HURRICANE FORCE : RACING ASSOCIATION MR 100 HANDICAP

Click above to watch Hurricane Force winning the RA MR 100 Handicap
(Image and Footage : Tellytrack)

RACING ASSOCIATION MR 100 HANDICAP
TURFFONTEIN 1100m TURF
16 MARCH 2010

HURRICANE FORCE (Muhtafal x Bahama Palms)
4 Year Old Chestnut Gelding
Owners : Markus and Ingrid Jooste
Trainer : Charles Laird
Jockey : Anton Marcus
Breeder : Summerhill Stud
Win Time : 63.27
Career Record : 6 Wins, 7 Places, 18 Starts
Career Earnings : R513,950

Hurricane Force is a graduate from the Summerhill draft of the 2007 Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale.

RACE RESULTS

#	LBH	Dr	Horse	Kg	MR	Jockey	Trainer
1	0.00	7	HURRICANE FORCE	56.5	93	A Marcus	Charles Laird
2	0.25	2	STRIKE PARADISE	60.0	100	G Figueroa	Dominic Zaki
3	2.00	5	PICADILLY MISS	58.5	97	S Khumalo	Grant Maroun
4	2.10	10	COOL SPENDER	55.5	91	P Strydom	Sean Tarry
5	2.01	6	CALL OF ANGELS	56.5	93	R Hill	St John Gray
6	2.40	8	OPENING NIGHT	56.0	92	M Van Rensberg	Clinton Binda
7	2.50	4	ARABIAN MIST	58.5	97	D David	Gary Alexander
8	4.75	12	EAST BEACH	52.0	87	*JP v’d Merve	Paul Matchett
9	5.50	11	FERCHARD	54.0	88	C Orffer	Clinton Binda
10	12.75	9	CARBON LEADER	55.5	91	S Brown	Alec Laird
11	19.00	3	TAP TAP	59.0	98	B Smith	Alec Laird
12	33.50	1	LET’S ROCK ‘N ROLL	60.0	100	M Mienie	Paul Matchett

For more information please visit :
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HURRICANE FORCE CAN BLOW THEM AWAY IN THE HAMPTON

Click above to watch Hurricane Force and Renegade
in the Computaform Express Pinnacle Stakes
(Footage : Tellytrack)

THE EMERALD FESTIVAL OF RACING

Jack Milner writes for the The Citizen that The Emerald Festival of Racing kicks off at the Vaal on Thursday with the Listed Hampton Handicap over 1000m. The two-day festival of racing on sand culminates on Saturday with the running of the R600,000 Emerald Cup over 1450m.

Trainer Charles Laird has been fully supportive of all the meetings on sand. His runners totally dominated the major meeting at Flamingo Park last month, when he captured both the Racing Association Mile and the Sprint with Crown Of Power and Cyber Case respectively.

Cyber Case was particularly impressive. He flew out of the stalls and went at a blistering pace, which he kept up relentlessly. At the line he was still 7.75 lengths clear of Special Award and won in a remarkable 56.38sec.

Despite that effortless victory, stable jockey Anton Marcus has chosen to ride stablemate, the 2007 Ready To Run graduate Hurricane Force, in the Hampton. The Muhtafal gelding has won three of his five starts over the course and distance and was an impressive 1.25-length winner over Emerald Cup runner Renegade last time out.

Marcus may also have been swayed by the 4.5kg penalty handed to Cyber Case for his Kimberley win, which sees him carry 57.5kg. Hurricane Force, meanwhile, has just 54.5kg to shoulder and that makes him most competitive.

Following a two-month rest from May until July, Hurricane Force was equipped with blinkers. His first start sporting the additional equipment was a disaster and resulted in his worst run on the sand. He was up with the pace and then stopped to a standstill and finished 7.50 lengths behind Bismarck.

While disappointing, that failure probably had more to do with his needing the run than the blinkers. Whatever was amiss swiftly vanished in his next start when Hurricane Force slammed Renegade.

