R23-MILLION STAKES FOR CHAMPIONS SEASON 2013

Africa’s Greatest Horserace - The R3.5Million Vodacom Durban July
(Photo : John Lewis)

CHAMPIONS SEASON
4 May 2013 - 27 July 2013

Champions Season in KwaZulu-Natal is a three-month feast of superior racing offering feature race stakes in excess of R23million in a programme of 45 Graded, Listed and special events, headed by Africa’s greatest racing spectacle, the R3,5million Grade 1 Vodacom Durban July. Champions Season launches on Saturday 4 May at Greyville, with the running of the Colts and Fillies Guineas, as well as the Drill Hall Stakes.

The great news is that the stakes pot for the Champions Season feature races has been given a R6million cash injection, which represents a 28% increase on previous levels. This news follows hot on the heels of Gold Circle’s announcement earlier this year of an across the board stakes increase of between 10% and 11% for all minor races in the province and the news that this year’s Vodacom Durban July will be run for a stake of R3,5 million, making it the richest horserace on the continent.

The biggest Champion Season increases are the R500,000 added to the Vodacom Durban July stake, while the Daily News 2000 also gets a R500,000 cash injection and this year will be run for a stake of R1,5 million. The stake for the Woolavington 2000, run on the same afternoon as the Daily News 2000, has been increased to R750,000. The stake for the Gold Cup, the country’s most important race for stayers and final feature of the season, also goes up by R250,000 and will carry a stake of R1,25million.

Other significant increases for the Grade 1 races include the Golden Horse Sprint and Mercury Sprint, now both worth R750,000, the SA Fillies Sprint, up R100,000 to R600,000 and the Garden Province Stakes, up R250,000 to R750,000.

Added to Champions Season this year is the KwaZulu-Natal Breeders’ Day scheduled for the Saturday before the July when the KZN Breeders Million Mile worth R1million will hold centre stage. The Million Mile will be backed up by seven other races, all with a stake of R200,000.

Running from the beginning of May to the end of July, Champions Season provides a comprehensive mix of events catering for all the needs of the thoroughbred population with major contests for two-year-olds, three-year-olds and the older horses from sprints through middle distance races to the strong-winded stayers.

Celebrating the importance of the classic races for three-year-olds, special meetings are staged for the KRA Guineas and KRA Fillies Guineas over the traditional 1600m as well as the Betting World Derby and Betting World Oaks over 2400m, races from which great champions of the future could emerge.

The four big Champions Season meetings are :

GOLDEN HORSE SPRINT RACEDAY
Scottsville Racecourse
Saturday 25 May 2013

The only race meeting on the Continent featuring four Grade 1 sprint races, this day draws the finest sprinters in the country.

RISING SUN GOLD CHALLENGE RACEDAY
Clairwood Racecourse
Saturday 8 June 2013

The Grade 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge is an open weight-for-age race over 1 600m and a major event for horses seeking a run in the Vodacom Durban July.

VODACOM DURBAN JULY RACEDAY
Greyville Racecourse
Saturday 6 July 2013

There is not an owner, breeder, trainer, jockey and groom that has not conjured up dreams of winning Africa’s Greatest Horse Racing Event and for most, just to be involved in the prestigious event is something very special. If you have a runner you have a chance and that chance comes once a year and for most owners, possibly once in lifetime.

Supporting events on the day include the all-new KZN Breeders Juvenile Million. With a stake of R1million, it is for juveniles graduates from the KZN Yearling Sales and is run at level weights over 1300m.

The Grade 1 Garden Province Stakes is an important black type-earning event for fillies and mares at weight-for-age over 1600m for a stake of R750,000.

The Golden Horseshoe and Golden Slipper are Grade 1 events that each carry stakes of R600,000 and are for two-year-olds at level weights over 1400m.

The Grade 2 Gold Vase carries a R400,000 stake and is an open merit-rated handicap over 3000m.

The Grade 3 Campanajo 2200 is an open merit-rated handicap over 2200m with a stake of R300,000. Celebrating the first winner of the Vodacom Durban July in 1897, the field is usually made up mostly of runners that never made the final field for the premier event.

SUPER SATURDAY AND GOLD CUP
Greyville Racecourse
27 July 2013

The meeting brings Champions Season to a close in spectacular fashion with four Grade 1 races headed by the R1,25 million Gold Cup, an open handicap that is the greatest test for the cream of South African stayers over 3200m.

