‘Any mug can train a 1000m horse. It’s very hard to train a two mile horse.’ Turffontein’s straightshooting veteran Joey Soma has held his licence for 34 years and can always be relied upon to have his say. There are no sacred cows with the horseman who saddled a smart winner in Flower Alley mare Damova at Turffontein on Thursday.
None of us are getting any younger and it was something of a sentimental flashback to watch stalwart Clyde Basel chatting to Joey Soma after Muzi Yeni had booted home the first leg of a personal double on the eight-race card.
Muzi Yeni has Damova in charge as Afraad (Denis Schwarz) stays on (Pic – JC Photos)
The Moutonshoek bred Flower Alley mare Damova, a R130 000 National 2yo Sale purchase, started at 7-2 and made it win number 5 from 25 starts, taking her earnings to R380 000 when accounting for the 8yo Afraad (20-1) by 1,25 lengths to win the MR 80 Handicap over 3000m, clocking 194,25 secs.
It was a nice form return after Malesile Katjedi had erred last time.
Joey was an assistant to Sandy Fletcher and Mike Azzie, before being granted his licence in 1991. Since then he has trained multiple Grade 1 winners and clearly has his thoughts of South Africa’s dearth of staying races.
Watch the final stages of the fourth race and Muzi & Joey’s interview:
