THE LOUIS&LAURENCE SHOW!
SUPER SEASON! SUN SETS ON
18
Snaith Star Is Back Eight On Eighteen grabs 4th Gr1
52
Charge Of The Buffalo
Tony Peter speed powerhouse defends title
58
Goose Gets Gold
King Louis is over the moon!
96 Generations
Corne & Xander join forces
110
Glorious Goodwood Five fabulous days
On the cover Victory could not have been more sweeter at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday for trainer Louis Goosen who saddled his first Grade 1 winner Erik Dubois in the R1 750 000 World Pool Moment Of The Day Gr1 Champion Stakes. The veteran is pictured with delighted owner Laurence Wernars.
Image courtesy of Candiese Lenferna.
Issue: 30/2026
FOR SCANDINAVIA GLORIOUS DOUBLE
Gold Cup hero Scandinavia (6/5F) extended his winning sequence to seven in an eventful edition of the Gr1 Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup yesterday, following up his win from 12 months ago.
There was drama after the stalls opened as Hector Crouch came out of the side door on Amiloc, which impacted the two-mile contest later on as the loose horse impeded the run of Trawlerman in the straight.
Scandinavia had moved upsides Trawlerman when the incident occurred passing the threefurlong pole and subsequently powered away under Ryan Moore to cross the line eight and a half lengths in front.
Trawlerman (13/8) boxed on to finish second behind the Aidan O’Brien-trained winner, with Yorkshire Cup victor Rahiebb (14/1) threequarters of a length further back in third.
O’Brien said: “Scandinavia is a great horse, a real, real top stayer. He has a big cruising speed and relaxes when he finds his rhythm. Ryan said that the minute he started asking, he felt him coming alive underneath him.
“We felt he was really going the right way after Ascot. The Goodwood Cup is a great race to win, very prestigious, and it is great that Trawlerman came and all the horses were there. It is what we always want to see – win, lose or draw.
“The plan was that we thought Trawlerman would make the running, and we were hoping he would. Ryan was just going to follow him, like he did at Ascot. It was going to be very simple whether he was going to be good enough or not. That is what we thought and that is the way it played out. There was a little bit of drama. I think Trawlerman was a little slowly away and there was a loose horse. It was one of those eventful races.
“It was great though, Goodwood is a great track, and I think it was a great spectacle to watch. There was so much happening in a race like that and, over two miles, you get a great chance to look at it and take it all in.”
Asked at what point he knows how many seasons he can campaign a horse like Scandinavia, O’Brien added:
“He is very sound, he loves what he is doing, and I think the lads love having a horse like that. When you get a horse who can race year in, year out, with the ability he has, that is what makes it very special. They are very hard to find, nearly impossible, but when they come along the lads love it, and I would imagine he will race for as long as he is able to stay safe and sound.”
Asked whether the horse could emulate Yeats, he said: “I think he could. He is a very high cruiser, very natural, easy to train, has a great rhythm and loves what he does. He has a great mind. He is by Justify, so he has that big rhythm.”
Moore said: “I was just talking to Aidan there and he said it is probably as good a staying performance as he has ever seen. I never asked him for everything either. It was nice for him to have a horse to follow all the way – he probably thinks he got beat! He is a very good horse.
“He has an unbelievable race record now. His stride never shortened, he just kept galloping all the way to the line. What more can you say? He could not have done any more than he did today. He likes fast ground, is a high-class horse and hopefully there are a few more good days to come.”
On the interference, Trawlerman’s jockey William Buick said: “It was significant. It is hard to say how significant but Trawlerman is a Gold Cup winner, so he stays and he was just going through the gears down the hill.
“To try and outmanoeuvre or manoeuvre around a loose horse is never easy and my worry obviously was that if I found myself on his outside, we could give away a lot of ground and end up on the stand-side theoretically. I went the short route and really, he only got in the way at the most important part of the race.
“It definitely had an effect and it’s unfortunate. I know the winner won well on the day but, on a horse like Trawlerman in a staying race, when you get hampered at that stage, it is obviously never ideal. He has run a super race considering.”
Trawlerman’s co-trainer John Gosden said: “It was a messy race. He got interfered with early and then the pace early was quite strong. He got into a nice rhythm down the hill and I noticed Ryan was beginning to ride on Scandinavia and we had a length and a half on him.
“The loose horse came back and visited us again and, once you check and lose your rhythm, that’s
it in any race, let alone when you’re finding a rhythm over that trip. That is life and that’s racing, it happens more in Jump racing than Flat racing.
“When you’ve been crossed like that and checked, he’s not the type to turn around and start quickening. He has to build it up, which he was. But look, that’s the way it is. We got the worst of it and we went from being a length and a half in front to a length and a half behind. That’s racing.”
Roger Varian said of Rahiebb: “He ran well. The race did not set up too well for us because it got a bit messy and they did not go very quick. He got locked away at the wrong time off a steady gallop, and the two big horses got first run. I am not suggesting it stopped us from winning, but I think it probably stopped us from finishing second.
“He got the trip well, which I was pleased about. I would not rule out going further again with him. Watching him today, all he looked like he was doing was staying, so you cannot judge it on one run. He will likely go to York and we will also look at the Irish St Leger. Next year we will see. He will be a stronger horse and I would not rule out going beyond two miles again. He looked a stayer today and I think he will keep getting better.”
Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup (Group 1)
1 Scandinavia (Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Sue Magnier) Aidan O’Brien IRE 4-9-12 Ryan Moore 6/5F
2 Trawlerman (Godolphin) John & Thady Gosden 8-9-12 William Buick 13/8
3 Rahiebb (Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum) Roger Varian 4-9-12 Ray Dawson 14/1
8 ran
Aidan O’Brien – 32nd Qatar Goodwood Festival winner
Ryan Moore – 68th Qatar Goodwood Festival winner
A GLORIOUS 4 DAYS LEFT!
Today we can look forward to Sussex Stakes Day , with the Visit Qatar Gr1 Sussex Stakes Goodwood’s race of champions. With a reputation for bringing together some of the most outstanding horses in training year-on-year, it has earned its moniker, the ‘Duel On The Downs’. Previous winners include the peerless Frankel, the French sensation Solow, and the mighty Mohaather in 2020.
Thursday is Ladies’ Day and starts with the Markel Magnolia Cup where 12 inspirational female riders race down Goodwood’s famous home straight. The prestigious Qatar Gr1 Nassau Stakes is the highlight of the eight-race card on
day 3 of the Qatar Goodwood Festival. Read more on page 110.
Day 4 is popularly tagged King George Day and sees the world’s top sprinters doing battle in the Gr2 King George Qatar Stakes, made famous by superstar Battaash. The Coral Golden Mile and the Gr3 Bonhams Thoroughbred Stakes add to a fantastic afternoon.
Saturday is a fitting finale to a superb week with the Coral Stewards’ Cup taking centre stage as one of the most prestigious, valuable and competitive handicaps of the season.
Strawberries were a winner on Tuesday! | Credit: Goodwood Racecourse
ONE STRIPE THE NEXT CHAPTER BEGINS
Labelled by international Grade 1-winning trainer Graham Motion as a genuine elite level galloper in both his home country and the USA, and a striking individual with tremendous courage and determination, South African champion One Stripe will return for stallion duties at Ridgemont in South Africa in the 2027 season, after having his racing career cut short due to injury.
“I was fortunate enough to witness One Stripe’s outstanding victory in the 2025 L’Ormarins Gr1 King’s Plate before he joined our stable later that year. Once he adapted to the demands of American racing, he produced a tremendous performance to finish a close second in the Gr1 Pegasus and continued to improve throughout the season. Sadly, I don’t believe we got to see the very best of him. He was as tough as they come,” a disappointed Graham Motion
told the Sporting Post after news broke late this week that after a comprehensive veterinary assessment, One Stripe was diagnosed with stress-related injuries to his right off-fore.
Hollywood Racing Manager Anthony Delpech said that with the outstanding colt’s longterm health and welfare the highest priority, a decision had been made to retire him from racing.
“It goes without saying that everybody involved is very disappointed. One Stripe deserved to have won a Group 1 in America, but he nevertheless still made us all proud. That includes his fans in South Africa who got behind him every time he ran. His performances again showed that quality
SA-bred horses can compete internationally. Graham Motion did a fantastic job with him and is world-class. And we still have our speed star Isivunguvungu in his yard. Hopefully we will have others who can carry the SA flag with pride in the future,” added the former SA champion jockey.
Graham Motion – ‘he was as tough as they come’ | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
One Stripe certainly has the brilliance of track performance and the blood to make an exciting stallion prospect!
A winner of 7 of his 15 starts, which includes 5 stakes wins from 1100m to a mile, as well as 3 stakes places up to 1800m, he won two of South Africa’s most prestigious elite level stallion-making races in the Hollywoodbets Gr1 Cape Guineas and the Gr1 L’Ormarins
King’s Plate, where he achieved the distinction of being only the eleventh sophomore to win the prestigious weight-for-age mile in 165 years.
