DAILY NEWS 2000 PREVIEW : LOVE STRUCK AND GITIANO

Love Struck and Tellina fight out the SA Classic finish
(Photo : JC Photos)

DAILY NEWS 2000 (Grade 1)
Greyville, Turf, 2000m
1 June 2013

Paul Lafferty is currently in Australia at a Magic Millions Sale so has left capable assistant trainer Michael Burns to put the finishing touches to his Daily News 2000 contender Love Struck.

The Summerhill-bred gelding won the Grade 1 SA Classic over 1800m at Turffontein on his last start on 30 March, beating another Daily News contender, Tellina, by a short-head. Burns said: “He’s doing well, he’s well in himself and his work at home has been promising. This will tell us whether he stays the 2000m. I would think that the Greyville 2000m is right down his alley.” The tough Turffontein 1800m is probably the equivalent of a Greyville 2000m in terms of stamina, so Burns could well be right in the latter regard. Love Struck is drawn at No 10 and Sean Cormack rides.

Love Struck, on 103, is rated 3,5kg inferior to the 110 merit-rated Capetown Noir. However, Gitiano, who finished 2,25 lengths behind Love Struck the SA Classic, was only 3,5 lengths behind Capetown Noir when said by the Alec Laird yard to have run a flat race in the Grade 2 KRA Guineas last time out.

Laird has since sent Gitiano for another gallop at Greyville, although the main reason was as a companion to Orator’s Daughter. After the gallop he decided that Orator’s Daughter would not run in Saturday’s Grade 1 Woolavington 2000.

Julia Pringle, Laird’s Summerveld assistant, said: “She was green at Turffontein and Greyville is not an easy course. She is immature and it would have been too much for her at this stage. She will make a very nice four-year-old.”

She said about Gitiano: “He is working well and put up a good gallop at Greyville. He travelled down shortly before the KRA Guineas and the travel might have affected him as he ran a flat race. The 2000m is the top end of his stamina capacity. However, he was running on at the end of the Classic and Geyville is a more forgiving course. It’s a strong field, but he is a nice horse and can run a nice race.”

Gitiano is drawn at No 8 and Nooresh Juglall will ride him.

Extract from Gold Circle

CONSIDER YOUR VERDICT

EMPERORS PALACE READY TO RUN SALE
TBA Sales Complex, Germiston
2nd and 4th November 2012

Racing’s constitutional court handed down its verdict on the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Gallops on Friday afternoon, and while they were split in their choices of the outstanding performers on the day, they were universally at one on the depth and the quality of what they saw. The novel thing about these gallops is that by this time tomorrow, every racing fan will have his opportunity to make his own private judgement, as the gallops may be accessed by visiting the TBA (www.tba.co.za) or the Summerhill websites (www.summerhill.co.za) and you’d do well to remember that several of the sale’s star performers over the years have escaped the attention of a panel even of this stature. That’s the way it must be, as the judges are restricted to a choice of three colts and three fillies each, and racehorses are no different to children inasmuch they’re a work-in-progress at this stage of their lives. In a catalogue numbering more than 200, there are bound to be any number of jewels whose potential is only likely to emerge further down the road. And who’s to say, when the difference between two gallops is as little as a hair’s breadth, that the “chosen one” wasn’t simply the beneficiary of a slightly better ride, or was mentally that bit more ready for the occasion?

What was certainly evident in the number of people that pitched up at Summerhill on Friday, is that this sale continues to enjoy unprecedented popularity, and quite clearly, the new record stake of R2.5million for the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup, (equal to the J&B Met in prize money) has obviously got the “juices” going.

While it is so that all five of the Ready To Run Cup winners thus far have emerged from the Summerhill gallops, there were some favourable remarks from Geoff Woodruff and Sharon Patterson about those that did their stuff at Turffontein on Wednesday, including special mention of a Rock Of Gibraltar filly (Lot 161) and a pair of Teofilos (Lots 13 and 90), while Nico Kristiotis observed that the gap between the performances of the Summerhill horses and those of other consignors had narrowed appreciably this year.

