CAPTAIN America, owned by Diane Nagle and Charley Gurney in partnership with South African owner Delma Sherrell, decisively went one better than last year when storming home in the World Sports Betting Champions Cup at Greyville last Saturday.

Corne Orffer took it up quite early on the 11/1 chance and in the straight the seven-year-old stretched clear to beat stable companion Undercover Agent by a most convincing two lengths.

The Captain Al gelding was winning his 10th race in 35 starts and Orffer reported: “Last year I went a bit too slow but this time I let him loose at the 1,000 metre mark. After that I let him roll and he blew them away. He is a true champion and the best I’ve ridden so far.”

Brett Crawford, winning this race for the third time in six years, has had to be patient with the horse in recent months and explained: “He had a little setback at the beginning of the Durban season. He had an issue behind, we couldn’t put any pressure on him and we had to give him time to get over it.”

RECORD EQUALLED

There were four Group 1 races on the card and Mike de Kock equalled the 117-winner Group 1 record set by the legendary Terrance Millard when the Australian-bred two-year-old Soqrat ran out a convincing winner of the mile Premiers Champion Stakes.

“Terrance was one of the trainers I looked up to as a kid and it’s an honour to be mentioned in the same breath,” said De Kock. “My mission is for my stable to play its part on the international stage and Sograt is a horse that can win anywhere in the world.

“It’s also an honour to be shown the confidence of Sheikh Hamdan and an honour for South African racing. He is almost the biggest owner in the world.”

Sean Tarry won the fillies equivalent, the Thekwini, with Return Flight (the first Group 1 winner sired by his 2012 Durban July winner Pomodoro) but the champion trainer of the last three years still finished some R5 million behind Justin Snaith who is champion for only the second time.

Lyle Hewitson, who started his career as a work-rider in races confined to grooms’ races, is champion jockey even though still officially an apprentice.

Moving up

IN Cape Town, Brave Move has been making a big name for herself by winning six races off the reel, each time moving up a grade and at Kenilworth last Saturday comfortably stepping up to Grade 3 level to take the Final Fling Stakes. The four-year-old is by the formerly brilliant Horse Chestnut who swept all before him in South Africa before going to America where he stood at Gainesway.

“Brave Move will now have a rest but she will be back to take on the big guns next season,” says trainer Adam Marcus. “The way she finished after being forced wide last Saturday was sensational and she seems to be still getting better and better.”

Erupt arrives

ERUPT, the Irish-bred son of Dubawi, arrived in South Africa last weekend to stand at Maine Chance Farms in the Western Cape. He won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris and the Grade 1 Pattison Canadian International Stakes and will stand at a fee of R50,000 (approx.€3,300).

Quarantine

HOPES are high that the African Horse Sickness quarantine restrictions will be eased next year to allow South African horses to be imported direct into Europe following negotiations with the EU and the publishing of a relevant Commission Implementing Regulation.

Sale date change

CAPE Thoroughbred Sales is to move its big yearling sale from the weekend before the Met (January 26) to the Wednesday and Thursday of that week. “The shift creates a world-class festival that’s sure to bring even more attention to the Cape racing season,” says chief executive Wehann Smith. The sales company has recruited Badger Bloodstock Agency boss Grant Pritchard-Gordon, formerly racing manager to Khalid Abdullah, to help with the selection process from September onwards.