One Stripe is one of six stakes winners and the sole Grade 1 victor to emerge from the initial crop of Captain Al’s champion son One World.
Hollywood Racing Manager, Anthony Delpech – ‘he deserved a Gr1 victory in America’ | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
An Equus champion and winner of the Gr1 Sun Met, One World stands at Drakenstein Stud and was the leading freshman sire of the 2023/24 season.
One Stripe’s dam Silver Stripe is by six-time champion sire Silvano (Lomitas), who is poised to be crowned Broodmare Sire when the South African racing season ends on 31 July.
The One World x Silvano cross is also responsible for this season’s smart juvenile Rich Man’s World, who was beaten a neck in the Gr1 Gold Medallion after romping to a 7,5 length victory in the Gr3 Godolphin Barb Stakes.
Silver Stripe’s signature victory came in the Listed Spook Express Handicap over 2450m, while her own brother Gifted For Glory won the Gr3 Winter Derby. In addition to One Stripe, Silver Stripe has bred this season’s Gr3 Cape Classic winner Vapour Trail. He is bred on similar lines to One Stripe, being by Erik The Red, yet another son of Captain Al.
Grandam Badger’s Gift (Badger’s Land) crowned a splendid career at age six when she landed the Gr1 Paddock Stakes, to go along with an earlier victory in the Gr3 Diana Stakes, while the extended family is that of Gr1-placed stakes winners Thunder Cat, I Am Giant and Superior Service.
Co-owner and hobby breeder Rikesh Sewgoolam has owned some top horses over two decades and expressed his great sadness on learning that One Stripe’s racing career has come to an untimely end.
“He remains a phenomenal horse of exceptional talent and character, and we would have loved to see what more he could have achieved on the racecourse. I must extend my gratitude to Vaughan Marshall and Graham Motion on conditioning him through his racing career. That said, while one chapter closes, another exciting chapter begins. We are delighted that
One Stripe will commence his stud career at Ridgemont, where he will have the opportunity to leave a lasting legacy through future generations. Given the quality, heart, and ability he displayed throughout his racing career, there is every reason to believe that his influence will continue to be felt for many years to come. I extend my sincere best wishes to Owen (Heffer), Devin (Heffer), Anthony (Delpech), and the Ridgemont team, and everyone involved in his journey as he embarks on this exciting second career. One Stripe will always hold a special place in our hearts, and we look forward to watching his legacy grow in the breeding shed. And a deserved word of appreciation also to Gavin Lerena for piloting One Stripe to some of his most memorable wins,” added Sewgoolam.
Former SA champion jockey Gavin Lerena was aboard at both of One Stripe’s Gr1 victories in SA, where he was trained by Vaughan Marshall, as well as his two Gr1 places in the USA.
Lerena said that his heart was shattered for everyone involved, especially One Stripe.
“I’m grateful that he’ll be okay in time and most importantly, that he’s still in one piece. He’s given us all so many unforgettable thrills, incredible memories, and moments we’ll never forget. Wishing him a smooth recovery. He will have a great career at stud.”
Once One Stripe is medically fit to move, he will travel from Maryland in the USA to South Africa.
With the new international movement protocols announced recently, he will be shipped in good time to Cape Town, where he will undergo quarantine, before transferring to Ridgemont in Robertson where he will join an already formidable stallion band.
And so the fairytale of a champion continues.
SNAITH CHAMPION BOUNCES BACK
A galloper with a pedigree and top-rank race performance befitting a stallion prospect, the Justin Snaith-trained reigning SA Horse Of The Year Eight On Eighteen put a blank season scorecard to bed in the 110,38 secs it took him to register his fourth career Grade 1 success with a fluent victory in the R1,5 million HKJC Champions Cup at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday.
The Champions Cup Quartet – Eight On Eighteen (Richard Fourie, centre), second placed See It Again (Keagan de Melo, outside), third-placed Main Defender (Kabelo Matsunyane, blue stripe cap) and The Real Prince (Craig Zackey) on the inside | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
Easy to back at 9-2, Eight On Eighteen returned to his best after being winless since his Daily News strike in May 2025, with a swashbuckling surge to win the final elite level event of the 2025/26 SA racing season.
In the words of owner Nic Jonsson, whose silks were carried to victory by the top two finishers, this was the race they wanted and it was a case of mission accomplished after Richard Fourie set the 4yo alight halfway down the home straight.
In a matter of strides, Eight On Eighteen (9-2) was powering away in front and he went on to beat gallant stablemate See It Again (2810) by 1,05 lengths in a time of 110,38 secs.
Tony Peter’s Main Defender (40-1) put in his best performance for ages, when staying on
to finish third, ahead of 2025 runner-up The Real Prince (28-10).
Eight On Eighteen, a R700 000 National Yearling Sale purchase, made it 6 wins with 7 places from his 16 starts for stakes of R7 894 038.
Raced in partnership by Nic Jonsson and Johann Rupert, Eight On Eighteen is a son of deceased War Front stallion Lancaster Bomber out of the unraced Captain Al mare, Sempre Libre.
Eight On Eighteen’s Groom Philip Sengeza also received a mention as a member of the winning team.
Sunday! Scene On
The 2026 SA Champions Season finale at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday was a winner all round!
Images courtesy of Candiese Lenferna
Kirra and Kathi Kotzen
Vikki and Gavin Lerena
Sunday! Scene On
4Racing’s Brad Ralph
Outgoing Race Coast Chair Greg Bortz and Kelly Mitchley
Jono and Justin Snaith hold the Champions Cup aloft, with owner Nic Jonsson
Nigel Page and Sadha Naidoo
Sunday! Scene On
Sengeza and Richard Fourie
Ashley Parker chats to James Crawford
Gold Cup heroes Glen Kotzen and Chad Little
Sunday! Scene On
Tony Peter and Kestorm’s Donovan Pillay after Buffalo Storm Cody
Dean Kannemeyer chats to Brandon Bailey as DKR assistant Nicolette Roscoe looks on
Tristan Godden – delighted with his Gr2 win
Sunday! Scene On
Vaughan Marshall Terry
LITTLE AND KOTZEN
GRAB THE GRAB THE
An enterprising ride by Chad Little in a relatively pedestrian 106th renewal of the R1 million World Pool Gr3 Gold Cup gave Cape veteran Glen Kotzen his maiden success in our premier staying event as Holding Thumbs went from start to finish at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday.
Chad Little salutes as Holding Thumbs goes from start to finish | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
“This is the biggest moment of my career. It’s like winning the Durban July,” quipped a delighted Chad Little, who showed his years of experience with a cucumber-cool effort from the front on the 2025 runner-up, who was tuned to the minute.
Holding Thumbs started at 33-1 and simply kept his perpetual motion engine purring as he was never threatened to beat the latefinishing Ahead Of The Facts (7-2) by 2,10 lengths in a time of 208,73 secs – that’s about 3,5 seconds slower than the time achieved last year by King Pelles, who was pulled out of Sunday’s race by Lyle Hewitson. More information will be gleaned from the Stipes reports on the favourite’s performance.
The only filly in the race, and Robbie Hill’s solitary starter of the day, Jazz Café (661) gave the trifectas and quartets a boost, finishing third a further 0,70 lengths back.
The 2023 winner Future Pearl (40-1) capped the quartet as Mickaelle Michel enjoyed her final ride in South Africa to bring the curtain down on her first busman’s holiday.
Bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, Holding Thumbs is by that super sire Vercingetorix (Silvano) out of the Fort Wood mare Withbatedbreath.
A R1 million BSA National 2yo Sale graduate, Holding Thumbs is now a winner of 10 races with 10 places from his 31 starts, and has earned R2 062 989.
SPEED KING TO TAKE ON THE WORLD
Sunday’s Gr1 Mercury Sprint attracted a vintage field of stayers headed by defending champion Buffalo Bill Cody. However, there was a notable absentee in the shape of Kingdundee.
The four-year-old speedball has not raced since he came, saw and conquered Hollywoodbets Kenilworth in the World Pool Gr1 Cape Flying Championship on Met day. He was ridden with confidence by Calvin Habib, who celebrated a personal first Grade 1 winner in the Cape.
It was an historical occasion, for not only was he the first Eastern Province-trained winner of the hallowed sprint, he also provided young trainer Dean Smith with a maiden Gr1 success. What’s more, he won from the widest draw and never saw a rival as he kept up a relentless gallop to defy his 33-1 starting price and defeat the best sprinters in the country.
The Sporting Post caught up with owner Clive Murphy who informed us that the son of The United States is currently in quarantine and is set to leave South Africa on a journey which will ultimately take him to the 2027 Dubai Racing Carnival.
“He is in lockdown conditions and will be leaving for Rotterdam on 5 August, from where he will travel to Chantilly in France and then on to England. He will spend a month with George Peckham, a trainer who specialises in preparing horses destined for Dubai,” Clive explained. “He will be trained in Dubai by twice champion trainer Buphat Seemar.”
