SANSUI AND THE SIZZLING SUMMER CUP

THE SANSUI SUMMER CUP (Grade 1)
Turffontein, Turf, 2000m
26 November 2011

Along with the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup, the Sansui Summer Cup is the joint third richest race on the South African calendar. It is topped only by the Vodacom Durban July and the J&B Met, and while these two might hold the upper hand in terms of value, neither is any richer when it comes to tradition. Contested in the heart of Africa’s biggest commercial city, Johannesburg, the Summer Cup was born out of history’s most famous gold rush, and it has spawned some of the greatest racers our sport has known. Its reputation as a legend-maker is matched only by it’s storied connection with some of the most stirring political events of our times, the most bizarre of which was the postponement of the infamous Jameson Raid by a week, to avoid that calamity clashing with the staging of the 1895 edition of the race. You see, the raid was inspired by the most powerful Randlords of their time, Cecil John Rhodes and Sir Alfred Beit (with Sir Abe Bailey and Henry Nourse in the wings), and most of them either had horses competing, or were stewards of the Johannesburg Turf Club. Here was an attempted coup d’etat aimed the military overthrow of Paul Kruger’s Transvaal Republic, and it’s argued by more than one student of the politics of the era, that the week’s delay occasioned the leaking of news of the intended raid, hence the fiasco it turned out to be.

Time was that when the Summer Cup (or Handicap, as it was in it’s earliest manifestation) overtook all sporting events in prestige and prize money, when it was contested under the guise of The Holiday Inns, worth R100,000. While there’ve been any number of fabled winners of the “Summer” since its first running in 1887, it’s arguable that among its most fabled sons included were the great Java, Home Guard and Elevation, who won it three times in a row under top weight, with the tragically talented Martin Schoeman in the irons. Elevation was to become one of the most successful South African-bred stallions of his era, eventually aspiring to the status of champion of the nation.

From a Summerhill perspective, we haven’t held a better hand in the event since Pick Six led home a farm exacta in 2008 from the enigmatic millionaire, Emperor Napoleon, under the unlikely name “Gomma Gomma”, the race once more boasted the biggest purse of R3million. The class of the race in 2011 is undoubtedly rags-to-riches hero, Pierre Jourdan, who’s been set the unimaginable task of shouldering 60kgs (yes, 132 pounds or 9st 6lbs as they used to say in the old days), from draw 19, which is akin to starting in Loveday Street with the rest of the field lining up in Eloff Street. He’s in good shape though, and he’s unbeaten this term, following an inspiring effort in the Vodacom Durban July, where only Horse Of The Year, Igugu, was good enough to shade him.

Besides, his trainer seems to have something up his sleeve. As he did when PJ was plundering the Classics as a three-year-old, he looks to have a joyous premonition. As he did then, Gary Alexander wears a beatific smile, as though he knows something others don’t.

We have two other strings to our bow, though we’d have to admit to a suspicion that there must be something of a conspiracy up there among the gods who organised the draw. The runaway victor in last week’s Victory Moon Stakes, Smanjemanje, has not only ended up at draw 13, but he’s been penalised six pounds for his dominant effort in that outing. The question is, was the difference the cornel collar made to his breathing apparatus, such that it raised his game five or six lengths? If so, he’s a runner. He couldn’t be in better shape for this, the biggest assignment of his life, but coping with the additional impost and a draw beyond 10 might be decisive.

Finally, we come to Black Wing, who must be in with a proper shout if the form of the Daily News 2000 (Gr1) has anything to do with the outcome, particularly as he now goes to post in blinkers. The likely favourite for Saturday’s big event, The Apache, was the hero of that championship three-year-old contest, and here Black Wing is 3,5 kgs better off with that one for a beating of less than a length.

At the weights, that’s enough to turn the tables, but the question is, can he overcome his 14 draw, as well as his ride from sea level to 6000 feet, and still get the toughest 2000m in racing? The 800m Turffontein straight is murderous, and its victims include some of the best stayers of their generations. Yet there is something about distance, and what it demands of man and his horses, which separates it from the shorter stuff. It gives a fresh dimension to Geoffrey Blaney’s theory about the tyranny of distance. There is a charm involved. It allows you to hang on to your myths.

Whichever way you look at it, the farm holds a decent hand, and our runners are ready to play it.

At the human level, we still have to overcome the hurdle on Friday of a pre-race party at Mike and Diane de Kock’s Dainfern Estate, where the trimmings and the trappings of several seasons of high plunder in the desert sands of Dubai, are gloriously evident.

For more information, please visit :

www.sansuisummercup.co.za

SOUTH AFRICA'S RACING GRAND SLAM

Please click above to watch a little Durban July history.
The presentation can be paused at any point using the navigation controls, bottom left.
It can be viewed full-screen by clicking the view button, bottom right.