This is how the judges called them:

MIKE DE KOCK	Fillies
	47 MYSTICAL STAR Jet Master - Leading Dame
	120 ADMIRAL’S EYE Admire Main (JPN) - Surfers Eye
	181 PICK OF THE FIELD Kahal (GB) - Choice Field
	Colts
	88 ILITSHE (AUS) Fastnet Rock (AUS) - Reem Albaraari (GB)
	94 VARIETY ROMP Var (USA) - Rollicking Romp
	122 SWISS ARROW A.P. Arrow (USA) - Swiss Pearl

JEHAN MALHERBE	Fillies
	47 MYSTICAL STAR Jet Master - Leading Dame
	120 ADMIRAL’S EYE Admire Main (JPN) - Surfers Eye
	133 ENCHANTED SILK Kahal (GB) - Vanilla Silk
	Colts
	17 FRANCOIS P Captain Al - Great Wall
	31 UNNAMED Jet Master - Hunter’s Glen
	88 ILITSHE (AUS) Fastnet Rock (AUS) - Reem Albaraari (GB)

ALEC LAIRD	Fillies
	110 SKUKUZA Mullins Bay (GB) - Sphalaphala
	192 FLIGHT CHECK A.P. Arrow - Diligence
	199 IKIMASU Admire Main (JPN) - Espinado
	Colts
	22 THE GOBI Kahal (GB) - Haifaa (IRE)
	88 ILITSHE (AUS) Fastnet Rock (AUS) - Reem Albaraari (GB)
	138 EAGLE ONE National Assembly (CAN) - Voga Longa

YUSUKE TSUKAHARA	Fillies
	12 FUNEKA A.P. Arrow (USA) - Glitz
	120 ADMIRAL’S EYE Admire Main (JPN) - Surfers Eye
	199 IKIMASU Admire Main (JPN) - Espinado
	Colts
	20 FYRKAT Stronghold (GB) - Habib Laziza (BRZ)
	115 TAKUSHI Admire Main (JPN) - Stolen Beauty
	157 DIE KAT (AUS) Tale Of The Cat (USA) - America’s Idol (USA)

DEAN KANNEMEYER	Fillies
	47 MYSTICAL STAR Jet Master - Leading Dame
	49 YANGTZE KIANG Stronghold (GB) - Lizmay Creek
	131 UNNAMED Dynasty - Until Now (ZIM)
	Colts
	31 UNNAMED Jet Master - Hunter’s Glen
	56 UNNAMED Western Winter (USA) - Making Whoopee (AUS)
	88 ILITSHE (AUS) Fastnet Rock (AUS) - Reem Albaraari (GB)

MICHAEL ROBERTS	Fillies
	89 AUTODROME A.P. Arrow (USA) - Resolutiva (ARG)
	198 ENTICE THE ARROW A.P. Arrow (USA) - Entice The Gold
	199 IKIMASU Admire Main (JPN) - Espinado
	Colts
	94 VARIETY ROMP Var (USA) - Rollicking Romp
	157 DIE KAT (AUS) Tale Of The Cat (USA) - America’s Idol (USA)
	197 YEAROFTHEDRAGON Kahal (GB) - Electric Elegance

GRAEME HAWKINS	Fillies
	24 DOVER BEACH Mullins Bay (GB) - Hard To Get
	82 ISTHANDOSAMI Kahal (GB) - Particular Passion
	159 ARABIAN ARROW A.P. Arrow (USA) - Arabian Charm
	Colts
	31 UNNAMED Jet Master Hunter’s Glen
	94 VARIETY ROMP Var (USA) - Rollicking Romp
	157 DIE KAT (AUS) Tale Of The Cat (USA) - America’s Idol (USA)

SEAN TARRY	Fillies
	6 RAINY DAY Stronghold (GB) - Fovesta
	66 AYESSAYPEE A.P. Arrow (USA) - Mythical Madam
	118 SUGAR BAY Mullins Bay (GB) - Sugar Biscuit
	Colts
	22 THE GOBI Kahal (GB) - Haifaa (IRE)
	31 UNNAMED Jet Master Hunter’s Glen
	88 ILITSHE (AUS) Fastnet Rock (AUS) - Reem Albaraari (GB)

The obvious favourities were Summerhill’s Tale Of The Cat colt (Lot 157), their Fastnet Rock lad (Lot 88) and Chevely Stud’s Jet Master colt (Lot 31), while Lots 47,120 and 199 pricked the judges’ imaginations among the fillies. Summerhill will be especially gratified at the broad appeal enjoyed by the first crop of A.P. Arrow, which seemed to have especially athletic frames and the actions that have made the A.P. Indy strain famous. If you can crack one stallion in a season as a studmaster, you can consider yourself lucky, but it seems they may have another “talker” this year in Admire Main. Like the panel, Glen Kotzen made a point of singling out the Admire Mains, while Shadai Corporation’s Yusuke Tsukahara felt they were typical of the Sunday Silence tribe in general.

Given the enormous international success of the likes of Deep Impact, Hat Trick, Stay Gold and Dance In The Dark in recent seasons, this is just about the best news for those who believe in the value of the international outcross, and the benefits of diversity in the success of nations.

