KASIMIR, bought as a yearling by Peter Doyle and owned by a partnership that includes his wife Anna, Diane Nagle, Linda Shanahan and Drogheda-based William Drew, made virtually certain of being crowned Sprinter of the Year by getting up close home to justify favouritism in the Group 1 Mercury Sprint at Greyville last Saturday.

The title is decided not on ratings but on votes, the Captain Al four-year-old has now won seven of his 16 starts, and in recent months he has also carried the Nagle colours to victory in the Cape Flying Championship and the Diadem Stakes.

“The owners are at Ascot but I am sure they will have been watching on TV – this is a phenomenal horse,” said trainer Justin Snaith.

“Last year we brought him to Durban but he wasn’t happy so we gelded him and took him straight back to Cape Town. We weren’t going to bring him to Durban this year but at the last minute I decided he should travel and it has all worked out well.”

The Gold Cup has been demoted from Group 1 to Group 3 in recent seasons – partly because it is a handicap – but it has lost little of its prestige and glamour and the filly Dynasty’s Blossom stayed on best this time for Sue Magnier, the Niarchos family’s Jagessar (with Alan Cooper as manager) and Andreas Jacobs, owner of Newsells Park and Maine Chance studs.

“I always knew she had a big race in her,” said trainer Joey Ramsden. “It’s a shame it’s not a Group 1 anymore, but it’s probably the toughest race in the calendar to win and when you have trained the winner you think you know what you are doing.”

The winner is by leading sire Dynasty out of the Irish-bred Danehill Dancer mare Crimson Blossom who won at Group 3 level in South Africa. Dynasty’s Blossom was bought for R4.5 million (€283 000) as a yearling when Markus Jooste was in the partnership.

Ramsden, who first won the two-miler with Major Bluff 15 years ago, paid tribute to Jooste at the presentation ceremony. The disgraced businessman has not set foot on a South African racehorse since his world was blown apart in December 2017 and now has no horses here.

He is being sued for nearly £50 million in the Cape Town High Court by his former employer Steinhoff International which is looking for the repayment of salary and bonuses plus interest and legal costs.

However, the case is incredibly complicated and proving illegality to the satisfaction of a court looks like being exceedingly difficult.

Ramsden on the move

In the meantime, Ramsden, who was one of Jooste’s main trainers, is pressing ahead with his plans to move his training operation to Singapore. He expects to be in operation there by Christmas and by then he is hopeful that the EU will move to allow direct exports from South Africa so that he can take some of his best horses with him.

Fourie double

Richard Fourie, who rode Kasimir, also took Saturday’s World Sports Betting Champions Cup on Durban July runner-up Rainbow Bridge although he had a few anxious moments when his mount hung in on the runner-up Soqrat. There was less than half a length in it at the line and Fourie had to survive a stewards’ inquiry.

The victory was also a triumph for former Liam Browne employee Eric Sands who has been fighting his way back to the top of the training tree with this son of Ideal World. Sorry to relate, the Tinnakill House-bred Buffalo Bill Cody proved a rather disappointing 2/1 favourite and managed only fifth.

There were also two two-year-old mile Group 1s on last Saturday’s Greyville card.

Kingsbarns, a Racing Post Trophy winner for Aidan O’Brien and the first Galileo Group 1 winner to stand in South Africa, was credited with a posthumous Group 1 when Gabor landed the Thekwini Stakes for fillies.

Warren Kennedy’s mount enabled trainer Gavin van Zyl to celebrate his 60th birthday in style but it was a case of what might have been for owner-breeder Gaynor Rupert who had taken on Kingsbarns despite his fertility problems only to see him die of colic last year.

In the colts’ equivalent, the Premiers Champion Stakes, Anton Marcus partnered Got The Greenlight to a comfortable three-length success for Joey Soma and part-owner Hassen Adams who used to have horses with Dermot Weld and who won the 2012 Queen’s Plate with the colt’s sire Gimmethegreenlight.

New Champions

LYLE Hewitson has fought a titanic struggle to retain his jockeys’ title from Muzi Yeni and shortly leaves for Hong Kong, while Sean Tarry is the champion trainer for the fourth time in five seasons.

Silvano is again the champion sire, while Mary Slack and her daughter Jessica Jell (owners of the Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein Studs) now operate as a combined unit and are the top breeders.