Kingdundee has as his prime target the Gr1 Al Quoz Sprint which was first run in 2007 as part of the then, Dubai International Racing Carnival and subsequently moved to Dubai World Cup night in 2010. In 2009, the race became a Gr3 and is now run at Gr1 level. It is also a race plundered in the past by two exceptional South African sprinters.
In 2009, J J The Jet Plane scorched out of the starting gates and was never in danger of defeat to score by a handy margin under Kevin Shea. The champion son of Jet Master won the Al Quoz for the second time in 2011 when he teamed up with Bernard Fayd’Herbe and overcame a troubled trip to defeat former Gr1 Mercury Sprint winner War Artist, who made a bold bid from the front and was caught in the shadow of the post. To this day, J J remains the only dual winner of the Al Quoz.
Kingdundee (Calvin Habib) storms home to win the 2026 World Pool Gr1 Cape Flying Championship
Credit: Chase Liebenberg
Two years later in 2013, Shea Shea blazed across the Meydan turf and burned off his rivals to claim the Gr1 dash under Christophe Soumillon, whilst smashing his own track record set in the Meydan Sprint three weeks earlier.
True, Kingdundee has big boots to fill, but Clive is nothing if not confident: “Craig Zackey, who partnered him in five of his eight wins, told me he was the best sprinter in South Africa and based on his advice, I thought, why not try him overseas? Besides, he proved it by easily beating Buffalo Bill Cody over a straight 1000m. That was the defining moment, he burned them for speed, off the worst draw.”
With the Dubai Carnival still a good couple of months away and with the prevailing fast underfoot conditions caused by a hot, dry summer, Clive is also toying with the idea of racing Kingdundee in Britain before he leaves for Dubai.
“He is still in racing condition and it won’t take long to get him back to racing fitness.”
Clive bred Kingdundee from the Duke Of Marmalade mare Miss Marmalade, whose halfsister is none other than feted Broodmare of
the Year Halfway To Heaven, the dam of former Horse of the Year Rainbow Quest, champion Hawwaam and the Gr1 winner Golden Ducat.
Clive bred the mare’s second foal, the Vercingetorix filly Princess Of Gaul in partnership with Maine Chance Farms. She was purchased as a yearling by Fred Crabbia, in whose silks she has garnered the Gr2 Western Cape Fillies Championship, Gr2 Debutante Stakes and Gr3 Prix du Cap and finished third in the Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint. Clive still owns the mare’s third foal Bavarian Flyer, a colt by Quasillo who is in training with Darryl Moore and will probably make his debut in about eight weeks’ time.
Kingdundee meanwhile leaves South Africa armed with an enviable formline of 11 runs, eight wins and two seconds. In addition to his Gr1 success, he claimed the Listed Dahlia Plate as a juvenile and finished second in both the Listed East Cape Nursery and Listed East Cape Sprint. A true sprinter, his only unplaced run came over 1400m when he ran fifth in the Listed Champion Juvenile Cup.
Read the Mercury Sprint review on page 52.
Shea Shea (Christophe Soumillon) storms home in the Al Quoz Sprint | Credit: Chase Liebenberg
MICKAELLE BON VOYAGE,
She came, she saw, she conquered! In just seven months on her first riding stint in South Africa, the SplashOutsponsored globetrotting French lady jockey Mickaelle Michel rode 47 winners, including a Grade 1 and Grade 2 success in tandem with trainer James Crawford.
On Sunday at Hollywoodbets Greyville she rode Fish Tales to victory in the World Pool Bet With Tote Gr2 Umkhomazi Stakes and was presented with a memento of a framed cover of the Sporting Post Sprint by Eugene Naidu, CEO of Winning Form Group,
The 31 year old, and her husband-coach Fred Spanu, left for France on Monday morning, and are expected back here by October.
Mickaelle receives her memento from Winning Form Group CEO Eugene Naidu as Fred Spanu looks on | Credit: Julia Marnewick
TONY PETER KEEPS
END-OF-SEASON GR1’S ROLLING
Highveld trainer Tony Peter scored his fourth consecutive elite level success on the season finale raceday at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday when the Narrow Creek Stud-bred 4yo Buffalo Storm Cody successfully defended his R1 million Gr1 Mercury Sprint crown.
Ridden to perfection again by outgoing SA champion Gavin Lerena, Buffalo Storm Cody (5-2) was beautifully switched off and enjoyed a stalking run behind pacesetter O’Tenikwa, before pouncing late to win going away by just under a length in a time of 71,18 secs for the 1200m.
Recent Post Merchants winner Jet Force (7-2) showed his class in his stiffest test, when coming out of the pack to run second, with Asiye Phambili (20-1) exploding through to deprive the 7-2 tote favourite Questioning of the third cheque.
Trainer Tony Peter modestly added that ‘the champions train themselves’, while thanking his staunch owners.
Lerena added that it had been ‘a tough season’ with injuries and suspensions but was clearly happy to bank the Grade 1.
Raced by Kenneth Pillay’s Kestorm Investments, the winner was bred by Narrow Creek Stud and is a son of Buffalo Bill Cody (Redoute’s Choice) out of the one-time winning Trippi mare, Musical Romance.
A R410 000 Cape Yearling Sale purchase, Buffalo Storm Cody took his win tally to 11, with 8 places from his 21 starts and stakes of R2 840 000.
Buffalo Storm Cody (Gavin Lerena) defends his crown with ease | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
THIS PACT IS NO SECRET!
The influence of top broodmare Secret Pact was well and truly felt at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday. Her grandsons Erik The Red (Captain Al) and Master Of My Fate (Jet Master) both made their mark at the big meeting.
Multiple graded stakes winner Erik The Red celebrated his first Gr1 winner when his son Erik Dubois beat fellow Erik The Red son Red Spice into third spot in the World Pool Moment Of The Day Gr1 Premiers Champion Stakes.
While close relative Master Of My Fate failed deliver a winner on Sunday, the consistently high-class son of Jet Master did make his mark in the features.
His gelded son Major Master ran second in the Listed Tote Stakes Darley Arabian, and Master Of My Fate fillies
Doesyourmotherknow and Alice B Toklas ran 2-4 in the Gr2 Douglas Whyte Thekwini Stakes a race won by Master Of My Fate’s champion daughter Golden Palm in 2025.
Master Of My Fate also went close to enjoying Gr1 success with his son Jet Force running second in the Gr1 Mercury Sprint.
Secret Pact is also the third dam of 2021 South African Triple Crown winner and promising sire Malmoos. Closely related to Erik The Red )both sired by Captain Al), Malmoos produced his first graded stakes winner on Sunday when his unbeaten daughter Marchland won the Gr2 Douglas Whyte Thekwini Stakes. It was a third blactype win for Marchland, having also captured this season’s Listed East Cape Fillies Nursery and Listed Lady’s Slipper Stakes.
Malmoos is on course to be crowned South Africa’s Leading First Season Sire for 2025-2026, a title Erik The Red achieved in 2024-2025!
The remarkable Secret Pact is also the fourth dam of 2026 Hollywoodbets Gr1 Durban July winner Note To Self (Futura).
Secret Pact had plenty to recommend her when she retired to stud. A very speedy individual, she won four times up to 1200m, including a trio of Listed contests. She also caught the eye when finishing third in the 1995 Gr1 Cape Flying Championship (behind champions Flobayou and Golden Taipan) and 1993 Gr1 Allan Robertson Fillies Championship, where she was beaten just over half a length by the victorious Fair Model.
By Bush Telegraph out of the outstanding South African broodmare Soho Secret, Secret Pact was a full-sister to London News, South Africa’s Horse Of The Year in 1995 and 1996 and winner of Hong Kong’s Queen Elizabeth II Cup.
Ironically, Secret Pact has proved far more influential at stud than her illustrious brother.
While Secret Pact’s influence continues to be felt on the South African stud book, and should be for years to come, London News failed to sire a single Gr1 winner during his stint at stud.
Secret Pact and London News are descended in female line from 1000 Guineas and hugely influential broodmare Chelandry (Goldfinch). The latter is ancestress of numerous outstanding performers, including Kentucky Derby winners Tomy Lee (Tudor Minstrel), Swale (Seattle Slew) and Genuine Risk (Exclusive Native), dual classic winner and champion sire Never Say Die (Nasrullah) and the influential stallions, and multiple G1 winners, High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) and Forty Niner (Mr Prospector).
Achievements by progeny of sires descended from Secret Pact on World Pool Gold Cup day
Malmoos
Marchland - 1st Thekwini S Gr2
Master Of My Fate
Major Master - 2nd Darley Arabian L
Doesyourmotherknow - 2nd Thekwini S Gr2
Alice B Toklas - 4th Thekwini S Gr2
Jet Force - 2nd Mercury Sprint Gr1
Erik The Red
Erik Dubois - 1st Premiers Champion S Gr1
Red Spice - 3rd Premiers Champion S Gr1
THE GOOSE CELEBRATES
GRADE 1 GOLD
It took him 35 years of blood, sweat and tears, but victory could not have been more sweeter at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday when Louis Goosen saddled his first Grade 1 winner, courtesy of Erik Dubois who in turn marked a maiden elite level success for his sire Erik The Red, when scoring in a thrilling finish to the R1 750 000 World Pool Moment Of The Day Gr1 Champion Stakes.
