The winners in various categories of the 2023/24 Equus Awards were announced in Cape Town on Thursday evening. It’s a forum to take stock of what constitutes thoroughbred excellence in South Africa. The panel uses various criteria to distinguish between the nominees and preserve for posterity the achievements of the elite. As regular readers
The notion of supporting horses from in -form stables is sound. Trainers get on hot streaks where everything clicks neatly into place. Conversely, some barns, even the big ones, can go through cold spells when their horses underperform. The reasons behind this are many-fold. Amongst the multiple factors which influence training results are changed
Super Sunday at Greyville is the obvious focus of this week’s racing newsletter - and there were some fine performances to record for posterity. Dave the King, who runs around 113 at a peak, came out fresh and firing in a race run to suit his sustained galloping style, proving best in the G1
Cape Lights came out on top in an exciting finish to the headliner at Turffontein on Saturday, recording a career best of 99. It was touch and go as Robbie Sage’s filly edged out another longshot, Key Element (also a career top of 98) and 2nd favorite, Celtic Rumors (s/s 97) in the 1400m
Erupt filly, Strange Magic (speed score 96) thwarted an attempted plunge on Passchendaele (s/s 95) on Friday afternoon at Fairview. She hadn’t run badly behind local heroine, Luna Halo on her first start at the coast since moving down from Jozi yet started at 16/1. 96 is a tidy number for this venue and
A cleverly conceived campaign and precise conditioning by Crawford Racing, combined with a perfect front-running, stay- out- of- trouble steer by JP van der Merwe got Oriental Charm home in the 2024 Durban July. In an exciting finish, the energetic three-year-old warded off Cousin Casey’s spirited rails run, Royal Victory and Flag Man in
Betting on big days, such as the upcoming Durban July, is akin to being at a buffet feast. There is so much on offer to tempt us that indigestion is a common consequence. Likewise, undisciplined bettors who dive indiscriminately into every betting pool may also be left with an uncomfortable feeling afterwards. The act
Command Pilot (speed score 99) attained the top figure at Turffontein’s inside track on Saturday. The Lancaster Bomber colt received heavy betting action from 20/1 into 33/10 and landed the plunge by over a length from Royal Guide (s/s 97) with Professor Snape (s/s 95) Trident King (s/s 95) and La Moohal (s/s 94)
Saturday’s quality Scottsville meeting had four G1’s on the card, run down the 1200m straight. Fastest of them all was the Golden Horse Sprint won in dramatic fashion by Lucky Lad (s/s 110) who had to be extricated from major traffic congestion before bursting through and getting up to win by a short head
Thunderstruck (s/s 107) received a brilliantly time ride from veteran Piere Strydom to win a Pinnacle Stakes sprint at Turfontein, getting up in the last leap to deny Ziyasha (s/s 106). Both horses are sired by Rafeef. Thunderstruck is poised for another productive KZN Winter as he regularly clicks out figures between 107 and