It’s now part of the conventional wisdom of the sale that “there’s a horse for everyone at the Ready To Run”, and there may be a perception that the judges’ choices are more likely to be at the top end of the sale, and therefore have an element of elitism to them. While they might not be entirely true, Graeme Hawkins has especially offered another few “value” picks to his list, which will be mounted on the Summerhill blog site tomorrow morning (see Hawkeye’s Hopes).

Finally, talking of judges’ panels, the one that chooses the candidates for the R2.5 million Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup, has a growing headache. Before last weekend, they already had an unprecedented 42 winners from last year’s sale, and their dilemma was heightened this week by the first-time victory of Killua Castle (who had to be sold in absentia last year, after undergoing colic surgery during the sale), while Waka Waka (a second timer) and Noble Star trotted up for Gary Alexander and Dean Kannemeyer at Turffontein and Durbanville respectively. Good luck, boys!

Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup • Saturday 3rd November
Lots 1-75 • Friday 2nd November 17h00
Lots 76-202 • Sunday 4th November 14h00

Read more about the
2012 Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale

For more information please visit
www.tba.co.za

LAFF A MINUTE AND OTHERS

Television personalities Paul Lafferty and Andrew Bon at Royal Ascot
(Photo : Lafferty At Ascot)

EMPERORS PALACE READY TO RUN GALLOPS
Summerhill Stud, Mooi River
Friday 19th October 2012

You all know the names of the personalities of the men that serve on the Ready To Run Judges’ panel. Without them, South African racing would be a dowdy old place. One of them has gone AWOL though, staying in Cape Town for a fiftieth birthday, which is probably as much a reflection of his own age catching up with him, as anything else. Step up Alec Laird, the man that liberated South African racing when he became the first trainer in history to grab a Group One east of Cape Town. Whatever else it reads, his tombstone will be etched with the words “Trainer of London News”. It ignores of course, one of the deepest pedigrees in the game, and a lifetime of achievement. He’ll be on board on Friday.

In a slight change to the format, Nico Kritsiotis joins Craig Peters in the commentary box, and stands alongside another new face in Paul Lafferty, in the convening of the Judges panel for Channel 239. Laff needs little introduction as one of the sport’s great haymakers, while Nico has etched his name among the greats behind the “mic”. Remarkably, we’ll have four of the world’s best race-callers on hand on Friday, Graeme Hawkins, Jehan Malherbe, “Eagle-Eye” Craig Peters and Nico Kritsiotis. They don’t come much better (or bigger) than that.

Reminds us of the story of the “mother and father” of all battles, which took place just 45 minutes from where the gallops will be staged on Friday. On that day, in early 1900, drawn together by dint of the peculiar circumstances of what had been happening in this territory for almost a century before, was one of the most extraordinary assemblies of men in history. Louis Botha, the outstanding general of the Anglo-Boer War and the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, was there. Alongside him, the man he accompanied to Versailles on the conclusion of the First World War, the man the world chose to write the charters for the League of Nations and subsequently for the United Nations, and the man Churchill nominated to be his successor as Prime Minister in the British War cabinet, Jan Smuts, he was there. The Englishman himself, arguably the most famous of all Englishman, Winston Churchill, he was there. Denys Reitz, Boer General and ironically, a Field Marshall thereafter in the British army and one-time Deputy Prime Minister of South Africa, was on Spioenkop that fateful day. And quite remarkably, the man who liberated India in 1947, the Mahatma Gandhi, was a stretcher-bearer on that mountain that day.

What chance our race-callers might be remembered in the same breath in years to come, for their attendance at the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Gallops in 2012!

Read more about the
2012 Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale

For more information please visit
www.tba.co.za

MULLINS BAY CELEBRATES EARLY WINNERS!

Mullins Bay
(Photo: Greig Muir)

“ROCK OF THE BAY”
Extract from Sporting Post

The Mullins Bay youngsters are off to a flying start. Champion South African breeders Summerhill Stud’s son of Machiavellian sired his second juvenile winner last week, when the very smart looking Gitiano paralysed his opposition to win going away over 1200m.

The extraordinarily handsome Mullins Bay has turned all the clever heads since his arrival in South Africa.

And for a horse who never raced at two and won from 1800m to 2100m, he is producing the goods where it matters most. And refreshingly early too!

Two juvenile winners in five weeks speak of great things to come from a stallion whom one would reasonably expect to get them to stay on. And this precocious ability, coupled with the core potential to go on to greater things, is surely the essence sought by anybody who has ever raised a catalogue in anticipation in the vicinity of a sales arena?

