LIP'S TIPS FOR THE SA FILLIES CLASSIC

Igugu
(Photo : JC Photos / Summerhill Stud)

MATTHEW LIPS
“The Oracle Speaks”

You have to give it to the Sporting Post, and especially to the man they call “The Oracle”, Matthew Lips. He knows his stuff, and his columns are fascinating.

In this instance, we like him even a little more, for the fact that for tomorrow’s Grade One SA Fillies Classic, his first three choices are all companions who grew up in the Summerhill paddocks. His choices, in order, were Igugu (a R1million graduate of the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale,) Hollywoodboulevard (a R950,000 purchase at the same venue,) and Checcetti (a R320,000 purchase, and a comparative bargain, at the same sale). Unfortunately for us, (as we own a minority interest in Checcetti,) she scratched on Thursday with a viral ailment which hopefully won’t derail her aspirations for the SA Oaks at the end of April.

Mike de Kock has always believed that Checcetti is an Oaks filly, and that has always been her mission, whereas for Saturday, it looks like a straight fight between two of the best fillies the Highveld has seen in some years. Racegoers have been looking forward with justifiable relish to the clash during the Champions season in KwaZulu-Natal between Igugu, Hollywoodboulevard and the Cape champion, Ebony Flyer, and while it looks as though that eventuality remains on course for Igugu and Ebony Flyer, it seems Hollywoodboulevard is to be rested after the Classic and sent to the Cape for their summer season.

As we read it, the long term goal for Team Valor and Anant and Vanashree Singh’s Ebony Flyer is next year’s international version of the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate, while Mike de Kock holds international ambitions for Igugu after an engagement in the Vodacom Durban July.

Meanwhile though, the Fillies Classic, could turn out to be the weekend’s pressure cooker, never mind what’s going on in India right now.

The colt’s version has a deeper look to it, occasioned in all probability by the fact that there is a more open look to the field. Unlike the Fillies Classic, where the two principal protagonists have probably frightened away most others, there are a number of trainers who will fancy their chances against Link Man and Perana over the extra 200 metres for the R2million prize, where there’s added spice in the presence of Vaughan Marshall’s Cape Derby winner, Top Seller, and Charles Laird’s Galileo’s Destiny, who will love every inch of the additional distance. That said, you can’t discard the chances of the two Western Winter colts, Snowdon and Dark Wind, while Sean Tarry has last season’s Grade One winning juvenile, Gold Onyx engaged.

It’s a compliment to the quality of horses produced on this property, that there are some fourteen entries in the five Graded Stakes races with connections with either the farm or its stallions, or both.

DUBAI OR JOBURG, EITHER WAY IT'S DE KOCK

Mike de Kock and Charles Laird
(Image : Heather Morkel / Kayleigh Leisegang / SA AlaCarte)

GAUTENG COLTS AND FILLIES GUINEAS
Turffontein, 26 February 2011

The unstoppable Mike de Kock train demolishing everything in its way in Dubai, erupts back into action at Turffontein Saturday with the running of the Gauteng Colts and Fillies Guineas. Followers of these columns will recall that Summerhill-breds have made the colt’s guineas something of a monopoly in the past two seasons, with first Imbongi taking the 2009 version, and Pierre Jourdan leading Havasha in a one-two last year. Astonishingly, the 2010 Fillies Guineas fell to yet another Summerhill Ready To Run graduate in Fisani on the same day, de Kock having been associated with three of the four protagonists, Imbongi, Havasha and Fisani.

In the Fillies guineas on Saturday, he has another very powerful hand in the R1million graduate of the Summerhill draft at the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale, in Igugu, an extremely talented daughter of the world’s best stallion of 2010, Galileo. Her principal opposition comes from another yard which has known great success over the years through its association with Summerhill in the likes of champions Nhlavini and Rebel King. Charles Laird saddles the outstanding Hollywoodboulevard for Markus and Ingrid Jooste, and as the winner of her last four in a row, including a victory over Igugu in the R1,5 million Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup, this Ready To Run product is likely to make things decidedly tough for the de Kock inmate. While we’ve made this out to be something of a two-way struggle, (and it would be surprising if it wasn’t), the group one winning daughter of Europe’s new sire sensation, Dubawi, the Sean Tarry-trained Happy Archer is already a Group One winner, while Without Malice and Welwitschia could make something of a race of it.

In the Colts Guineas, Summerhill, for the first time in some years, is without representation, but once again, it looks like a de Kock/Laird battle for the ages. Laird goes in singularly with Galileo’s Destiny, while de Kock’s punch will come from the Rock Of Gibraltar colt, Perana, and the two in-form South Africans, Kavanagh and Link Man.

