CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - FEBRUARY 25: See It Again beats Charles Dickens, in the middle, to win the Slashout Cape Derby during the SplashOut Cape Town Seafood & Jazz Racing Festival at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on February 25, 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Peter Heeger/Gallo Images)
Picking out one highlight after a brilliant weekend’s racing in South Africa is no easy task.
There were:
• The dominant form of leading jockeys Craig Zackey and Richard Fourie, who registered four wins each on Saturday’s 12-race card at Tuffontein’s Champions Day. Log leader Zackey got another three on Sunday at Scottsville.
• The “micro” stable (just nine horses) of trainer Bo Ngcobo landing the prestigious SA Nursery at Turffontein with 40-1 shot Better Never Ends.
• An unusual statistic of five stable Exactas on Saturday and Sunday: Tony Peter, Justin Snaith and Sean Tarry in Joburg, followed by Nathan Kotzen and Peter Muscutt in Maritzburg.
• Trainer Snaith snatching two of the three Grade 1 prizes on Champions Day – with peerless mare Double Grand Slam in the Empress Club Stakes and Met hero See It Again in the Premier’s Champions Challenge. Cape-based Snaith gets unfair lip for not venturing north often enough as the national champion.
• Outright favourites delivering in all four Hong Kong Jockey Club World Pool races at Turffontein. We’re told Asian punters are partial to short prices, so there must have been a lot of satisfied customers for our local product.
But perhaps the most notable aspect of the weekend was the remarkable success of raiding horses.
Financial incentives for owners and trainers to visit other-province centres have hit the mark in recent years and a procession of big cheques were trotted out at Turffontein as Saturday’s “Uitlanders” staged a smash-and grab.
Snaith hogged the spotlight with his champions, but Ngcobo and Kotzen also had significant wins. The latter’s Cats Pyjamas was an impressive winner of the Grade 2 Hawaii Stakes.
Then, on Sunday, under-rated conditioner Brett Webber travelled the long road down to Scottsville from his yard at the Vaal with six-year-old stayer Royal Invitation and carried off the Highland Night Cup.
Back in the day, regular raiding around the country for big prizes was a way of racing life. But insularity crept into the game, with only the formal KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape seasons having a national face. That’s changing and results like this past weekend’s should encourage more adventuring.