Erik Dubois puts his best foot forward under Lyle Hewitson as Kazenyoni (Muzi Yeni) stays on for second
Credit: Candiese Lenferna
T here were emotional scenes in the winner’s box as a delighted Louis Goosen spoke of a plan come together, and enjoyed a rare moment in the feature day limelight. Well deserved!
A 600kg 2yo, and a horse we will likely see the best of at 3, the Wernars Familyowned Erik Dubois put his best foot forward under former multiple champion jockey Lyle Hewitson as he got the better of a short duel with Muzi Yeni on the Duncan Howells-trained longshot Kazenyoni to score by a neck in a time of 98,59 secs for the mile.
The 7-1 tote favourite Vibe Check overcame his wide gate and only gave up the ghost late in the race, running fourth and just over a length behind third-placer Red Spice (7-1), who is also owned in part by the Wernars family.
Bred by Dr A Miller, the winner is a son of Captain Al’s Varsfontein Stud-based son Erik The Red out of the four-time winning Count Dubois mare, Comtesse Dubois.
A R375 000 Race Coast Sales 2025 March Yearling Sale graduate, Erik Dubois has now won 2 races with a place from 5 starts and stakes of R1 308 126.
Mike de Kock hands the trophy to a delighted Louis Goosen | Credit: Julia Marnewick
CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE ERIK CLINCHES
Varsfontein Stud’s homebred stallion Erik The Red had a big day at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday when his sons Erik Dubois and Red Spice finished first and third in the World Pool Moment
Of The Day Gr1 Premiers Champion Stakes.
In the process, the son of Captain Al clinched the 2yo Champion Sires title for the 2025/26 season.
It is not the first time that Erik The Red twoyear-olds have dominated the finish of a feature race this season. His sons Red Spice and Roskilde ran 1-2 in the Ridgemont Gr3 Cape Of Good Hope Nursery in February, with the same pair finishing 1-3 in the JC Le Roux Listed Summer Juvenile Stakes a month earlier.
Trained by Grade 1 icebreaker Louis Goosen, Erik Dubois made a mockery of his 14-1 starting price with a convincing win.
Under former South African champion jockey Lyle Hewitson, the gelded son of Erik The Red kept galloping strongly to claim Sunday’s R1 750 000 contest by a long neck.
Bred by Dr Alan Miller, Erik Dubois has won two of five starts, and he races for the Wernars Family.
Out of the Count Dubois mare Comtesse Dubois, Erik Dubois was a R375 000 buy from the 2025 March Yearling Sale.
The blue-blooded Erik The Red, whose relative Note To Self won this season’s Hollywoodbets Gr1 Durban July, is a bred on similar lines to South African Triple Crown winner Malmoos, the sire of Sunday’s unbeaten Gr2 winner Marchland.
Erik The Red has 17 lots on offer at the BSA August Two Year Old Sale on 20 and 21 August.
FRANK & TRISTAN THE RIGHT BLEND!
Summerveld trainer Frank Robinson and jockey Tristan Godden teamed up at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday to win the final Grade 2 event on the SA racing calendar this term, as 2025 Betway Gr1 Summer Cup heroine Mocha Blend dished out the punishment to her rivals with a courageous victory in the R500 000 Bet With The World Gr2 Gold Bracelet.
“I thought I had her better today than in the Hollywoodbets Durban July,” conceded trainer Frank Robinson, who had earlier received accolades from owner Nic Jonsson after Eight On Eighteen’s victory in the HKJC Gr1 Champions Cup.
Approaching the race with 63kgs from a wide draw, but with a variation in tactics, proved the tonic as the 4yo daughter of Ideal World was produced up the outside by Tristan Godden and she went on at 20-1 to beat the dangerous looking Kisshoten (20-1) by 1,20 lengths in a time of 125,63 secs for the 2000m.
Rahhabba (16-1) was in the mix, a further length back, with stablemate and defending champion Rainbow Lorikeet (14-1) not disgraced in fourth.
The 15-10 favourite Anotherdanceforme was giving Richard Fourie a hard time at intervals, and ran out of the money in a rare below-par performance.
The Sporting Post-sponsored Tristan Godden’s career remains on an upward curve and after 52 winners last season, this was his 62nd success -including a Gr1 – this term. He was very complimentary about his mount and they are a combination to be included at every opportunity.
Raced by Mauritzfontein, the winner was bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, and is a daughter of Ideal World (Kingmambo) out of the one-time winning Silvano mare, Mocha Special.
Now a winner of 4 races with 7 places from her 13 starts and stakes of R4 164 401, Mocha Blend had only ever previously won a maiden and a Class 4 heat on the Hollywoodbets Greyville polytrack.
The Pick 6 paid R 767 036, while the Place Accumulator dividend was a healthy R36 635.
Mocha Blend shows her class under Tristan Godden | Credit: Chase Liebenberg
THE HIDDEN REALITY
WHEN WINNING DOESN’T FEEL LIKE WINNING
Every race has a winner. For a few moments, the winning jockey is at the centre of attention. There are cheers, photographs and smiles. Owners celebrate. Punters collect. Racegoers applaud. It is the moment every jockey strives for. Or so it seems.
Following on her editorial What We Don’t See…Insights Into The ‘Glam’ Life Of The Jockey published 6 July 2026 on the Sporting Post website, Michele Wing (MSc, Brunel University London) provides more insight in the first instalment of a new monthly series, entitled the Hidden Reality.
Success Has a Short Shelf Life
Few outside racing appreciate how quickly success begins to fade.
Before the applause has even died away, the jockey is already walking back to the weighing room. The silks come off. Weight is checked. New colours go on. Another horse waits. Another set of instructions. Another race.
Racing has already moved on.
One jockey in my research described raceday as simply “a rollercoaster.”
It is difficult to imagine another elite sport where emotional highs and lows are compressed so completely.
Within a single afternoon, a jockey may ride a winner, finish unplaced on another horse, lose on a heavily supported favourite and find themselves criticized by the very people who had been congratulating them only a short while earlier.
As one jockey reflected:
“Punters can be cheering you one race and cursing you the next.”
In racing, the distance between hero and villain can be remarkably short.
While many elite athletes have days, or even weeks, before they compete again, jockeys
often have little more than half an hour.
Winning, therefore, is rarely a destination.
It is simply one fleeting moment in a profession that never stands still.
It’s Not That Simple
From the grandstand, racing appears wonderfully straightforward.
The first horse past the post wins. The result is declared. Congratulations are offered. Another race enters the form book.
For the jockey, however, the picture is far more complex.
A gap closes. The pace changes. Another horse shifts ground. A split-second decision proves decisive … or it doesn’t.
Sometimes the horse beneath them cannot produce the run expected. Sometimes another horse is simply better on the day. And sometimes, as those within racing readily acknowledge, you need luck.
As one jockey put it:
“Things need to go your way.”
That uncertainty is one of racing’s defining realities.
A jockey’s reputation is judged by the outcome, even when the outcome is not entirely within their control.
The public sees the result. The jockey replays the decisions. Those are rarely the same things.
The Voices That Follow
The race may be over, but the conversation rarely is.
In racing, performance has always been discussed. Today, those conversations continue long after the horses have returned to scale.
A tactical decision. A narrow defeat. A beaten favourite.
Opinions appear within minutes, often from people who could only see the finish, not the countless decisions that shaped it.
As one jockey observed:
“This must be one of the only jobs in the world where people’s opinions can affect your career.”
For the jockey, however, the full reality of the ride remains.
The Race Within
What begins as public judgement can easily become private conversation. Every elite athlete knows the replay that starts once competition is over. For jockeys, that replay may begin before the next race has even started.
Did I move too soon?
Should I have waited?
Was there another gap?
Did I give the horse every possible chance?
A victory strengthens belief, but a defeat can quietly erode it. As one jockey admitted:
“Not finding the winner’s box when riding a short-priced favourite can really mess with my head.”
Another was even more direct.
“It’s not about coming second or third. You have to win.”
Yet confidence built solely on winning is difficult to sustain in a profession where so much lies beyond one person’s control. Instead, confidence has to be built on something more enduring: knowing that whatever the result, you gave both yourself and the horse every possible chance.
Even then, the inner critic is rarely silent.
As one jockey reflected:
“I mentally beat myself up for a bad ride. I don’t need anyone else to tell me... I’m my worst critic.”
Every ride, therefore, becomes more than a result. It becomes another test of belief.
Why Jockeys Keep Coming Back
Yet this is only part of the story.
Because if racing were defined only by pressure, uncertainty and criticism, few people would choose to make a life of it. For all the demands the profession places on jockeys, there remains something that draws them back every morning.
The horse.
The partnership.
The pursuit of getting everything right when so much can go wrong.
The privilege of asking an extraordinary athlete to trust you completely for little more than a minute.