J&B MET : QUALIFYING LOG AS AT 11 JANUARY 2011

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

R2,500,000 J&B MET (Grade 1)
Kenilworth, Turf, 2000m
29 January 2011

#	Horse	Age	Sex	MR	Trainer
1	MOTHER RUSSIA	5	Mare	111	Mike de Kock
2	TALES OF BRAVERY	4	Gelding	111	Vaughan Marshall
3	POCKET POWER	8	Gelding	117	Mike Bass
4	EBONY FLYER	3	Filly	107	Justin Snaith
5	SOLO TRAVELLER	3	Colt	104	Justin Snaith
6	RUN FOR IT	3	Colt	95	Justin Snaith
7	FLIRTATION	4	Filly	104	Mike de Kock
8	BRAVURA	4	Gelding	110	Joey Ramsden
9	PERANA (AUS)	3	Colt	102	Mike de Kock
10	RUDRA	6	Gelding	109	Mike de Kock
11	PAST MASTER	4	Gelding	103	Darryl Hodgson
12	TROPICAL EMPIRE (AUS)	8	Colt	116	Duncan Howells
13	EARL OF SURREY (ZIM)	7	Gelding	116	Geoff Woodruff
14	FORT VOGUE	5	Gelding	105	Mike Bass
15	RUSHING WIND	5	Gelding	104	Mike Bass
16	LION IN WINTER	4	Gelding	105	Joey Ramsden
17	PADDY O’REILLY	4	Gelding	99	Glen Kotzen
18	CASK	4	Gelding	100	Stephen Page
19	IN WRITING (ARG)	5	Gelding	97	Dean Kannemeyer
20	IMPERIOUS STAR	4	Filly	102	Glen Kotzen
21	FABIANI	5	Gelding	105	Glen Kotzen
22	M’LORDS THROAT	3	Colt	96	Glen Kotzen
23	WINTER’S NIGHT	4	Gelding	102	Neil Bruss
24	HAWK’S EYE (GB)	5	Gelding	103	Joey Ramsden
25	SUPER STORM	4	Gelding	99	Mike Bass
26	LAST REGAL	4	Gelding	104	Dean Kannemeyer
27	ALUMINIUM (ARG)	6	Gelding	101	Geoff Woodruff
28	ARABIAN EMPIRE (AUS)	3	Colt	81	Glen Kotzen
29	CASTLETHORPE (AUS)	3	Colt	101	Mike Bass
30	CELTIC FIRE	4	Gelding	102	Yvette Bremner
31	CRACKER JACK	4	Gelding	103	Geoff Woodruff
32	FORT PETERSBURG	4	Gelding	97	Geoff Woodruff
33	FROZEN FIRE (GER)	6	Colt	109	Mike de Kock
34	HARBOUR STREET (AUS)	4	Gelding	84	Geoff Woodruff
35	RUSSIAN SAGE	6	Colt	102	Justin Snaith
36	JET TRAIL	4	Filly	96	Alec Laird
37	QUEEN MIRA	4	Filly	93	Geoff Woodruff
38	QUICK SINGLE	4	Filly	97	Geoff Woodruff
39	SALUKI (GB)	5	Gelding	95	Stephen Page
40	ZIRCONEUM	5	Mare	102	Mike de Kock

Figures courtesy of Gold Circle - Correct as at 11 January 2011

www.jbmet.co.za

MIKE RATTRAY : THE CHESHIRE CAT

Solo Traveller - Bloodstock SA Cape Guineas (Gr1)
(Photo : Gold Circle)

BLOODSTOCK SA CAPE GUINEAS (Grade 1)

One man who’s grinning from ear to ear this week is Mike Rattray. The man who brought the Santa Gertrudis cattle breed to South Africa, founded Mala Mala game reserve and imported multiple champion sire Western Winter, has no need to bother where his next stallion is coming from. In the R1million Bloodstock SA Cape Guineas (Gr.1) on Saturday, his Solo Traveller (son of Western Winter) went to the top of the Three-Year-Old class with a famous victory over a deep entry of sophomores, including his principal Cape rival, What A Winter (also Western Winter), and Mike de Kock’s pair of Perana (Rock Of Gibraltar) and Kavanagh (Tiger Ridge).

Whether this lot will measure up to last year’s remains to be seen, but if Robert Bloomberg’s prophecy is correct, there’s depth to the crop, as the first five or six finished within a couple of lengths of each other.

One thing’s for sure, the race was a triumph for Justin Snaith and his team. Not only were they first and second across the line, but they earlier won the Fillies’ version, and it seems from Justin’s comments, that there are big things in store for Solo Traveller. It’s conceivable he will go the route that put Horse Chestnut on the map, and toss his ticket into the sweep for the J&B Met at the end of January. The trip shouldn’t be a problem, given that his dam is a daughter of the former champion sire Jallad, and comes from a family with no shortage of stamina. Western Winter gets them to go from 1000m t0 3200m.

