Due to the Xmas holiday break, there was only Sunday’s Greyville Boxing Day meeting to entertain horseplayers over the weekend. Ikigai (speed core 105) deservedly won the Christmas Handicap, coming to KZN after a solid try in the Merchants at Turffontein. Class came to the fore in this race with Sean Tarry’s runner beating
Double Superlative, who trainer Justin Snaith described going into the race as, “a high-class individual” duly won the G1 Cape Guineas after racing handy in a race run to suit. He got a perfect trip stalking the pacemaker, Pomp and Power, and got past that one after a lengthy battle down the straight. He
“He means the world to me and has given me so many opportunities,” is what jockey Vincent Ho graciously said after guiding Golden Sixty (speed score of 109 ++ ) to his 18th successive win. Arguably the world’s best miler glided past all- comers in the Longines Hong Kong Mile to again confirm his
Kenilworth’s Saturday meeting yielded a host of excellent performances as one would expect for Graded contests during prime time of the Cape Summer season. Chansonette (speed score 104) was turned out in great shape by trainer Andre Nel and received a perfect trip under Grant van Niekerk to capsize 1/3 fave Desert Miracle in
The Grade 3 Fillies Mile fell to Follow Me (speed score 95 +) at Turffontein on Saturday. The Gimmethegreenlight three-year-old filly got within two lengths of then star juvenile, Desert Miracle back in June and is now making the progress expected by trainer, Stuart Pettigrew. She was followed in by familiar foe, Eternity Ring,
Readers of this newsletter know by now that speed figures over 100 are especially noteworthy in the South African context. On Saturday, we were treated to seven races yielding such scores thus making it onto our (extended) highlights package. Warrior (speed figure 107 +) was super-impressive downing Rascallion (s/s 106) and Kommetdieding in the
Bingwa has run ever -better speed figures of 99 – 104 – 106, and now 108 in winning the Onamission Mile (Grade 2) at Turffontein on Saturday. The son of Pathfork was particularly well ridden into a handy position from draw 14 by Chase Maujean who, together with trainer Dorrie Sham, must take plenty
Drakenstein Stud have been proven very wise to source USA sire, Trippi, (a winner of the Grade 1 Vosburgh Stakes when three-years-old,) as he’s gone on to do a great job since moving to South Africa. He was the Equus Champion sire of 2015/16 and has sired more than 80 stakes winners around the
Ranking racehorses with accuracy is a lot harder than other sports, where outcomes tend to be more predictable over time. There is less fluctuation in the rankings of top football, rugby, cricket teams, for example, and even individual sports like athletics, golf and tennis have relatively stable hierarchies. Racing “chaos” is part of the
It’s been a while since this newsletter covered Gauteng racing in any detail, but some recent significant performances show that the Joburg Spring season is now fully underway with the better horses making an impact as the oddsmakers expect. Desert Miracle (speed score 97 +) was most impressive gapping her rivals at Turffontein on