Winning still matters. It matters deeply. Not because it guarantees anything. But because it represents one of those rare moments when preparation, judgement, courage and partnership come together.
Perhaps that is why even the most accomplished jockeys still speak with genuine satisfaction about winning a maiden.
To those outside racing, one race may appear more important than another. To the jockey, every victory carries its own meaning. Each one is the satisfaction of knowing they gave the horse every possible chance.
Success, is perhaps measured by more than trophies. Sometimes it is measured by knowing you got it right.
Winning Does Bring Joy
The challenge is that racing rarely allows that joy to linger.
While owners celebrate and racegoers relive the finish, the jockey is already thinking about the next horse, the next ride and the next opportunity.
Winning does feel like winning.
But in racing, it is rarely the final chapter. It simply becomes the beginning of another story. And perhaps that is what we don’t see.
Not the victory itself …
… but everything that follows.
NHA CALENDAR ALL THE ADMIN UNDER ONE UMBRELLA
The Sporting Post presents the National Horseracing Authority calendar per 24 July 2026.
The calendar is a summary of the past week’s penalties and registrations and is an easy-read snapshot of information.
Please click on the image below:
UNNAMED HORIZON x
Sparkled by
KANNEMEYER’S PALACE OF POWER
SA champion sire Vercingetorix looks all set for his second consecutive national title!
The Maine Chance kingpin enjoyed a vintage renewal of the R500 000 World Pool With Race Coast Gr2 Debutante at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday when his daughters Palace Of Arvernia and Perfect Sky filled the first two positions.
Dropping back to the 1200m after a cracking win in the Amusnet Gr2 Golden Slipper on Hollywoodbets Durban July day, the progressive Palace Of Arvernia, racing for the Dean Kannemeyer -Craig Zackey combination, vindicated the betting support and the confidence of her connections when she stormed home at 4-10 to clock 73,21 secs.
The long-time pacesetter Perfect Sky (252) held on doggedly 0,80 lengths back for second under Lyle Hewitson, while Muzi Yeni
showed no ill effects after his fall on Saturday as he brought the 25-1 Sweet Green into the mix for third.
The winner is raced by longstanding owner partners Sandy Irvine and Peter Moor.
A R575 000 National Yearling Sale purchase, Palace Of Arvernia was bred by Al Adiyaat SA out of the one-time winning Potala Palace mare Palace Of Dreams and is a full-sister to Gr1 SA Classic winner Grand Empire.
She is a winner of 3 of her 4 starts with a place and stakes of R712 500.
Palace Of Arvernia must come into the reckoning for Equus honours and now returns to the Cape for what could be a rewarding summer down South.
Craig Zackey steers the favourite Palace Of Arvernia to a popular win | Credit: Chase Liebenberg
FOR MITCHLEY MALMOOS MAGIC
Enjoying her maiden trip to KZN, Gqeberha-based conditioner Kelly Mitchley scored the biggest victory of her career when the Malmoos filly Marchland maintained her perfect four-from-four record with a smooth victory in the R750 000 Gr2 Douglas Whyte Stakes at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday.
The second East Cape winner of the Grade 2 feature after Alan Greeff’s Golden Palm scored in 2025, Marchland was a dual stakes winner coming into the mile feature and produced the goods again in fine style for owner Mervin Govender.
After Lyle Hewitson took the fight to the opposition by stretching the field on the Highveld raider Doesyourmotherknow, Marchland, who had been stalking in third, moved through down the inside and drew away under Muzi Yeni to win by 3,30 lengths in a time of 98,72 secs.
The pacesetter stayed on well for second, ahead of Royal Tiara (25-2), with the 5-10 favourite Alice B Toklas run off her feet and marginally out of her ground early, capping the quartet.
Marchland’s win was a remarkable training feat, coming off three months of weatherimpacted training at home.
The Lammerskraal Stud-bred filly is by the Ridgemont-based SA Triple Crown winner Malmoos (Captain Al) out of the Western Winter mare Marcheline, and was a R450 000 buy from the 2025 Premier Yearling Sale.
She is unbeaten in four starts and took her earnings to R672 720.
This was the opening leg of the R1 million Pick 6 carryover, which fell short of the R8 million projection, reaching R5 195 614.
Marchland maintains her perfect record under Muzi Yeni | Credit: Julia Marnewick
CRAWFORD-MICHEL COMBO STRIKE AGAIN!
The Grade 1-winning combination of James Crawford and visiting French lady rider
Mickaëlle Michel produced the first surprise of the season finale raceday at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday when the Ascot Studbred debut winner Fish Tales scored a smooth victory in the R500 000 World Pool Bet With Tote Gr2 Stakes.
Victorious with Star Major in the Gr1 Daily News 2000 and the World Sports Betting Gr2 Guineas earlier this year, the Crawford-Michel combination struck again on Sunday when Fish Tales, a handsome son of Heavenly Blue, kept his unbeaten record intact with a terrific second victory from a wide draw for
delighted owners Raphael Goolam, Tony Moodley and Selvan Naidoo.
Produced from some way off the pace set by Gqeberha raider U S Ranger, Fish Tales (16-1) took his earnings to R371 094 as he soared clear up the middle outside to beat Bisou Bisou (25-1) by just over a length in a time of 72,38 secs for the 1200m.
In a Place Accumulator bumper, World Series (25-2) ran on into third.
The tote favourite U S Ranger (33-10) faded out to just over 13 lengths back.
Fish Tales breaks away from the competition under Mickaëlle Michel
Credit: Chase Liebenberg
An Ascot Stud-bred son of the East Cape farm’s Snitzel resident Heavenly Blue, the winner is out of the five-time winning Var mare, Caviar, and hails from the Soho Secret family. He is well-related, being a halfbrother to Listed Champion Juvenile Cup winner King Prawn.
He cost R375 000 at the 2025 BSA August 2yo Sale.
The SplashOut-sponsored Mickaëlle Michel left South Africa for France on Monday.
Mickaëlle Michel celebrates her last SA-meeting with class! | Credit: Candiese Lenferna
SA CHAMPIONS SEASON ENDS IN STYLE
Trainer Michael Roberts and jockey Rachel Venniker enjoyed the honour of winning the final feature contest of the 2026 SA Champions Season when the Clifton Stud-bred Fortress Of Fire stormed through late to win the R225 000 HKIR In December Listed Umngeni Handicap for owner Eric Buhr at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday.
The astute Michael Roberts had forecast a pace surplus and a ‘cutting of throats’ out front and had given Rachel Venniker the confidence to ride the 3yo gelding as if it was a 1200m race.
The plan worked to perfection, and Fortress Of Fire (20-1) rocketed through amid a stampede after a slow start, to register 58,93 secs for the 1000m.
Lion Rampart (14-1) filled second place 0,60 lengths back, with the Bass stablemates Symphony In White (33-1) and Kaiboy (33-1) rounding off a healthy R39 000 plus quartet that changed complexion multiple times in the final 100m.
Fortress Of Fire was a R550 000 KZN Yearling Sale purchase and took his stakes earnings to R546 607 with his fifth win ( a first stakes success) and 4 places from 12 starts.
A son of Wilgerbosdrift’s Fire Away (War Front), the winner is out of the four-time winning She’s A Fortress (Fort Wood)
There are only three racemeetings left of the 2025/26 racing season, with the final fixture at Fairview on Friday 31 July.
Fire
PLATTNER POWER OPENS SEASON FINALE FEATURE DAY
Winning Form-sponsored Serino Moodley registered his century of winners for the season when he produced the handsome grey Plattner-owned Zeitz for a thrilling victory in the R225 000 Listed Tote Stakes to open the World Pool Gold Cup raceday at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday.
Now a winner of 3 of his last 4 starts after finding the Hollywoodbets Durban July tough going at his last outing, the Andre Nel-trained 4yo started at 17-2 and flew late in the mile feature after encountering traffic issues.
In his characteristic style, Zeitz showed his guts and resolve to gain a narrow victory in a time of 97,82 secs for the mile over Cape raider Major Master (25-1) who got there a stride too late under Athandiwe Mgudlwa.
Go Grayson Go (50-1) and Field Marshal (161) capped a R 94 135 quartet!
The well-backed tote favourite Talk To The Master finished in fifth and just over a length off Zeitz.
A winner of 6 races with 9 places from his 18 starts, Zeitz took his stakes bank to R1 175 670.
A R625 000 National Yearling Sale purchase, the Maine Chance Farms-bred Zeitz is a son of Vercingetorix (Silvano) out of the Aussiebred Redoute’s Choice mare, Zappy Choice.
Zeitz (Serino Moodley) shows his class to gain a narrow victory! |
VERSATILE VERCINGETORIX
Soon to be crowned South Africa’s Champion Sire for 2025-2026, Maine Chance Farms’ star stallion
Vercingetorix enjoyed a wonderful weekend.
The son of Silvano was responsible for three winners at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on Saturday, and a further three feature race winners at Hollywoodbets Greyville the following day, where his progeny won the first two races.