The Tyrone Zackey-trained Croke Park won an excellent race on debut when streaking clear late to win a Maiden Juvenile Plate over a mile at Turffontein in early June. The Somerset Stud product out of the Gallic League mare, Streisand, was backed from an opening call of 25-1 all the way into 15-2. His trainer thinks highly of him, we hear.

Then the Alec Laird-trained Gitiano was an equally impressive winner at his second start over the Scottsville 1200m last Tuesday, when he showed eye-catching acceleration to win going away. Out of the Jet Master mare, Poppy Elizabeth, he had run a very good third to the promising The Hangman on debut.

Mullins Bay was the best racing son of sire of sires Machiavellian in 2006 and achieved a Timeform rating of 121lbs at 3 years old. From just 14 racecourse starts, he earned 12 times and won 3 races, including the Gr3 Grand Prix Strensall Stakes beating Andean and the TFR 126 rated Maraahel.

He hails from an outstanding family and is out of Broodmare of the Year, Bella Colora (by Bellypha) who won 4 races in the UK and France. These included victories in the Gr2 Prix de l’Opera and the Gr3 Candelabra Stakes. She produced champion Stagecraft (by Sadler’s Wells) who won 6 races, including the Gr2 Prince Of Wales Stakes, the Gr1 Canadian Turf Handicap and the Gr2 Breeder’s Cup Handicap. Mullins Bay is a brother to two other Group winners.

Champion South African trainer Mike de Kock, who had the honour of training the handsome fellow for a stretch of his racing career including a great third placed finish in the 2007 Godolphin Mile at the Dubai World Cup meeting, may have put his finger on it, when he went on record as observing that ‘Mullins Bay was surprisingly fast.’

Mullins Bay produced 50 foals from his first crop of 2009. Only thirteen have run. Two have won. That’s good going.

His 6 lots on the 2011 National Yearling Sale averaged R107,500, with his top seller going for R160,000.

Mullins Bay stands at Summerhill for a fee of R15,000. Make a note of this one.

www.sportingpost.co.za

"PJ" NO GIVEAWAY

Click above to watch Pierre Jourdan winning the Charity Mile in November 2011
(Image : JC Photos - Footage : Tellytrack)

PIERRE JOURDAN
“The People’s Horse”

There’s little dignity in a great racehorse being put through an auction ring at the end of a race meeting, particularly for a champion. Pierre Jourdan grabbed the imagination of racing fans countrywide with some spectacular performances commencing in the spring of 2009 through the summer of 2011, yet such are the attachments and emotions of racehorse ownership, that even a horse of his stature had to face the auctioneers’ hammer at Turffontein Sunday evening.

He’d come out of last month’s Horse Chestnut (Gr.1) with a bit of a jar and some filling in his joints, and there must’ve been a few misgivings as to whether or not he’d come back to his former self. Let’s not forget, it was just a few months back that he made mincemeat of a high quality field in the Peermont Charity Mile (one of South Africa’s best endowed 1600m events), and he did so giving chunks of weight away to some of the nation’s best talents. Pierre Jourdan made his mark in the vintage of some of the best three-year-old colts we’ve seen in decades, and besides his sparkling performances in his classic year, he very nearly upset Igugu’s party in last year’s Vodacom Durban July (Gr.1). He was South Africa’s biggest earner in 2010, and he impressed his July rider, Dougie Whyte, to the degree that the multiple Hong Kong champion suggested he would more than hold his own in the best company out East.

Emilio Baserio is nothing if not a passionate racing man, and his lifetime obsession to own a champion, eventually manifested itself in the R60,000 purchase of “PJ” at the Emperors Palace Ready To Run. He’s been on the greatest ride of his life, thanks to some grand handling by Team Alexander, who’ve managed his career like it belonged to their own child. It happens in racing, because we’re all emotional about our horses, but in the end the partners decided that what was best for the horse, was they should dissolve their venture, hence Sunday’s sale. In the end, we’re told Emilio gave it a good old crack, courtesy of Alec Laird, who’s long been in the saddle for him, while the Alexanders put together a bit of a team themselves. We believe Weiho Mawing had a big punter in the fray at one point, and while it’s nothing compared with what he might’ve fetched after he’d whipped the cream in the R2million Premiers Classic (Gr.1) in 2010, the R1,6million winning bid was probably a respectable price for a five-year-old gelding who’d come out of his last start feeling a few things. Emilio’s got the cash, and he’ll be back investing a bit of it in his favourite sport, while Gary Alexander and his team have walked away with the spoils.

For their sakes, and ours, we hope PJ will be back soon, thrilling the crowds as only he could, this winter.