job of keeping everything on track. We were treated to a stay in the Elangeni hotel, right on the Durban beachfront, and Tsogo Sun’s Group Events & Entertainment Manager, Sizwe Jantjies hosted us on Friday evening. Sizwe has an impressive CV which includes stints at the Chamber of Commerce and KZN tourism, before joining the Tsogo Group, where he helped open the Suncoast Hotel. His current role is to get unique events to Tsogo. Scottsville has the Golden Horse Casino attached, making it South Africa’s only ‘racino’.
He explains that Pietermaritzburg is the head office for the KZN Government, and with their casino, great restaurants, conference and hotel facilities as well as the luxurious Southern Sun Pietermaritzburg, the Tsogo Group’s main client is the business traveller. But why racing? He explains, “The July has entrenched itself successfully around a young, party audience. Ours is a slightly older market, who want to use the event for more of a networking, business to business type of engagement, so we try and keep it sophisticated – great food, great drinks, and the entertainment aspect comes with the general experience. Racing is the sport of kings. When you think of horse racing and betting, you think of the whole energy and prestige that comes with it. With the racecourse as part of the Golden Horse facility, the partnership made sense in terms of providing unique experiences for our clients.”
The race has had a name change from the Golden Horse Sprint to the Tsogo Sun Sprint. Sizwe explains that the event had reached the point where they could elevate it to a national event. “No-one knew it when it was marketed just in Pietermaritzburg / Durban. By using brand Tsogo, it enabled us to market it outside of KZN to Joburg, etc. People are really excited about the race. Everyone thinks it’s a new race, even though it’s been around for years. We’ve even had requests from casinos in Joburg asking to fly people down because our punters have asked about it.”
Sizwe was also instrumental in getting the City of Pietermaritzburg on board, and they have committed their sponsorship till 2016. “The impact a race like this has is underestimated. Every horse needs a stable – someone gets paid for that. Accommodation for the connections needs to be provided – again, that will be procured within the Pietermaritzburg area. There’s security, food and entertainment and a whole lot of other spin offs that ultimately assist the city.”
Ready, steady, sprint
Tsogo Sun Sprint survival kit
Saturday dawned warm and sunny, which set the scene for a great day out. Tsogo had spoilt everyone with room drops to add a splash of fun and colour – fascinators for the ladies and bow ties for the gents – all dreamed up by the wonderful Sonwabile Ndamase. He joined us at the races for the day – beautifully dressed, of course!
Tsogo Sun had laid on a magnificent marquee in the infield, brimming with sophisticated movers and shakers. Of course, I’m not one to have my head turned by a few canapes, no matter how delicious, so I left the networkers to do their thing and slipped off to get a little closer to the horses.
It was my first visit to Scottsville and it was fun to see buildings and landmarks that I’ve only seen in old photographs in real life for the first time. I found Toni Khoza in the gift shop and he was kind enough to give me the grand tour of the facilities. The track looked absolutely magnificent – credit really needs to go to all the staff and organisers. The good weather had brought out a crowd, which made for a fun, festive atmosphere.
Beautiful trophies (credit: hamishNIVENPhotography)
The finish post is my favourite spot on a race day and I found Jay Harrielell, along with Vinesh Doorgapershad, Gill Simpkins (who recently got married), Monica Holman, KZN photographers extraordinaire, John Lewis, Anita Akal and Nkosi Hlope. Stephen Jupp and the Academy apprentices were also on hand to assist with the post-race formalities.
Gold Circle had sourced the most magnificent trophies and as always, had the traditional victory sashes for the horses. Jay was kind enough to let me hold the Sprint sash – it’s surprisingly heavy with its large copper buckle. It was a thrill to hold it and probably the closest I’ll ever get to lifting one, so thanks for making my day!
The racing
The racing, of course, was top drawer. Entisaar looked something special in the Allan Robertson and we’re bound to be seeing a lot more of her. I bumped into Mike de Kock in the parade ring and asked him about the American campaign and how they are enjoying it. He seems hugely amused by all the press attention they are generating and says Mubtaahij is fit and well and they are looking forward to the Belmont. I certainly wish them well. I must also make special mention of the 3A Racing Syndicate who had turned up en masse to support their filly, Royal Pleasure. They raised the roof shouting her home.
Seven degrees of separation – Anton Marcus (credit: hamishNIVENPhotography)
There had been a lot of talk about Seventh Plain in the Gold Medallion and he toyed with the opposition to win by an easy-looking 2.5 lengths, giving Dennis Drier his 6th victory in the race. With Seventh Rock having won it in 2007 and sons Guiness in 2014 and Seventh Plain in 2015 as well as Anton Marcus riding being on board for all three victories, it was one of my favourite wins of the day. Gill Drier tells me that Seventh Plain is a wonderfully easy horse to have in the yard and hinted that he might make an even better 3yo. We can only hope. Tsogo Sun also kindly awarded a special prize to the grooms of the best turned out horse in the Medallion and the Sprint – nice touch guys.
Crowd pleaser – S’manga Khumalo (credit: hamishNIVENPhotography)
Smanga Khumalo is always an asset, but never more so than on big race days. While Carry On Alice seemed to make his job fairly easy in the Pietermaritzburg City Sprint, he was a huge crowd pleaser with his flying dismount and broad smiles all round.
The Tsogo Sun Sprint boasted a full field of 16. There really wasn’t much to separate them on the canter down, apart from Daring Dave, who gave Muzi a hair raising trip to the start.
Despite a short delay, the field were eventually sent on their way and what a fantastic win by Captain Of All, Mr & Mrs Jooste, Riverton Stud, Mr Drier and his team and of course Sean Cormack, who celebrated his 10th Scottsville feature race win Congratulations all round. Chekilli sadly broke down and had to be destroyed. It’s not a happy subject, but well done to Fransie Herholdt for pulling him up so quickly and taking care of him until help arrived. It was made all the worse as Fransie had flown down just for that ride.
Fortunately the day ended on a happier note with a good win from Billy Boy Blues for the Alyson Wright yard in the last.
After party
Back at the VIP tent, the generous food and drinks just kept coming. Loyiso Bala was fantastic on stage, getting everyone to dance, sing and clap along and the festivities went on into the night.
I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Scottsville. It was great to see a bit more of Gold Circle country and particularly to catch up with a few folks I’ve only ever spoken to by phone or seen on TV. Everyone was warm and friendly, it was a great day’s racing in great company and with Sizwe and Tsogo Sun at the helm, I am already looking forward to next year.