His multiple graded stakes winning son Zeitz picked up the fourth black-type win of his career when he won Sunday’s Listed Tote Stakes Darley Arabian (1600m) for Serino Moodley and Andre Nel.
The classy four-year-old, winner of the 2026 Betgames Gr3 Cup Trial (1800m), showed plenty of courage in winning Sunday’s race, with Zeitz having to overcome a rough passage to get up and win by a neck.
Bred by Maine Chance, the Sabine Plattnerowned Zeitz has won six of 18 starts and has earned R1 045 688. A full-brother to 2024 Schweppes Gr3 Politician Stakes runner-up The Grey King, Zeitz is out of the Redoute’s Choice mare Zappy Choice.
For a second year in a row, a Dean Kannemeyer trained daughter of Vercingetorix won the G2 World Pool With Race Coast Debutante (1200m).
This time Amusnet Gr2 Golden Slipper winner Palace Of Arvernia stamped her Equus Award
claims when she beat paternal half-sister Perfect Sky into second spot. Under Craig Zackey, the two-year-old stormed home to get up and win the Debutante by just over threeparts of a length.
Bred by Al Adiyaat, Palace Of Arvernia has won three of four starts.
A full-sister to Gr1 HKJC World Pool SA Classic winner Grand Empire, Palace Of Arvernia is owned by Sandy Irvine and Peter Moor.
Vercingetorix’s third stakes winner on Sunday came when his multiple graded stakes winning son Holding Thumbs made much of the running to land the World Pool Gr3 Gold Cup (3200m).
A second Gold Cup winner for his sire, the Glen Kotzen trained made amends for his runner up finish in the 2025 Gold Cup. Under a strong ride from Chad Little, Holding Thumbs kept finding plenty in front to record a more than two length win.
Bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, five-year-old Holding Thumbs races for Philip Bamford, Dave MacLean, Gary Player Stud Farm (Pty) Ltd, Mrs J Doyle & Mr L S & Mrs Rayna Govender.
FOURIE’S 80% HKJC CHAMPIONS CUP STRIKE-RATE
The Gr1 HKJC Champions Cup over 1800m topped the bill at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday and here it was pleasing to see the 2025 SA Horse of the Year Eight On Eighteen bounce back to his very best.
Confidently ridden by Richard Fourie, the Lancaster Bomber colt raced seventh of the eight for most of the trip just a length and a half behind his more fancied stable companion See It Again (the 2026 WSB Cape Town Met winner).
The 2024 Horse of the Year Dave The King somewhat predictably made the running and just as predictably in recent outings, he was soon found wanting when the race began in earnest. As tactical as ever meanwhile,
Richard began to accelerate in the latter part of the bend and already alongside See It Again early in the straight, he quickly began to make headway.
He put his head in front 250m out and went on to score with authority by a length. Richard rode with sheer determination in the closing stages of the race and was clearly ecstatic on crossing the line. Richard Fourie has now ridden the winner of this event in four of the last five seasons.
Richard Fourie and Eight On Eighteen are met by part owner Nic Jonsson and the Snaith team | Credit: Julia Marnewick
The Gr3 World Pool Gold Cup over 3200 m is one of South Africa’s top staying races and is always followed with great interest. As well as finishing runner up in both the Gr3 KZN Derby and the Gr3 Gold Vase, the Glen Kotzen trained HOLDING THUMBS also finished runner up in this race last season. What a pleasure it was then to see this ultra-consistent son of Vercingetorix find the winner’s enclosure here.
As is often the case in staying races there was no pace on when the gates opened and although drawn widest of the twelve, Holding Thumbs quickly gained a soft lead. The pace he set was not a fast one, but despite that he led by a length and a half for most of the journey, and the field was very strung out.
He quickened well and extended his advantage entering the home straight and no doubt expecting to be challenged late, jockey Chad Little began to ride vigorously from the 300m mark. The strongly fancied second favourite Ahead Of The Facts ran on well in the latter stages of the race, but having been some ten lengths adrift of the winner for most of the journey, he was quite simply given a bit too much to do. The well supported favourite King Pelles (2/1 into 13/10) who won this race last season, was eased out of the race at the 1000m mark as jockey Lyle Hewitson felt that there was something amiss. King Pelles was
then later reported by the veterinary surgeon as not striding out behind.
Track Condition: Going: Good
Penetrometer: 23
Rain: Last 7 days Nil
Irrigation: Last 24 hours Nil – Last 7 days 15mm
False Rail: Races 1-6 4m rail
False Rail: Races 7-10 2m spur
Wind: 15-40km/h North Easterly head wind
Course Variant: 1,17s slow (races 1,6)
Course Variant: 0,59s slow (races 7,10)
Not surprisingly the quickest of the three 1200m races on the card was the Gr1 Mercury Sprint in which last season’s winner BUFFALO STORM CODY completed a very smart double. Sent off a strong favourite at 5/2, Tony Peter’s charge broke well and in what was always a tightly bunched field, he raced third just two lengths off the pace.
He was ridden to lead shortly after passing the 300m marker and although both Questioning and Jet Force challenged strongly in the closing stages of the race, he did have them held by almost a length at the wire. The fastest 400m to finish time in the race was recorded by the recent Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint winner Asiye Phambili who finished third. Seeking a very smart hattrick here, the What A Winter mare raced towards the rear and finished very well.
They also ran three races over the 1600m and the fastest of these was the opening Tote Stakes (L) in which ZEITZ registered his sixth career victory from just 18 starts. The pace wasn’t a strong one on leaving the
stalls, but having set off from gate thirteen the son of Vercingetorix soon found himself some nine lengths off the leaders in twelfth. He quickened well early in the straight, but it did then look as if his chance had gone when becoming cramped and hampered 300m out.
Undeterred though, Serino Moodley seeking his 100th winner of the season, quickly got him back into stride and in a race where less than a length and a half covered the first eight home, he got his head in front with just 50m to travel.
The Gr1 World Pool Moment Of The Day Champion Stakes over 1600 m had been the first of the three top grade events to be run and in a time 0,77 seconds slower than that of the Tote Stakes winner, the nibbled at outsider ERIK DUBOIS (25/1 into 14/1) gained his second win.
Drawn widest at fourteen, the recent Gr2 Golden Horseshoe winner (seeking a four timer here), Vibe Check made the running whilst the Erik The Red gelding (restless in pens) was positioned in seventh some four lengths away.
He struck the front at the same time as Kazenoyoni 150m out and after a thrilling tussle in which both jockeys gave their all, he got the verdict by a neck. Third placed Red Spice recorded the fastest 400m to finish time in the race. At the back a good five lengths behind the winner turning for home, the Gr3 Cape Of Good Hope Nursery winner was flying at the finish.
Fastest Times:
1200m (3) Buffalo Storm Cody
1600m (3) Zeitz
WORLD CUP WINNER
FOR GREEFF
Multiple East Cape champion trainer Alan Greeff passed the R200 million career stakes earned milestone with five winners on the Fairview card last Friday, including an eyecatching success for the Varsfontein Stud-bred Gimmethatworldcup who outgunned his six opponents to win the R200 000 TAB Casino Listed Champion Juvenile Cup.
The final East Cape feature at the penultimate fixture of the 2025/26 season was something of a doddle for the Peter Moor-owned 5-10 favourite Gimmethatworldcup, who won impressively under Andrew Fortune, who was highly complimentary about his mount.
“He’s a proper, proper horse! I was impressed most of all by his action. He’s a 2000m turf horse. Maybe a Cape Derby horse even. Thanks to Richard Fourie, who rode him at his first two starts. He told me to move early if necessary. It didn’t work like that but he responded beautifully when asked. And to owner Peter Moor and Alan Greeff and his team. He’s a lovely horse,” added the Joito’ssponsored Candyman, who is enjoying a quiet wind- down to a terrific season.
After Just Carter (8-1) led early on, Gimmethatworldcup (5-10) responded well and drew clear to beat the pacesetter by 1,25 lengths in a time of 82,27 secs for the 1400m.
The winner’s stablemate First Officer (16-1) stayed on well for third.
A Varsfontein-bred son of champion Gimmethegreenlight (More Than Ready) out of the onetime winning Sail From Seattle mare Captive Lady, Gimmethatworldcup was a R600 000 National Yearling Sale buy.
A runaway maiden winner at his previous outing, he has now won 2 of 3 starts with a place on debut for stakes of R179 360.
Richard Fourie rode 3 of the Greeff winners on the day, with Andrew Fortune grabbing the balance via a double.
The final Fairview racemeeting is also the final local fixture of the SA season and is scheduled for Friday 31 July.
SA’S NEWEST TRAINING PARTNERSHIP
South Africa’s brand new father-and-son training partnership of Corne and Xander Spies is set to send out their first runners at Turffontein on Saturday as a new chapter begins in a story that commenced over a half century ago, and encompasses three generations.
The brand Spies has in fact been around horses and SA racing since the 1940’s.