Cyber Case would be an obvious choice for second, based on his Flamingo Park win, but the handicappers have made it impossible for him to beat Flintlock - on paper at least. Gary Alexander’s charge was an impressive winner of his only start on the Vaal sand, finishing 3.85 lengths ahead of Cyber Case.

Because Flintlock was penalised just 1kg for that win, Cyber Case now meets him on 3kg worse terms. That makes his task impossible and reduces out handicapping system to a farce. It begs the question: is it not time the handicappers stopped basing their decisions on races in isolation and start looking at the picture in its entirety?

Flintlock looked all at sea early in that race but took off late to win going away. On a line of form through Renegade, he should not beat Hurricane Force. Flintlock beat Renegade by a length in receipt of 3.5kg, while Hurricane Force beat Jan Breedt’s runner by 1.25 lengths, getting 3kg. As Flintlock has to give 4.5kg to the Charles Laird runner in this contest, he will need to improve to win.

Narc clearly needed the run when fading to finish 11.25 lengths behind Hurricane Force and should run a little better this time around. Piere Strydom has stuck with the ride, so he must have felt there would be some improvement to come.

Mike de Kock sends out Scarlet Letter, who will be having his first outing in 600 days. He is terribly unsound but is unbeaten in two runs at this track. Now seven, he shoulders just 52.5kg and if fit enough, could surprise.

The best outsider could be Dominic Zaki’s Big Commotion. On the surface there is little to recommend him but last year he finished second to Gold Game in the Sophomore 1000 on Emerald Cup day. “Willie’’ Figueroa takes the ride and Big Commotion could prove great eachway value.

HURRICANE FORCE and MPUMELELO : The Juvenile Scene... Two of the Best

The ink had hardly dried on our story concerning the three-year-olds, and the 2007 Ready to Run has produced two more exceptional juveniles. Last weekend HURRICANE FORCE made a magnificent debut against a powerful combination of winning juveniles at Randjiesfontein for Charles Laird, and on Thursday MPUMELELO (for Tyrone Zackey), followed up on his last start victory with a facile win against some of the best juveniles on the Rand.

No doubt the Group One Festival of Speed, and specifically the Golden Medallion (Gr1), South Africa’s equivalent of England’s Middle Park Stakes and Australia’s Golden Slipper, beckons for these two speed merchants.

STEINHOFF DAY : The Ready to Run Throws up Another Pearler

Watchers of Sunday’s Steinhoff Family Fun Day were treated to some rivetingly competitive racing. By definition, competitive means close, so anything that deviates from that approaches the exceptional. The Steinhoff fifth race witnessed exactly that, an exception, as Ready to Run graduate TAP TAP, bred here in partnership with Australian-based Dr Barry Clements, and American-based Robert Lynch, cruised home for Alec Laird and Johnny Geroudis, under a hands-and-heels ride for a remarkable fourth victory at the meeting for Greig Blank. What is it that Greig has touched suddenly, that’s turned him into a regular television feature in recent months? In business he’s always been known to possess the “Midas touch”, but with this and the explosive Pointing North, he’s come seriously well in the racing game.

As impressive as TAP TAP was, there’s nothing quite as exciting as a new and very serious juvenile prospect, and appropriately as it was Steinhoff day, it was Charles Laird and Markus Jooste that lifted the lid off HURRICANE FORCE.

This fellow took on an extremely competitive Two Year Old field on his racing debut, including, in the same combination, Australian-bred daughter of the new sire sensation, EXCEED AND EXCEL, herself a very fluent winner of her debut effort.

Slowly away on a lightening fast track, HURRICANE FORCE was last in the early stages, so it took the cool judgment of a class act like Anton Marcus to steer him home by an increasing 2 ½ lengths, with no sign of the stick.

Charles Laird is excited about this one, more so than usual, and that’s some kind of compliment to a horse that stands out in a star-studded firmament of 2008 juveniles.

He goes next to the Golden Medallion (Group One).

