MIKE Bass was given a fairytale ending to his great training career when Durban July second Marinaresco overcame traffic problems to land the Champions Cup at Greyville last Sunday.

Grant van Niekerk deliberately rode a waiting race on the Silvano gelding, who wears blinkers because of his tendency to try and take a piece out of his rivals, and he had only one behind him entering the short straight. His mount was pulling double but suddenly found himself blocked behind a wall of horses.

Van Niekerk somehow squeezed his way through the equine equivalent of the eye of a needle and got there 100 yards out to make for some emotional scenes in the winner’s enclosure.

Bass (71) lost part of his right leg last August and, although he recovered sufficiently to play golf, his appearances on the racecourse have been in a wheelchair.

The race was renamed the Mike and Carol Bass Champions Cup for the occasion and Bass said: “I am really humbled by this – it means an awful lot to me and my wife. Now our daughter Candice is going to take over and I have supreme confidence in her.”

In his 40-year career Bass won 48 Group 1s, including the July three times, five Mets and six Queen’s Plates, and those he trained include the legendary Pocket Power.

“I was blessed when Mr Bass offered me the job as his stable jockey and I haven’t looked back since,” said van Niekerk, who is now looking forward to the big Cape Town races with Marinaresco.

“From day one this was a special horse. You always feel a bit nervous before these big races but when you sit on this one he gives you so much confidence.”

The race was delayed for over half an hour because of concerns about the condition of the ground in the pull-up area immediately after the winning post. The jockeys lodged a protest, saying that it was not safe, and the last four races on the card were transferred to the polytrack, which runs on the inside of the grass course.

DOWNGRADED

The Gold Cup was downgraded to Group 2 this year, but Mike de Kock dominated, winning the race for the second successive year, running five and sending out the third as well as the winner Enaad, an Australian-bred son of High Chaparral.

S’Manga Khumalo, who rode the gelding, regained his jockeys’ title and his boss Sean Tarry was champion trainer for the second successive season. Summerhill Stud was the top breeder, some consolation for owner Mick Goss, who has been suffering from Crohn’s disease, something he picked up at the Asian Racing Conference in India in January.

American-bred Trippi, who stands at Drakenstein, edged out Silvano at the top of the sires table.

Gunner, a son of the leading first season sire Gimmethegreenlight, sprang a 25-1 shock in the season’s top two-year-old race, the Premiers Champion Stakes.

The fillies equivalent, the Thekwini, went to the Mike Azzie-trained Querari Falcon, who is by the German import Querari.

At Kenilworth the Champagne Stakes – a six furlong race intended for fillies running for the last time before being retired to the paddocks - was won by Beach Goddess. This four-year-old is out of a mare by Giant’s Causeway.

“She might be worth keeping in training,” said trainer Brett Crawford. “She fractured a shin early last year and at the time they weren’t sure she would race again. But she is a very honest filly and she has been a model of consistency.”

Puller passes away

CAPE Town jockey Chris Puller was found dead at his home last week. He was only 31 and there were no suspicious circumstances. He hadn’t ridden for a few months and, before that, had often cried off his rides, citing old injuries, but his death came as a shock to his weighing room colleagues.

Van Niekerk said: “I didn’t expect this. He was a bubbly person, always happy and cheerful, and I can only imagine what the family must be going through.”

Aldo Domeyer added: “He always seemed happy and he was the one who uplifted others when they were down or going through a bad patch. I don’t know what demons he had but maybe we should have been more there for him.”