SOLO TRAVELLER : BLOODSTOCK SA CAPE GUINEAS (GR1)

Click above to watch Solo Traveller winning the Bloodstock SA Cape Guineas…
(Photo : Gold Circle - Footage : Tellytrack)

BLOODSTOCK SA CAPE GUINEAS (Grade 1)
Kenilworth Turf 1600m
For all 3-year-old horses
18 December 2010

David Thiselton
www.goldcircle.co.zaSolo Traveller became the first progeny of former champion sire Western Winter to win the Bloodstock SA Cape Guineas at Kenilworth on Saturday and the race was a triumph for Mike Rattray’s Lammerskraal Stud but even more so for trainer Justin Snaith and jockey Bernard Fayd’Herbe.

Justin Snaith and Bernard Fayd’Herbe claimed a Cape Guineas double, having won the fillies’ version two weeks ago with the exciting Ebony Flyer. Snaith nearly achieved the same three years ago with filly winner Captain’s Lover and colt runner up Russian Sage, but this was in fact his first triumph in the male version of the race. He made sure of it, claiming a one-two as his Dynasty colt Run For It finished strongly for second. The last trainer to do the Guineas double was the maestro Terrance Millard whose filly Star Effort won both races twenty seasons ago in the 1990/1991 season.

Lammerskraal Stud’s Sally Jordaan was thrilled with the victory. She and Mike Rattray choose only a couple of colts from each crop to race themselves every season so it is highly rewarding when they get it right as they have with Solo Traveller.

Fayd’Herbe had to ride Solo Traveller very strongly in the closing stages, but the horse responded by hitting another gear and his long stride took him through a gap and past Kavanagh. Fayd’Herbe said that the tougher the circumstances the better Solo Traveller liked it. He added that Solo Traveller was still “underdone” so should come on for the run. Solo Traveller is a full-brother to Strawberry Ice who finished second in last season’s KRA Fillies Guineas and was never tried beyond a mile. However, his relaxed demeanour in the running coupled with his long stride and tough character will give him every chance of staying the 2000m of the J&B Met. Furthermore his second dam Taineberry won the Grade 2 Natal Oaks over 2400m. Snaith intimated that Solo Traveller would go for the Met as he felt this season’s three-year-old crop were strong particularly in relation to the older horses still left in the country.

Run For It, who did not have a clear path in the Selangor, relished the longer straight not to mention the skill of Felix Coetzee. He had to be switched around the front bunch to get a run, but it is unlikely he would have beaten Solo Traveller with a straighter path as the latter ran all the way to the line and probably would have found extra if challenged. Snaith intimated that Run For it would be aimed at the Grade 1 Cape Derby over 2000m on J&B Met day. Run For It does have a Vodacom Durban July look about him.

Mike de Kock must have been disappointed once again with Kavanagh, whom he rates highly. Kavanagh quickened very well into the lead, but could not stave off the challengers in the final 100m for the third time in his short career to date. There is no way that jockey Johnny Geroudis could have waited any longer with him as he was behind King Fahiem who had begun to fade. Perana ran a fine race, staying on well. He will be a big runner in the Grade 1 Cape Derby or J&B Met, whichever one he targets, as he clearly needs further. Il Saggiatore also caught the eye as a Cape Derby prospect. He lost two lengths at the start and turned for home last, but was finishing very strongly and was just 2,6 lengths back at the line. Fifth-placed M’Lords Throat ran an excellent race considering he had to come from a very wide draw. He fought on courageously for a long time in the straight from his handy position. Many will say that the race proved that What A Winter, who finished a 2,35 length sixth, didn’t stay. However, he was firstly caught three wide, secondly had to come from a long way back and thirdly appeared to be running on perfectly well until the whip was drawn. He then appeared to become unbalanced and lugged in.

FINAL RESULT

#	LBH	Horse	Kg	MR	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	0.00	SOLO TRAVELLER	58.0	104	3	B Fayd’Herbe	Justin Snaith
2	0.25	RUN FOR IT	58.0	95	1	F Coetzee	Justin Snaith
3	0.35	KAVANAGH	58.0	104	2	J Geroudis	Mike de Kock
4	0.60	PERANA (AUS)	58.0	102	12	K Shea	Mike de Kock
5	2.10	M’LORDS THROAT	58.0	96	14	G Schlechter	Glen Kotzen
6	2.35	WHAT A WINTER	58.0	109	9	K Neisius	Mike Bass
7	2.60	IL SAGGIATORE (AUS)	58.0	98	7	G Hatt	Joey Ramsden
8	3.10	GREEN KEEPER	58.0	92	6	W Agrella	Justin Snaith
9	3.35	TOP SELLER	58.0	101	11	M Byleveld	Vaughan Marshall
10	3.60	CASTLETHORPE (AUS)	58.0	101	4	A Marcus	Mike Bass
11	5.85	WOLF ON THE FOLD	58.0	93	8	R Fourie	Brett Crawford
12	9.10	COPPER PARADE	58.0	104	5	K Teetan	Joey Ramsden
13	11.85	LUCKY MOON	58.0	93	13	C Segeon	Joey Ramsden
14	11.95	KING FAHIEM	58.0	93	10	M Latorre	Glen Kotzen
15	15.20	BRILLIANT CUT	58.0	97	15	*A Domeyer	Vaughan Marshall