CLASSIC DAY AT TURFFONTEIN : Summerhill connections to feature

Emperor Napoleon (Gold Circle)Summerhill connections will be out in force, with more than R3.5 million up for grabs on Classic Day at Turffontein on 5 April 2008, with the running of five feature races, three of them Grade 1 events.

The SA Classic, SA Fillies Classic and the Horse Chestnut Stakes are the three Grade 1 features and they are supported by the Protea Stakes and Pretty Polly Stakes, both over 1100m, for two-year-olds. All races will take place on the standside track.

Topping the card is the R1.2 million SA Classic for three-year-olds over 1800m. Here the nominations are dominated by three trainers – Charles Laird, Mike de Kock and Geoff Woodruff. Charles Laird and Mike de  Kock have entered five runners apiece while Geoff Woodruff has named four.

Leading the Charles Laird quintet is Causation, who surprised his connections with a facile victory at Turffontein on Saturday after failing in two races at Kenilworth. The Australian-bred Giant Causeway colt was having a prep run for this race and will even get better following Saturday’s win over the course and distance.

The other Charles Laird nominations are Solar Symbol, Smart Banker, Eight Street and Cashel.

Hamlool suffered a setback after running third in the Dingaans and was a little underdone when contesting the Gauteng Guineas. That run will have brought him on and Mike De Kock has always said this race was his mission.

Mike de Kock’s other entries are Gauteng Guineas winner Imbongi, Rudra, Art Of War and Galant Gagnant.

Geoff Woodruff has entered Kingdom Come, Aluminium, Awesome Double and Full Power while Sean Tarry has Kilcoy Castle and Horatio, both of whom placed in the Gauteng Guineas.

Also among the nominations are Dingaans winner and runner-up, Lion’s Blood and Eddington respectively, while Alec Laird has entered Thundering Jet, who has only recently arrived from Cape Town.

SA Fillies Guineas winner Glenrossal is among the 17 nominations for the R1-million SA Fillies Classic over 1880m. But Dianne Stenger’s filly could face a strong challenge from Mike de Kock’s Gilded Minaretand Urabamba, who was a fast-finishing second in the Guineas.

Geoff Woodruff will be looking for a good run from Moneycantbuymelove while Charles Laird will be hoping for an improved performance from Acoustical and Blue Swift.

Mike de Kock trained Horse Chestnut and he would no doubt like to see Emperor Napoleon take the lion’s share of the R1 million stake of the race named for the former champion. His main opposition in the Horse Chestnut Stakes over 1600m, should they all accept, will come from Sean Tarry’s Succesful Bidder and Charles Laird’s Our Giantand Hunting Tower.

Supplementary entries for all the races close at 11am on Wednesday 19 March after which the weights and barrier draws will be published. Final declarations are by 11am on Thursday 27 March 2008.

NOMINATIONS for the S A CLASSIC (Grade 1)
(For 3 year olds) R1200000 1800m
ALUMINIUM (G V Woodruff)
ART OF WAR (KAHAL ex CARIAD) (M F De Kock)
AWESOME DOUBLE (G V Woodruff)
CASHEL (C Laird)
CAUSATION (C Laird)
CLOSE AS OAK (R R Magner)
EDDINGTON (D Zaki)
EIGHT STREET (C Laird)
FULL POWER (G V Woodruff)
GALANT GAGNANT (KAHAL ex DERNIERE DANSE) (M F De Kock)
HAMLOOL (M F De Kock)
HORATIO (S G Tarry)
IMBONGI (RUSSIAN REVIVAL ex GARDEN VERSE) (M F De Kock)
KILCOY CASTLE (S G Tarry)
KINGDOM COME (G V Woodruff)
KINGS GAMBIT (L Wiid)
LION’S BLOOD (T Zackey)
LUBRICATOR (W H Marwing)
QUICKSAND (S J Gray)
RUDRA (M F De Kock)
SMART BANKER (C Laird)
SOLAR SYMBOL (C Laird)
THUNDERING JET (A G Laird)