(Photos : Summerhill Stud Archive)

A NEW THOROUGHBRED BREEDERS ASSOCIATION INITIATIVE

The term “Grand Slam” evokes all sorts of emotions, particularly when it’s applied to golf, tennis and northern hemisphere international rugby tours. There is another context though, in which South African racing sees it, and a new initiative by the Thoroughbred Breeders Association of South Africa, intends to bring racing’s Grand Slam back to life.

What is meant by racing’s grand slam? Well firstly, there’s never been an official identification of the events, but under the direction of its chairman, Altus Joubert and through the enterprise of Alan Roux, they’ve identified the three big “majors”, the Vodacom Durban July, the J&B Met and the Sansui Summer Cup as the jewels in the crown. How many people; owners, trainers or jockeys, how many horses and stallions have ever achieved victory in all three. For starters, no one horse has ever done so, which is almost understandable when you recall the fact that they’re up to 1000 miles apart, in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg, two of them are run at sea level and one at almost 6000 ft.

Only four trainers have ever been there, Syd Garrett, Terrance Millard, Syd Laird and Mike de Kock. The mere mention of their names helps to understand why. In the post-war era, the progeny of only two stallions, both of them champions, Royal Prerogative and Foveros, have achieved the grand slam, though obviously through different horses. Just one other pre World War II stallion, the French-bred Cape Metropolitan winner, Asbestos II, did it through his sons Feltos (Met & Summer Cup) and Pat Goss’ diminutive St Pauls (the Durban July). In the modern era, all of Silvano, Fort Wood and Jet Master have two legs under their belts, and it’s a fair bet one or more of them will achieve the grand slam in the not too distant future.

The breeders are another story. Thirty four grand slam victories for the Birch Brothers is an astounding achievement, even considering there were three different farms between them, with an awful lot of mares. No wonder they dominated the Breeders Championship for so many decades. Old man Nourse, who won his first July in the early 1900’s with Nobleman, bred nine grand slam winners, while the Koster Brothers between them have seven. You might well ask how we’ve done. The old Hartford produced three Summer Handicap winners (read Summer Cup), a July winner in Mowgli, the only race of any importance on the calendar to elude them, being the Metropolitan. We put that right when we came here, with two horses off Summerhill; La Fabulous and Angus taking the J&B Met, Luke Bales’ Dancing Duel was a July winner born on the farm, and Pick Six and Emperor Napoleon “exacta-ed” the Summer Cup.

The history books tell us this is as tough as grand slams get, and it’s worth working for. Salutations to Alan Roux, Altus Joubert, Robin Bruss and everyone else behind the project.

MICHAEL BOOYSEN'S 2010 READY TO RUN SELECTIONS

 

Click above to watch Michael sharing his selections…

LOT 42 SAUCY SAVANNAH (KAHAL - CHOICE FIELD)
(FILLY) BY THE SIRE OF SPICED GOLD, NOBLE HEIR AND FISANI. SISTER TO PICK SIX (6 WINS INC GOMMAGOMMA CHALLENGE G1, 2ND INVESTEC CAPE DERBY G1 & 3RD SA CLASSIC G1). FAMILY OF BRIDAL PATHS (3 WINS INC THEKWINI FILLIES S G2, 3RD GOLDEN SLIPPER G2 & 4TH CAPE FILLIES GUINEAS G1), NATIONAL ICON (WINNER IN SA AND 2 WINS IN UAE INC 4TH GOLDEN HORSESHOE G2).

LOT 7 TADITAH (SOLSKJAER - TRISTRAMS FROLIC)
(FILLY) BY GROUP WINNING SON OF DANEHILL, SOLSKJAER. SISTER TO ALEJATE (7 WINS INC RIVIERA HANDICAP L & 2ND FLAMBOYANT STAKES G3). GRANDAM FRISKY (8 WINS INC REVLON CHARLIE FILLIES HANDICAP G2). FROM THE INTERNATIONAL FAMILY OF ALL SHOT (21 WINS INC TOORAK HANDICAP G1 & ALL AGED STAKES G1), TERESHKOVA (3 WINS INC TE RAPA HANDICAP L) & TORRID (9 WINS INC JOHN WELLS HANDICAP L).

Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale
Sunday 7 November 2010

For more information please visit :

www.tba.co.za
and
www.summerhill.co.za

MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

Please click above to view foal photos

We’ve had our problems this season, as most people know, with an invasion of one of our early foaling groups by one of the most horrid of interventions, the Herpes abortion virus. We’ve always counted ourselves fortunate at Summerhill having escaped this plague, but it seems as if none of us are immune. Decisive action, innovative management and early intervention appear to have won the day, and the arrival of ten perfectly healthy, quite normal foals signals the beginning of normality.

