SAIL South, so often a minor player in big races, came good with a vengeance in the nine-furlong World Sports Betting Champions Cup at Greyville last Saturday when for once he upstaged his more celebrated stable companion Captain America.
Richard Fourie sat handy as Captain America dictated it, pressed the button over half a furlong out and crossed the line a length and a quarter to the good. The 17/1 shot is by the Canadian-bred Sail From Seattle out of a mare by the one-time Coolmore sire Northfields.
“This horse gave me a big feel one day in Cape Town and I thought then that he could give me a Group 1 one day,” Fourie recalled. “I sat behind Captain America who runs his fractions quite hard so it was a good gallop. I came into the straight with three and a half lengths to make up and I knew he was going to get there.”
It was the third Champions Cup winner in five seasons for trainer Brett Crawford who said: “This was the first time Sail South has been nine furlongs but he has been a model of consistency and he has never been far behind Captain America. He had a two-kilo swing in his favour on this occasion.”
Twenty-four hours later Fourie won the Premiers Champion Stakes, the second of Sunday’s Group 1 mile two-year-old races, On Eyes Wide Open - a colt by the Durban July winner Dynasty. He scored by a hard-fought half-length from the Joey Ramsden-trained Ancestry who is a son of Oratorio.
“I thought the race might come a touch too soon after his Scottsville win three weeks earlier,” said trainer Glen Kotzen. “But you have to take your chances and this colt has that big race temperament.”
The Thekwini Stakes, the fillies equivalent, saw Lady In Black (also by Dynasty) stretch her unbeaten run to three despite encountering traffic problems going into the final turn. “S’Manga Khumalo on Desert Rhythm gave me a nudge and my filly didn’t like it,” rider Sean Veale related. “I had to wait for her to gather herself again and then she put them to bed.”
Relieved trainer Dennis Drier added: “I didn’t think she could recover from that bump. Thank goodness Sean didn’t panic. This is a top filly.”
The eLan Gold Cup, a handicap, has been demoted from Group 1 to Group 3 but it has lost none of its appeal – neither with owners and trainers nor the public - and Hermoso Mundo made a bit of history by becoming the first to complete the stayers’ treble, having already won the Gold Bowl at Turffontein and the Gold Vase at Greyville.
The four-year-old is by the Kingmambo horse Ideal World (second in the Prix Niel for Andre Fabre), is trained by Weiho Marwing and was ridden by his brother Weichong.
Hope to end South African restrictions
CHINA and Hong Kong have raised hopes that they may step in to end South Africa’s impasse over horse exports. Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Hong Kong racing’s CEO, has said that China will need 1,500 horses to get its racing off the ground and has identified South Africa as a possible source.
The Chinese government is understood to be keen to have the racing administered by (or at least run under the auspices of) the Hong Kong Jockey Club which is likely to play a major role in the Chinese expansion.
South Africa has all the tests to detect African Horse Sickness proven and in place.
It just needs a country that is willing to ease its restrictions to allow direct imports without either three months’ quarantine in Mauritius or a 60-day lockdown in the US.
Broodmares
to Australia
IN the meantime multiple Group 1 winner Carry On Alice and the talented but highly strung Cloth Of Cloud are on their way to Australia (via Mauritius) to start their broodmare careers, US-based Team Valor is sending group winner Anna Pavlova to France.
Flying Ice and Olma also going there while Mike de Kock’s winner of last season’s Choice Carriers Championship Ektifaa is to go to Britain.
De Kock’s team for the Dubai Carnival will include the South African Derby winner Al Sahem, dual Guineas winner Janoobi and Fillies Guineas winner Smiling Blue Eyes.