ZILLZAAL and little known apprentice Denis Schwarz pulled off the biggest Gauteng Summer Cup shock in more than 15 years when making all the running at 28/1 in the celebrated Grade 1 handicap at Turffontein last Saturday.

The Silvano four-year-old (out of a Giant’s Causeway mare) was the least fancied of Sean Tarry’s four runners but Schwarz had worked out his all-the-way plans in advance and secured the champion trainer’s approval. When Anton Marcus, the best jockey in South Africa, came at him on the favourite Soqrat in the final furlong, Schwarz calmly asked for more and got sufficient response to hold on by four-tenths of a length. “A big thanks to Sean Tarry for allowing me to go forward because there wasn’t much pace on,” he related afterwards.