Among the arrivals is a Kahal sister to the unbeaten juvenile heroine of the Golden Slipper (Gr.1), Bridal Paths, a close relative to the Gomma Gomma ace (Gr.1), Pick Six; a Mullins Bay sister to the Eastern Cape star, Vangelis; a Solskjaer half brother to Jay Peg’s vanquisher, Dynamite Mike in the new equivalent of the old SA Guineas (Gr.1); and two outstanding first crop produce of Timeform’s Champion Handicapper, Stronghold, one from the Group winner, Hot Reception, and the other for the internationally famous Hong Kong Breeder’s Club.

Of course, we’ve come to expect good foals from the likes of Kahal and Muhtafal, tried and tested as they are, but there’s real fizz in the quality we’re seeing from Mullins Bay and Stronghold, whose first progeny are arriving as we write.

NOTES FROM MAURITIUS

There was a time when this Indian Ocean paradise was part of our annual calendar, when Cheryl and I ventured here each year as honoured guests for the fourth leg of the local Classic, the Duchess of York Cup (every year in October). Those were the days my friends, pioneering times, when I was the Thoroughbred Breeder’s Association of South Africa’s committee man for marketing. We traversed the world, trawling for customers and trade, and when we netted our haul of foreign owners for South Africa, and for Summerhill what has become one of the most famous relationships (if not the most unlikely), in racing. That, of course, was the arrival of Dubai’s Rulers, the Sheikhs Maktoum, which not only changed our lives, but our entire racing landscape.

But now we speak of Mauritius, and specifically Mauritian racing, home to the oldest racing club in the Southern hemisphere, and the second oldest on earth, at the Champ de Mars, the 1400 metre circuit which lies, rather remarkably, in the epicentre of the capital Port Louis, they celebrate their bi-centenary in 2012. Two hundred years of the most exciting racing in the world. To look at it, you’d never believe that almost every Saturday they close the gates on just about 25,000 souls. The grandstand and the parade ring, which resemble a Mediterranean apartment block with its shutters and trailing geraniums, disgorges racing fans in frenzied thousands, and the in-field is transformed from a mid-week open lot, capable of holding virtually the entire Mauritian auto population, into a seething mass of worshippers, line upon line of bookmakers, and capable of an eruption in the face of a tight finish to rival Mount Etna.

Here the names of Shane Dye, Glen Hatt and Jeff Lloyd command hushed tones, while the names Henry, Rousset, Mainguard, Maigrot and Gudjadhar, among trainers, have been around almost as long as the bricks in the grandstand.

On parade we are reunited with some old war horses. Pick Six, hero of the Gomma Gomma and a multi millionaire back home, and Galant Gagnant, who last year came within a whisker of spoiling Russian Sage’s party in the Daily News 2000 (Gr1).

At Hughes Maigrot’s Floreal base, Cheryl and I catch up, literally, with Catchadane, in whom Summerhill retains a tiny share, and the erstwhile Andrew Yuen-owned Basil Marcus-trained, Governator, whose spectacularly white coat and drop-dead good looks guarantee him a post-racing home at an upmarket livery yard. Another ex-Summerhill and Maigrot graduate, who’s found fame in later life, is the blaze-faced chestnut, Epoch, at one time looking like a Horse of the Year candidate and now a contender for Jumper of the Year.

It’s a long while since I retired from TBA stewardship, and our last visit was more than 10 years ago. Two things have happened since then. The Mauritian government has understood, as well as any government, the value of tourism, to the degree that the road network has been immeasurably improved, and the villages, as quaint as any, are pristinely clean, bustling with charming, hardworking people. Looking at Mauritius, there is undoubtedly hope for Africa.

The other thing is the time value of their money. In the early 90’s we used to sell our horses, somewhat desperately, on a contingency, which meant that you got paid in tranches and only then when your horse won! In 1995, we came here and spent most of a balance in the bank, leaving a residue of just Rps10,000 behind. Untouched since then, we returned to find it now worth Rps33,000, thanks to the stewardship of Alain Tennant, an old friend and one-time MTC steward.

Which just goes to show, Warren Buffett was right when he spoke about the compound value of money.

Not that it goes an awful long way these days. We’re staying, courtesy of their old fashioned form of open generosity, at the cottage of the brothers Nairac, Edouard, a congenial Summerhill stalwart of many years, and Daniel, an Oxford-educated gentleman who applied his intelligence to the service of Anglo American and the E.U. in Brussels.

As charming a “bungalow”, as they’re known here, as you’ll find anywhere, the fishermen still rock up mid-morning on their bikes (though of the motorised variety these days), offering a choice of lobster, crab, prawns or fresh fish, caught this morning, and devoured naturally, this evening. This is where the Rupees don’t go an awfully long way. As a tourist, expect to pay in the order of R200 – R250 for a lobster and around R350 for a kilo of prawns. But then look out at where you’re sitting and try them just once, and you’ll thank the stars you once sold a son of Northern Guest (by name Stormy Sky, which is appropriate for July in Mauritius) on a contingency.

It doesn’t get much better!