Grandfather Tobie, a revered trainer who is still at the yard every day, laid the foundation, while his son, the 56 year old Corné, a man who mastered the art of travelling horses, is now partnered by his own son - or Tobie’s grandson if you prefer - Xander, a Lawyer, who graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) at North-West University in Potchefstroom in 2019.
The 29 year old Xander is currently serving as the youngest ever Chairman of the Racehorse Owners Association, a representative body for owners, with strong representation in the Highveld and Eastern Cape.
The generational confluence of the Spies trio makes for a rare skill set – Tobie’s oldschool horsemanship, Corne’s decades of practical training experience, and Xander’s 21st century experience across training, ownership, racing administration, law, and the commercial side of the sport.
An eloquent young professional, Xander told the Sporting Post that his grandfather was a successful trainer in his own right and remains an invaluable source of old-school horsemanship, knowledge and experience.
“My dad took over the stable from my grandfather in 2000. Our new partnership therefore comes 26 years after he assumed responsibility for the operation and is a natural progression, rather than a sudden change. The possibility of entering into a training partnership has actually been discussed for quite some time. We both felt that the beginning of the new racing season represented the right moment to formalise it,” Xander told the Sporting Post on Monday.
A multiple Grade 1-winning conditioner, Corne took over from Tobie in 2000. He won the Northern Cape award for Champion Racehorse Owner in the 2009/2010 racing season and during the 2014 and 2015 racing seasons, he raced a string in Zimbabwe and won that country’s Trainers’ Title for the 2014/2015 racing season.
During his career, Corne has saddled more than 10 000 runners and trained winners at every licensed racecourse in Africa, south of the equator!
“I have been involved with the stable from a young age and began working more formally within the operation when I was 16. I have spent close to six years working as my dad’s
assistant trainer, gaining practical experience in the daily training and management of the horses, staff management, owners, sales, race planning and the broader administration of the stable,” adds Xander.
The Spies stable has built a reputation for finding value at yearling sales and producing top-performing horses, without always relying on the most expensive purchases.
The Hollywoodbets-sponsored Spies Racing has traditionally been associated with precocious young horses and speed, although the stable has also enjoyed success across a wide variety of distances, including major staying races.
Some of the horses closely associated with the stable’s modern history include the likes of Rock Opera, War Horse, Van Halen, Singforafa, William Robertson, Supreme Quest, Elegantrix and Hazy Dazy.
Xander says that he has been ‘very fortunate’.
“As an owner, I have also been associated with four Grade 1 victories, which has deepened my appreciation for the standards and execution required to compete at the highest level. My heart and soul is in this great game. Nothing beats horses and people. And that’s simply what it is all about,” says Xander.
While handing over the reins from one generation to the next happens often, fatherand-son training partnerships in South Africa are not commonplace, but have proven successful as demonstrated by Milnertonbased duo Piet and Elbert Steyn, while Mike and Mat de Kock are at Randjesfontein and Summerveld.
In the past we had Gavin and Gareth van Zyl, while the Brett and James Crawford partnership was dissolved when Brett moved to continue his career in Hong Kong. Mike and Adam Azzie went on their own after Adam decided to move his family to KZN.
Xander concluded by telling the Sporting Post that he would remain in his role as ROA Chairman, while joining Corne to chart a course for the exciting challenges that lie ahead for Spies Racing.
“From my perspective, it is a privilege to continue something that my grandfather started and that my dad has developed for more than 25 years. The intention is to
preserve the identity, values and hands-on approach of Spies Racing while continuing to modernise the operation, attract new owners and build for the future. We believe our respective strengths complement one another well. The partnership provides continuity for our current owners and horses while giving the stable a clear long-term succession plan.”
He adds that above everything, the family are passionate about the horses, grateful for the support of their owners and excited to begin the new season together.
As Japanese writer Ryunosuke Satoro said: “Individually we are one drop, but together we are an ocean.”
MERRIMENT AT COUNTRY COURSE ON SUNNY SATURDAY
Favourite backers got off to a good start at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on Saturday when the aptly named Merriment did the business in the opening HWB Durbanville Welcomes You Maiden Juvenile Plate (f) over 1250m.
In what proved to be comfortably the slowest of the three races over the distance, the daughter of Vercingetorix raced second just three quarters of a length off the pace set by the 9/2 second favourite Evana (hanging out throughout).
She was ridden to lead going through the 300m, but then had to be kept up to her work
late on to hold off the running-on duo of Miss Arizona and Verse For Suzanne.
Despite losing a length at the start, racing very green, and wide on the latter part of the bend, the newcomer Verse For Suzanne ran on particularly well from off the pace in the straight and recorded the second fastest 400m to finish time of the afternoon.
Aldo Domeyer steers Merriment to her maiden victory on Saturday | Credit: Chase Liebenberg
There were three races run over 1250m in total with the fastest being the closing Hollywoodbets
Bright Future Class 4 (f&m) in which the 3yo CLIFFSCAPE (hanging out from the 300m) registered her third career victory from just ten starts.
Nicely positioned in fifth the daughter of Canford Cliffs raced just three lengths off the pace.
She was ridden to lead as they approached the 300m marker and although My Only Weakness ran on well from off the pace in the closing stages of the race, she did have that one held by a half at the wire. Interestingly, the 400m to finish time recorded by the runner up My Only Weakness proved to be the fastest for that segment of the afternoon.
In terms of stake money and average highest merit ratings the Race Coast Incentives –HWB Class 4 over 1600m marginally topped the bill and here victory went to the Andre Nel trained BOURBON KING. Racing much closer to the pace than he had done in recent starts, the son of Vercingetorix sat fifth just four lengths behind the free striding Noble Hero.
He ran on strongly in the straight and after striking the front 200m out, he went on to score under one of those clever rides by Andrew Fortune, quite a bit more easily than the official winning margin of half a length would suggest.
Track Condition:
Going: Good
Penetrometer: 23
Rain: Last 24 hours Nil – Last 7 days 14mm
Irrigation: Irrigation last 7 days Nil
False Rail: 2m out from 1600m with 5m spur at 510m
Wind: 10-15km/h Southerly cross wind
Course Variant: 0,76s fast
Race four on the card was the One World Syndicate Open Maiden (3yo’s) over 2000m and here a gamble was landed when the lightly raced ROYAL CELEB opened his account.
Unable to get within 6,75 lengths of a winner in four previous starts, Greg Ennion’s charge was backed all the way into 6/1 from 20’s.
Content to sit seventh of the eight for most of the journey, the Royal Mo gelding didn’t find the clearest of passages early in the home straight and had to switch out for a run approaching the 300m marker.
Once into stride though he quickened well and won going away after striking the front 60m from home.
Fastest Times: 1250m (3) Cliffscape 76,52 400-finish My Only Weakness 23,06
FROM KATHU DISIREE STRIKES GOLD
While only two tote favourites arrived on last Friday’s Fairview eight-race card, it didn’t stop one astute player from finding all eight winners to walk away with the R100 000 Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge jackpot prize.
Player Disiree became the 156th jackpot winner in the popular competition and scored 120,90 points with her straight eight winners, five of which were saddled by Alan Greeff, who took his career stakes earnings to over R200 million in the process.
A 29 year old single Mom from Kathu in the Northern Cap, Disiree is a regular player and
told the Sporting Post that the win puts her in a position to invest in her own business.
Disiree sadly failed to wager a minimum of R50 on the programmatically generated betslip, which would have meant that her payout would have rocketed to R1 million!
Hollywoodbets’ A Shaw Thing host Rouvaun Smit finished a joint seventh on Friday’s leaderboard, with his 6 winners and 2 seconds bringing him to within the proverbial heartbeat of the jackpot bonanza.
Just two weeks earlier, the veteran racing man found 8 of the 9 winners at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
Mr Smit, aka ‘Rudy The Shrewdy’, told the Sporting Post that it is just a matter of time before he hits the big payout!
That’s insightful form study, coupled with the power of positive thinking and a reminder that A Shaw Thing is available on www. sportingpost.co.za, for all KZN and Western Cape racemeetings, as well as for Gauteng on the weekends.
The Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge is available on all local and selected international racemeetings, with entries closing five minutes before the scheduled off-time of the first race.
Over R46 million has been paid out in South Africa’s most popular horse racing competition of all time.
All one needs to enter the Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge is a Hollywoodbets account
and to get your selections in at least five minutes before the first race on a card.
This puts you in contention to win either a share of the Must-Be-Won prize or the whole/share of the All-Or-Nothing prize.
The idea is to find as many winners on any local or selected international fixtures as possible.
Points are awarded based on finishing positions and the total number of runners in a race and the starting price of your selection if it wins.
The Must-Be-Won prize of R5 000 is shared among the top 20 players on the leaderboard at the end of each eight-race (minimum) meeting.
If you place a R50+ bet using the Bet Slip Feature, the Jackpot amount rockets to R1 million, irrespective of the number of horses carded to run, so long as at least eight races are run on the day.
On days when seven or fewer races are carded, the All Or Nothing prize will be capped at R100 000, provided you’ve taken a R50+ bet using the bet slip feature.
