THE SAI CUP, KRISFLYER AND IRISH 2000 GUINEAS

Roderic O’Connor, Anne-Marie, Joseph and Aidan O’Brien
(Photos : Racing Post)

“A FAMILY AFFAIR”

Singapore is a long way from home, but it’s a statement on the international nature of racing that both the biggest events on their racing calendar, were dominated by South African trained, owned and ridden horses.

The KrisFlyer Sprint (Gr1) finally fell to one of the world’s most deserving sprinters, Rocket Man, owned by Fred Crabbia, trained by Pat Shaw and masterfully piloted by Felix Coetzee.

But it was in the big one, the Singapore Airlines International Cup (Gr1) that the South African influence really came home, as it has done so often in recent seasons. In as tight a finish as you could conjure, Herman Brown Jnr at last landed the richest of rewards for his enterprise, as his Gitano Hernando (Glyn Schofield in the irons) bested the Mike de Kock trained, Shirtliff and Amm owned and Bernard Fayd’Herbe ridden River Jetez in an all-South African finish.

Ownership? Yes, you may well speculate. Gitano Hernando was recently sold by long-time Summerhill client, Barry Irwin, to newly arrived Summerhill customer, Ramzan Kadyrov, and gave notice of his intentions with a big warm-up in the Dubai World Cup.

One last word on family. The Irish Guineas (Gr1) was entirely predictable, as Aidan O’Brien landed the spoils for the seventh time. What wasn’t quite as expected, was that his 18 year old son, Joseph O’Brien would be on board the Galileo colt, Roderic O’Connor, who brushed aside his vapid efforts in England’s equivalent a fortnight ago.

GITANO HERNANDO SCORES SINGAPORE AIRLINES CUP

Click above to watch Gitano Hernando and River Jetez fighting out the
Singapore Airlines International Cup (G1)
(Image and Footage : Singapore Turf Club)

SINGAPORE AIRLINES INTERNATIONAL CUP
Kranji, Turf, 2000m
22 May 2011

David Thiselton
Gold CircleSouth African trainer Herman Brown won the Singapore Airlines International Cup (Grade 1) at Kranji racecourse on Sunday, for the second time in his career, thanks to his newly acquired Gitano Hernando who was given a brilliant ride by South African jockey Glyn Schofield, while fellow South Africans, trainer Pat Shaw and jockey Felix Coetzee, landed the other big international Grade 1 on the card, the KrisFlyer International Sprint, with the amazing Rocket Man. South African dominance didn’t end there as the Mike de Kock-trained and Bernard Fayd’Herbe-ridden River Jetez finished second in the Singapore Airlines International Cup.

Brown won this race with the South African-bred Jay Peg in 2008. Gitano Hernando, who is by Hernando, joined his yard immediately after running in the Dubai World Cup and this was the five-year-old entire’s second run in the colours of Chechnyan President Ramzan Kadyrov. Schofield has become known as a master of pace judgement and used this skill to telling effect. He soon had Gitano Hernando out in front and was able to dictate a steady pace. Brown said afterwards, “It was a great ride by Glyn. In fact he really stole the race. This horse is more of a staying type, better suited to 2400m, so we thought our best chance was to make the pace and it all worked out.” De Kock watched from Clairwood and felt River Jetez had run a very good race. The seven-year-old Jet Master mare lost her position twice in the race, so did very well to claim the runner up spot. Gitano Hernando was allowed to run around her on the first turn after Fayd’Herbe had initially done well to claim a position right near the head of affairs from a wide draw. On the final turn River Jetez, who had been lying in about third place, was shuffled back as a number of horses ran around her in the steady-paced race. However, she picked up superbly after they had straightened and passed all of those horses again but couldn’t get to Gitano Hernando, who held on by 0,5 lengths.

Brown said the Melbourne Cup might be an option for his charge, although nothing is concrete yet. De Kock will take River Jetez to England to prepare her for a crack at the Beverley D Stakes over about 1900m at Arlington in the USA in August.

Rocket Man, who was purchased by Durban bloodstock agent Andy Williams in Australia and is owned by South African Fred Crabbia, proved he is getting better all the time and for the second time in succession landed a big international sprint by a facile margin. The six-year-old gelding by Viscount can also go on any surface as that last big race win was on the tapeta in Dubai where he romped home with the Grade 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen over 1200m. He has now won 17 from 20 starts and finished narrow seconds in the other three including twice in the KrisFlyer and once in the Golden Shaheen. Felix Coetzee, as cool as ever, had him in the leading three throughout from his wide draw in the 1200m turf event and drew away as he liked in the straight to win by nearly five lengths. Rocket Man’s Kranji home crowd were jubilant that their idol’s jinx in this race had finally been laid to rest.

