De Kock magic. Gorongosa wins the Listed Spook Express Handicap after a rest.
Horseracing honoured the memory of twenty-four people and one top filly at Turffontein on Sunday 15 April. The Hennenman Memorial raceday is a credit to all those involved.
The sport of kings has a very poor record in honouring the memories of its fallen heroes generally. There are countless jockeys, trainers and horses that have fallen by the wayside through personal tragedy and who have never been given another thought. But that is a story for another day.
Sunday’s Turffontein raceday was held in memory of those who died on Tuesday 12 April 1988 when a United Airways charter flight crashed near the Free State town of Hennenman on its return from a racemeeting in Bloemfontein.
Twenty-four people died in the tragedy.
Jockeys: Keith Basel, Lawrence Riley, Johannes “Rooies” Fourie, Warren Baillie, Bennie de Wet, Greg Holme, Douglas Roper, Danny Lombard, John McMurtry, Mark Nel, Michael Coetzee, Simon Rahilly and Gordon Sterley.
Officials: Graham Kent, Dave Bullock, Henry Havergall, Ginger Masterton and Johannes van der Linden
Owners: Jacobus Viljoen and Neville Blignaut
Trainer: Hennie van Wyk
Air Crew: Jacob Kalt, Harold Whitehead and Jacqueline Henderson.
Mike De Kock appropriately trained the winner of the Listed Spook Express Handicap in the five year old mare Gorongosa, who ran a terrific race after a 141 day rest to catch and beat Himalayan Hill in the dying strides. Gorongosa is by recently deceased stallion Montjeu and looks a serious candidate for top staying honours in the months ahead, with the Gr1 Gold Cup as her main mission over her optimal trip of 3200m.
A Champion! Spook Express wins at Gulfstream Park.
De Kock mentioned Spook Express in his post-race interview, saying that she was ‘one of the best.’ He also made a reference to her sad demise in ‘one race too many.’ She was euthenased as a seven year old after falling in the Matriarch at Hollywood Park in 2001. She suffered a compound luxation of her left fetlock joint after appearing to step badly. This race was just a month after she had run a great second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
The daughter of Comic Blush was South Africa’s champion 3-year-old filly of 1998. As a 3-year-old, Spook Express won eight of nine races in South Africa, finishing second in her sole defeat. Spook was bred by the Jack Syndicate, whose members included Jehan Malherbe and jockey Karl Neisius.
She won 11 of her 21 career starts and earned over $1 million.
The supporting feature, the Hennenman Memorial Pinnacle Stakes was run for a stake of R110 000 also over 2600m. The very able, but quirky and slightly loony Geoff Woodruff-trained Soul Master, turned it on in the final 200m to win going away at 13-20 from Ice Trigger and Bamako.
Sole Master! Geoff Woodruff trained Soul Master.
Piere Strydom deputised for the indisposed Anton Marcus and he rode a faultless race on a horse that was handicapped to win . Owner Lawyer Michael De Broglio was on track with his son Gabriel and daughter Rebecca to lead the Jet Master gelding in.
De Broglio conceded that he had seen Soul Master as the best horse he had owned at one stage. While he has won five of his fifteen starts, he has some way to go to even live up to his 100 merit rating. Interestingly Soul Master is out of Saintly Soul – like Spook Express, a daughter of Comic Blush.
The 2011 Charity Mile winner Pierre Jourdan was auctioned after the final race at Turffontein today to dissolve a partnership. Now rising six, the son of Parade Leader , often termed ‘the People’s Horse’, was knocked down to Gary Alexander Racing for R1,6 million. That is something of a vote of confidence by the Alexander family in a horse that has had his ups and downs and only cost R60 000 at a Summerhill Ready To Run Sale. But the Alexanders have been around long enough to know that sentimentality and money don’t mix and they obviously believe he can recoup the outlay.
The horse with his own Facebook page has lost form since his big November win, and is proof again that partnerships in racing and business are fine when times are good and horses are winning. But they can become quite messy. Immediate plans are not known, but word has it that he will have a tilt at the Vodacom Durban July.