Extract from Sporting Post

Click here to view
Champions Season Calendar

VARIETY CLUB WINS RISING SUN GOLD CHALLENGE

Variety Club wins the Rising Sun Gold Challenge (Grade 1)
(Photo : Gold Circle)

RISING SUN GOLD CHALLENGE (Grade 1)
Clairwood, Turf, 1600m
9 June 2012

Variety Club’s name is a misnomer. There’s little variety about the way he runs - he almost always wins, and in some style. His effort in the Grade 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge over 1600m at Clairwood Saturday was no exception.

After making his own pace for much of the race, the three-year-old colt eased away from his four top-rated opponents under a hands and heels ride from Anton Marcus. Marcus said afterwards that the son of Var was “one of the better milers I’ve ridden”.

Trainer Joey Ramsden said that while Variety Club has done well over further, 1600m is his best trip. “When you’re good at something, stick with something.” Ramsden added: “We’ll sit down now and see where we are going with him.”

Derek Brugman, racing manager for owners Ingrid and Markus Jooste, said the colt will probably be rested from now until the Western Cape season at the end of the year. If the export protocol is relaxed, a campaign in Dubai and the East is possible.

Marcus said Variety Club did not emerge cleanly from the starting stalls, but the champion jockey quickly settled his charge, keeping him clear of the inside rail where Castlethorpe was racing very keenly. As the five runners entered the left-hand turn, Variety Club took charge of the tempo, leading by a length from Castlethorpe, Tales Of Bravery, What A Winter and Pierre Jourdan. In the closing stretch Marcus never had any need for his whip, pushing Variety Club clear to win with something in hand.

Castlethorpe (14-1) rallied gamely to claim second, while Pierre Jourdan (13-1) ran on well into third - obviously prepping for the Vodacom Durban July over a trip short of his best.

The win took Variety Club’s career record to nine wins from 14 starts. He has never been out of the prize money and the Gold Challenge cheque pushed his earning close to the R2.5-million mark.

Extract from Tab Online

THE ADAGE STANDS : GROUP ONE IS THE GOLD STANDARD

Tales Of Bravery
(Photo : Gold Circle / Summerhill Stud)

RISING SUN GOLD CHALLENGE (Grade 1)
Clairwood, Turf, 1600m
9 June 2012

It’s raining Group Ones in KwaZulu-Natal at the moment, cats and dogs. A fortnight ago, Scottsville staged the only meeting in the world featuring four Group One sprints, and last weekend Greyville hosted the Daily News 2000 (Gr.1) and the Woolavington Stakes (Gr.1).

This weekend it’s the turn of Clairwood Park, where the country’s best milers traditionally clash in the Rising Sun Gold Challenge (Gr.1), the race that rivals the L’Ormarins Queens Plate and the Harry Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut for prestige at the distance. What this field lacks in numbers, it more than makes up for in class, with everyone of the six entries capable of winning the race in a normal year. This is no average year though, and it’s the class of the field which has deterred the entries, which makes this one of the strongest renewals in history. Mention the names What A Winter, Pierre Jourdan, Tales of Bravery, Link Man, Castlethorpe and Variety Club, and you know instantly, when the starter calls the roll on Saturday, there’ll not be a true-blue racing fan in the land who’s not glued to Tellytrack (Channel 232) if he’s not lucky enough to be on course.

Obviously, Variety Club has to start the favourite, as Joey Ramsden made this his mission when he left from Cape Town, and the horse has been prepared to the minute. His well-being was advertised on Saturday, when Jackson, who’d gone down 2¼ lengths to him in the KRA Guineas a month back, paid tribute to the form with a scintillating victory in the Daily News 2000 (Gr.1). Admittedly the Guineas was not Jackson’s trip, but as a horse of immense class, he remains highly effective at a mile.

Cherry-ripe too, and at the top of his game, is Tales of Bravery, who obliterated a slightly below-standard field by its own high standards, in the Drill Hall Stakes (Gr.2) on the same Guineas evening. To date, Tales of Bravery has proven himself one of the most genuine horses in training, if just a tad below Group One class, yet it would be a wonderful tribute to the late to Roy Eckstein if he were to prevail here.

Well below-par a fortnight back in the Golden Horse Casino Sprint (Gr.1), What A Winter tries a mile for the first time since the Cape Guineas (Gr.1) of his year, and while it seemed beyond his measure in those days, it may be that with maturity, he’s ready for the distance. That’s provided the reasons behind his failure in the sprint have nothing but a previous below-par performance at the same course, to explain his form. Both Link Man and Castlethorpe are outstanding performers at their best, yet present form suggests this could be a journey just too big right now. The two Mikes, de Kock and Bass, might turn in their graves at this statement, and since you’d never want to be second-guessing either of them, we’d best leave it at that!