Enjoy this week’s Glorious Goodwood action with a Hollywoodbets Punter’s Challenge entry on each day, including the finale on Saturday.
55 YEARS AFTER MILL REEF…
There was a moment, not long after the conclusion of a truly international King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday, when winning trainer Andrew Balding had to step away from the throng of well-wishers and reporters to gather his emotions.
Facing the music after big-race success is nothing new to him but winning Britain’s most prestigious open-age middle-distance race for the first time with Kalpana, 55 years after his father Ian had achieved the same feat with Mill Reef, brought the current master of Kingsclere to a teary standstill.
The Racing Post reports that for all that he had been confident that Kalpana was in better shape than when going
down by a length to Calandagan in last year’s race, there were fresh challengers from across the globe to contend with this time, and Balding was not for contemplating a fairytale ending in the build-up.
So as Kalpana’s length-and-a-half success over the reigning champion was repeated on the big screen overlooking the winner’s enclosure, with Balding’s eyes glued to the rerun, a heady mix of pride and pleasure got the better of him.
Colin Keane gets Kalpana home | Credit: Ascot Racecourse
“We were saying today she could run the race of her life and finish fifth and she certainly has run the race of her life,” said Balding after regaining his composure. “I can’t say we were expecting it to happen but we were hoping. She’s a very special mare and Colin Keane did a beautiful job out there. It was a fabulous ride on a fabulous mare and well done to all the team at home.”
Keen to rejuvenate the King George’s status among the very best mile-and-a-half races in the world, the executives at Ascot have invested heavily in the race and the first £2 million running of the midsummer highlight attracted seven Group 1 winners from four different countries, including two challengers from Japan.
The memories of 12 months ago came racing back as 13-2 chance Kalpana struck the front inside the final two furlongs with Calandagan hunting her down, but unlike last year, there was never a stage where the highest-rated horse from 2025 truly looked like he was about to reel the leader in, with Balding putting that down to a “leaner and lighter” version of Kalpana this time.
“I felt she was better this year,” he said. “Last year it was a struggle to get weight off her and this year she’s trained leaner and lighter and we’ve just been so happy with her all along. I don’t know what the difference is this year but that was probably the telling change to last year.”
Balding’s bulging CV of big-race wins includes an Oaks and two 2,000 Guineas, but adding Kalpana’s name to a King George roll of honour that contains Enable, Shergar, Brigadier Gerard, Grundy, Nijinsky and Mill Reef topped the lot as far as he is concerned.
“A race like this defines a career,” he said. “It’s a race we’ve grown up with and the first ever winner of this race [Supreme Court in 1951]
was trained by Evan Williams at Kingsclere, so it’s lovely to bring it back all these years later.
“It’s a huge privilege and a big deal. We’re so lucky to have Juddmonte in the yard and it’s a huge team effort.”
Chasing a third consecutive win in the Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes back at Ascot in October had been top of the agenda for Kalpana before Saturday’s win. But it would be a big call to miss the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, run 13 days before Champions Day, after Kalpana staked her claim to be Europe’s finest over a mile and a half.
“We’ll have to sit down and see what the owners want to do, but I’m sure it will be under consideration,” said Barry Mahon, European racing manager to winning owners Juddmonte. “That was the who’s who of the best mile-and-ahalf horses in the world and for her to win it just shows how good she is. It’s huge.”
Keane, a little over a year into his role as retained rider for Juddmonte in Britain, Ireland and France, described Kalpana as a “dream to ride” and always felt he was in the driving seat.
“She’s like a sprinter out of the stalls and then a National Hunt horse through the race,” he said “She relaxes beautifully but can quicken again at the finish and I’m lucky to be on her back.”
Balding enjoyed the victory in the company of wife Anna Lisa and sons Jonno and Toby, but before parting he revealed he was a little nervous about catching up with his daughter, Flora.
“She asked me the other day whether I’d ever get a tattoo,” said the King George winner. “I said, ‘No, but I might have to get one of Kalpana if she wins the King George’. I hope she’s not going to hold me to that!”
www.racingpost.com
ALL ABOUT THE LADIES THE LADIES
AT
GOODWOOD GOODWOOD ON THURSDAY
Thursday is Ladies Day at Glorious Goodwood and racegoers can expect warm conditions throughout the day with no rain forecast. Track conditions are likely to remain good, good to firm in places. The prestigious Gr1 Qatar Nassau Stakes (16h35) is the highlight of an eight-race card for day three of the Goodwood Festival.
Making memories with selfies | Credit: Jayson Fong
Last year Ballydoyle’s Oaks runner-up
Whirl was too good for her rivals under a canny Ryan Moore ride and the duo look set to follow up with their St
Mark’s Basilica filly Diamond Necklace.
A winner of all five of her starts, including victories this season in the French 1,000 Guineas and French Oaks, Diamond Necklace looks very hard to oppose.
She faces only four rivals in the ten furlong feature alongside her stablemate, Moments Of Joy who is presumably there to set the pace.
The obvious dangers are the John and Thady Gosden-trained Friendly Soul and fellow fiveyear-old See The Fire, saddled by the King George VI winning trainer, Andrew Balding.
William Buick takes the ride on the Gosden mare who finished a fine third to Blue Bolt in the Group 2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes at the royal meeting. Blue Bolt subsequently boosted that form when scoring decisively over Irish 1000 Guineas winner Precise in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes at the Newmarket July Festival.
See The Fire won the Middleton at York in May before an unplaced effort behind Ombudsman in the Group 1 Prince Of
Wales’s at Royal Ascot. Now back against the girls with Oisin Murphy staying loyal, she must have a chance.
However, both these mares must concede a 9lb age allowance to Diamond Necklace. That should prove to much to bear, so the exacta spot goes to another three-year-old, Botagoz. This progressive Mehmas filly represents the inform Roger Varian yard who have recorded 7 wins from their last 18 runners over the past fortnight.
She takes a jump in class after getting up to beat a Godolphin favourite in a Newcastle Group 3 in late June but was supplemented by her connections for this race last week.
Earlier on the card, Night In Vegas could be worth following in the Gr2 Markel Richmond Stakes (15h25). Ten juvenile colts contest over 6 furlongs with the selection a course and distance winner.
The Eve Johnson Houghton trained runner subsequently finished one and a half lengths back when fifth in the Gr2 Coventry Stakes at the royal meeting.
The Lucky Vega colt had the reopposing Cut A Dash a neck in front of him in fourth and the front-running Adaay Of Scarlett a further length in front in second.
Adaay Of Scarlett has been placed subsequently at Newmarket so the other two arrive here fresher. Add to that, the selection was bumped when making his run from the rear of the field at Ascot and he could be worth a touch at around 9/2.
The first race is off at 14h50 on Thursday.
RACING MEDIA EQUUS AWARDS
CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE IN RACING STORYTELLING
The Equus Awards celebrate excellence in South African horseracing, both on and off the track. The annual Equus Awards for Racing Media honour excellence in the journalism, photography, broadcasting and digital storytelling that bring our sport to life.
As the ways in which racing stories are told continue to evolve, the Equus Awards are committed to recognising excellence wherever outstanding horseracing storytelling happens. Whether in print, on television, through digital platforms or on social media, the stories of our sport live on long after the races are run.
In that spirit, journalists, photographers, broadcasters and digital content creators are invited to submit their best work produced during the 2025/26 South African horseracing season.
Entries for this year’s Equus Awards for Racing Media are now open.
Categories
The Equus Committee recognises excellence in the following categories:
• Written (print and electronic)
• Photography (still images)
Broadcast (television and digital platforms)
Entry Criteria | 2025/26 Season
1. Entries are open to all journalists, photographers, broadcasters and digital content creators. Previous involvement in horseracing media is not a prerequisite, and new entrants are warmly encouraged to participate.
2. Written and broadcast entrants may submit a maximum of two published or broadcast
works produced between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2026.
3. Photography entrants may submit a maximum of three images depicting any aspect of the South African horseracing industry, taken during the same eligibility period.
4. Each submission must include:
5. Details of where and when the work was published or broadcast.
6. A brief biography of the entrant.
7. A recent head-and-shoulders photograph.
8. Only work published or broadcast during the eligibility period will be considered.
9. Entries will be judged on the quality of research, accuracy, originality, storytelling, technical execution and overall presentation.
10. Submissions should demonstrate relevance to South African horseracing and contribute to a broader appreciation and understanding of the sport.
11. The judges’ decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
Closing Date - Monday, 3 August 2026
Submissions
Email entries to natalie@racehorseowners.co.za
All submissions will be acknowledged upon receipt. Only entries that have been acknowledged will be valid. If an acknowledgement email is not received within 24 hours, please contact Natalie Turner or the ROA office on 011 683 3220.
Further updates and information will be published on the official Equus Awards website ( www.equusawards.co.za ) and social media channels.
Now Out!
DIRECTORY OF SIRES 2026 - SOUTH AFRICA
TRAINERS
JOCKEYS
BREEDERS