S A FILLIES CLASSIC (Grade 1)
(3 year old Fillies) R1000000 1800m
ACOUSTICAL (C Laird)
ALBIZIA (G V Woodruff)
ALPINE CLUB (M F De Kock)
BLUE SWIFT (C Laird)
CAPE TANGO (KAHAL ex CITI DANCER) (M F De Kock)
CLEOME (MUHTAFAL ex POPPY) (M F De Kock)
CUIR DE RUSSIE (C Laird)
FLIGHT QUEEN (D R Drier)
GILDED MINARET (M F De Kock)
GLENROSSAL (D N Stenger)
GRANDALEA (WGC Miller)
LASER FAN (G H Van Zyl)
MAT GOLD (P F Matchett)
MISS TURBULENCE (W H Marwing)
MONEYCANTBUYMELOVE (G V Woodruff)
NESTING CALL (S J Gray)
URABAMBA (R R Sage)

HORSE CHESTNUT STAKES (Grade 1)
(Weight for Age) R1000000 1600m
BRAGGADACIO (M F De Kock)
BUSCADOR (G V Woodruff)
CATMANDU (MAKAAREM ex GYPSEY SPIRIT) (A Kirsten)
CENTAUR (M F De Kock)
DYNAMITE MIKE (FARD ex BEYOND THE CALL) (M G Azzie)
EMPEROR NAPOLEON (KAHAL ex ELLINORE) (M F De Kock)
FORK LIGHTENING (RAMBO DANCER ex DANCING FIRELIGHT) (S G Tarry)
HUNTING TOWER (C Laird)
JAROSLAW (C Spies)
LIGHT SPECTRUM (D R Drier)
MENTOR (D Zaki)
OUR GIANT (C Laird)
PICK SIX (RAMBO DANCER ex CHOICE FIELD) (C Laird)
PRESIDENTIAL JET (G V Woodruff)
SHE’S ON FIRE (O A Ferraris)
SINGING SWORD (T Zackey)
ST RAPHAEL (D C Howells)
STRATEGIC NEWS (D Cunha)
STRATOS (M G Azzie)
SUCCESFUL BIDDER (S G Tarry)

PROTEA STAKES (Grade 3)
(2 year olds) R200000 1100m
BIG COMMOTION (D Zaki)
CERISE CHERRY (P F Matchett)
DAL PIERO (J A Soma)
DANVIDA (C Spies)
DINNER FOR ONE (A G Laird)
GOLDEN WEB (SLEW THE RED ex FACINATION) (M G Azzie)
HURRICANE FORCE (MUHTAFAL ex BAHAMA PALMS) (C Laird)
JET JUNGLE (T Lowe)
JUDGE JONATHAN (O A Ferraris)
MASTER OF ALL (A G Laird)
MOUNT HOOD (P F Matchett)
NORWEGIAN WOOD (O A Ferraris)
OMERTA (R R Magner)
PRIVATEER (C Spies)
QUI HARBOUR (P F Matchett)
SEALED WITH A KISS (W H Marwing)
SECRET LIFE (P F Matchett)
SUPERLATIVE (C Laird)
WAR OF CONQUEST (A G Laird)
WARM WHITE NIGHT (C Laird)

PRETTY POLLY STAKES (Grade 3)
(2 year old fillies) R165000 1100m
ANGEL OF FIRE (O A Ferraris)
ASIAN LECTURE (C Spies)
BIG SMILE (L Lotz)
CRIMSON LADY (A G Laird)
DRAGON LILY (C Laird)
FAKAZI (ALBARAHIN ex PARTICULAR PASSION) (P F Matchett)
MERLENE DE LAGO (C Laird)
MOTIVATION (C Spies)
ON HER TOES (M G Azzie)
ON THE BLUFF (D Zaki)
SUBTLE BEAUTY (G W Anthony)
SWEET THERESA (O A Ferraris)
TAHITIAN PEARL (C Spies)
THEKKADY (NATIONAL EMBLEM ex VERVE CLIQUOT) (M G Azzie)
ZIRCONEUM (M F De Kock)

Extract from SA Horseracing.com