DANCEWITHTHEDEVIL BEATS THE BOYS IN GOLD CHALLENGE

Click above to watch Dancewiththedevil winning the Rising Sun Gold Challenge (Gr1)
(Image : Gold Circle - Footage : Tellytrack)

RISING SUN GOLD CHALLENGE (Grade 1)
Clairwood, Turf, 1600m
13 June 2011

Michael Clower
Racing PostDancewiththedevil, trained by St John Gray and piloted by jockey Gavin Lerena won her third Grade 1 over 1600m inside 12 weeks, when coming from last to first in the final two furlongs to beat Bravura by a head.

The four-year-old was taken out of the Vodacom Durban July at last week’s forfeit stage but her owner-breeder-trainer St John Gray had no regrets.

He said: “I know some people are a bit disappointed but it was quite clear from her last run over the tough 2000 metres at Turffontein that she doesn’t have the same finish over the longer stretch so we will keep her to a mile. Hopefully next year she will see out the 2000 metres.”

Gavin Lerena, explaining his exaggerated waiting tactics - he was 14 lengths off the pace turning for home - said: “Mr Gray told me that you can’t bustle heralong. You’ve just got to let her do what she wants, and I was three lengths behind the second-last horse. But she is a phenomenal filly - every time I asked her for an effort she gave it to me.”

Gray added: “The only thing worrying me was that it looked a moderate pace - but clearly it wasn’t.”

Bravura was the only one of the leading Vodacom Durban July candidates to boost his cause.

Past Master, who started 5-2 favourite here, was in trouble turning for home and finished ninth, over nine lengths behind the winner. Big City Life fared even worse, finishing last.

RISING SUN GOLD CHALLENGE (Gr1)
Final Result

#	LBH	Horse	Kg	MR	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	0.00	DANCEWITHTHEDEVIL	57.5	113	7	G Lerena	St John Gray
2	0.15	BRAVURA	60.0	110	1	A Marcus	Joey Ramsden
3	3.15	BULSARA	60.0	105	3	R Danielson	Gavin van Zyl
4	3.20	CASTLETHORPE (AUS)	58.5	105	6	K Neisius	Mike Bass
5	3.25	BUY AND SELL	60.0	110	9	S Khumalo	Sean Tarry
6	3.30	BLUE TIGER	60.0	107	4	A Domeyer	Mike Bass
7	3.40	LION IN WINTER	60.0	108	10	G Hatt	Joey Ramdsen
8	6.15	RUSHING WIND	60.0	107	2	M Odendaal	Mike Bass
9	9.40	PAST MASTER	60.0	115	8	G Schlechter	Darryl Hodgson
10	10.40	CAPTAIN’S WILD	60.0	108	12	A Delpech	Mike de Kock
11	15.65	KAVANAGH	58.5	106	11	K Shea	Mike de Kock
12	15.90	BIG CITY LIFE	60.0	114	5	A Fortune	Glen Kotzen

Extract from Racing Post

RISING SUN GOLD CHALLENGE 2010 : VIDEO AND RESULT

Click above to watch the 2010 Rising Sun Gold Challenge (Gr1)
(Photo : Gold Circle - Footage : Tellytrack)

R750,000 RISING SUN GOLD CHALLENGE (Grade 1)
Clairwood, 1600m, Turf
12 June 2010

RACE RESULT :

#	LBH	Horse	Kg	MR	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	0.00	BIG CITY LIFE	60.0	114	5	P Strydom	Glen Kotzen
2	0.25	BLUE TIGER	60.0	110	2	*A Domeyer	Mike Bass
3	2.25	POCKET POWER	60.0	120	10	B Fayd’Herbe	Mike Bass
4	2.30	SMART BANKER	60.0	116	7	A Marcus	Charles Laird
5	5.30	RUDRA	60.0	116	4	A Delpech	Mike de Kock
6	6.80	REGAL RANSOM	60.0	112	1	B Lerena	Sean Tarry
7	6.95	KAPIL	60.0	117	6	M Byleveld	Stan Elley
8	7.05	FABIANI	60.0	111	3	D Daniels	Glen Kotzen
9	9.30	TROPICAL EMPIRE (AUS)	60.0	118	8	S Randolph	Duncan Howells
10	18.30	MOTHER RUSSIA	57.5	109	9	K Shea	Mike de Kock