Singapore Airlines International Cup (G1)
Final Results

#	Margin	Horse	Sire	Kg	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	0.0	GITANO HERNANDO (GB)	Hernando	57.0	4	G Schofield	H Brown
2	0.5	RIVER JETEZ (SAF)	Jet Master	55.5	9	B Fayd’Herbe	M de Kock
3	1.5	IRIAN (GER)	Tertullian	57.0	5	D Beadman	J Moore
4	1.5	WAIKATO (NZ)	Pins	57.0	6	J Moreira	L Laxon
5	2.0	CHINCHON (IRE)	Marju	57.0	12	G Mosse	C Laffon-Parias
6	2.3	RISKY BUSINESS (AUS)	Danehill Dancer	57.0	10	G Boss	S Burridge
7	3.8	WIGMORE HALL (IRE)	High Chaparral	57.0	3	J Spencer	M Bell
8	4.6	CALIFORNIA MEMORY (USA)	Highest Honour	57.0	13	M Chadwick	A Cruz
9	5.6	ROYAL BENCH (IRE)	Whipper	57.0	7	O Doleuze	R Collet
10	6.1	PRESVIS (GB)	Sakhee	57.0	2	R Hughes	L Cumani
11	8.1	NEW ROSE WOOD (AUS)	Love A Dane	55.5	1	KB Soo	D Koh
12	8.9	FATKID (NZ)	Handsome Ransom	57.0	8	I Azhar	HK Tan

Extract from Gold Circle

THE BIGGEST FORTNIGHT IN RACING?

Igugu
(Photo : JC Photos / Summerhill Stud)

Champion’s Day, English 2000 Guineas,
Queen Elizabeth II Cup and Kentucky Derby

No doubt there are other contenders for the title, but in the sum of the events scheduled for the next fortnight, they don’t get much bigger. This weekend alone, South Africa presents Champion’s Day at Turffontein, featuring the Summerhill graduate Igugu’s tilt at the first Triple Tiara in history, the SA Derby, the Champion’s Cup and the Computaform Sprint (all Gr1), among eight graded stakes on the card. The United Kingdom stages the first of their Classics, the Colts and Fillies versions of the Guineas, and Hong Kong celebrates the Queen Elizabeth II Cup on Sunday, with South African connected entries, Mike de Kock’s River Jetez and Herman Brown’s Gitano Hernando, among the fancies.

And then the Americans get busy on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 May with their Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby respectively, and for which you will get first hand coverage from Summerhill’s personal representatives at Churchill Downs. There’s a local connection in the Oaks, where Drakenstein Stud’s Trippi, has the ruling favourite, R Heat Lightning.

All of these races will be featured in video form on this site, so that our fans can satisfy their thirst for the best in the business.

A KING'S RANSOM... AND A BIT MORE

Gitano Hernando
(Team Valor International)

“An excellent example of what one rich man
will pay to beat another one.”

The Dubai World Cup on Saturday is the richest day in racing. All told, just short of $30 million (at yesterday’s exchange rate, more than R200 million) will be dispensed to the lucky connections of the days participants. The big race itself is worth $10 million (just about double its nearest pursuer in global money terms,) and that amount to just short of R70 million, which would buy you 14 good sized, up-and-running farms with implements and even some stock, in our district.

If you could scoop just the first prize in the World Cup itself, (more than R40 million) you could instantly become the biggest farmer in our district, and that illustrates what it is to own a good horse.

When you think we live on some of the finest and most productive agricultural land on the planet, that we have one of the most reliable climates, and that our way of life is incomparable, winning the World Cup or any one of its subsidiary races, is something every horseman dreams of. And considering how little is needed to get there (Lizard’s Desire, beaten a whisker last year and the beneficiary of more than R20 million in prize money for that effort alone, cost R40,000) and Bold Silvano (the morning line favourite for the event until his scratching on Sunday, cost a tad over R200,000), you begin to get an idea of the value South African thoroughbreds represent in the international market.

Another illustration of value, is the sale yesterday by Summerhill client, Team Valor, of their American Group One winner, Gitano Hernando, to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov for a figure said to be of the order of $4 million (almost R30 million). If the betting is anything to go by, he’s no Bold Silvano, but it’s an excellent example of what one very rich man will pay to beat another one.

DUBAI WORLD CUP 2011 : FINAL FIELD

Musir - Mike de Kock
(Photo : Gold Circle)

US$10,000,000 DUBAI WORLD CUP (Group 1)
Meydan, All-Weather, 2000m
26 March 2011

FINAL FIELD

#	Horse	Kg	HR	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	CAPE BLANCO (IRE)	57.0	126	0	J Spencer	Aidan O’Brien
2	FLY DOWN (USA)	57.0	123	0	J Leparoux	Nicholas P Zito
3	GIO PONTI (USA)	57.0	121	0	R Dominguez	Christophe Clement
4	GITANO HERNANDO (GB)	57.0	118	0	J Murtagh	Marco Botti
5	GOLDEN SWORD (GB)	57.0	117	0	K Shea	Mike de Kock
6	MONTEROSSO (GB)	57.0	115	0	M Barzalona	Mahmoud Al Zarooni
7	MUSIR (AUS)	57.0	117	0	C Soumillon	Mike de Kock
8	POET’S VOICE (GB)	57.0	122	0	L Dettori	Saeed bin Suroor
9	PRINCE BISHOP (IRE)	57.0	117	0	A Ajtebi	Saeed bin Suroor
10	RICHARD’S KID (USA)	57.0	119	0	R Mullen	Satish Seemar
11	TRANSCEND (JPN)	57.0	116	0	S Fujita	Takayuki Yasuda
12	TWICE OVER (GB)	57.0	125	0	T Queally	Henry Cecil
13	VICTOIRE PISA (JPN)	57.0	121	0	M Demuro	Katsuhiko Sumii
14	BUENA VISTA (JPN)	55.0	121	0	R Moore	Hiroyoshi Matsuda

* South African Connections Highlighted