Cape Guineas

This is one of the better Guineas line-ups for some time. Variety Club and Gimmethegreenlight bring the best form. Divine Jet could be anything- we will only know on saturday. As with Liancourt Rock prior to the Selangor, he has won his races impressively, but is up in class. Silver Flyer has to be respected, but he has to travel. Princess Victoria has not been pressed by the fillies, and will also now show how good she is. Only Star Effort (1990/91 season) has done the Fillies/Cape Guineas double in the past 30 years. However, Little Ballerina won the Cape Guineas in 93/94, and the runner up was also a filly, Fair Model. The other filly to win the Cape Guineas in the past 30 years was Empress Club (91/92). In 92/93 Vesta was 2nd beaten less than a length; Ecurie 2nd in 85/86; Fanciful 4th in 88/89; Shepherd's Moon (94/95) 7th, but beaten less than a length, in one of the best fields ever, despite the fact of a blanket finish. League Title was 3rd in 95/96; Arabian Lass 5th and Igreja 4th in the subsequent 2 years. In 2008/9, Mother Russia and Sparkling Gem ran 3rd and 5th. The program these days makes it difficult for the fillies, with only 2 weeks between the 2 races. Fillies of the calibre of Ebony Flyer, Sun Classique, Bad Girl Runs, Perfect Promise in the past 10 years were not entered by their trainers, due to alternative programs yet probably had the ability to win it.
A fascinating contest, and no surprise if any of the top 5 win it.
My prediction is : 1st Princess Victoria
2nd Variety Club
3rd Gimmethegreenlight
4th Divine Jet
5th Silver Flyer

Divine Jet to teach Princess what real class is

Thanks Peter

By David Thiselton..

Greg Ennion, who will saddle Astro News for the first time, believes that the filly Princess Victoria is a “freak” and makes her the one to beat in the Cape Premier Yearling Sales at Kenilworth Racecourse on Saturday and also believes the Joey Ramsden-trained The Balladeer has been put in the race as a pacemaker.



Astro News, who is owned by Fred Crabbia and was trained by Summerveld’s Ivan Moore to win the Grade 3 Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m at Turffontein’s Standside track in his last start on November 5, only arrived at Ennion’s Milnerton yard a week ago and will return to Moore at the end of the Cape Sizzling Summer Season.



Ennion said, “He came here fit and in very good condition and is eating well, working well and his blood reading is good. We now just need a miracle to beat all these superstars!”



Ennion admitted he did not know much about the Silvano gelding having only had him for a week and added that he had kept him to the light tracks at Milnerton in order to emulate the Summerveld conditions that he was used to as much as possible.



He will take Astro News to Kenilworth today (Wednesday) mainly to just show him the racecourse as this will be the first time he has ever raced around a left hand turn.

Astro News, who will be ridden by Christopher Puller, has unfortunately drawn wide at eleven.



Regarding the comparism between the Johannesburg and the Cape form, Ennion said, “There is a Mike de Kock runner as well as a Sean Tarry horse and Astro News, so the race will tell where we stand.”



Ennion makes the superstar Glen Kotzen-trained Grade 1 Avontuur Estate Fillies Guineas winner Princess Victoria the horse to beat.



“I think she is a freak and will be a hard horse to beat even if the Fillies Guineas was only two weeks ago. The Fillies Guineas was the first time she’s ever come off the bit. They went at a snail’s pace and Trinity House is more of a sprinting type and I think that’s the only reason she got that close.”



He added about the intriguing entry, the Joey Ramsden-trained The Balladeer, who took seven races to win his maiden, “He only beat a five-year-old maiden last time. I can’t say what they are going to do with him, but I can only see him being in the race to set the pace.”



Asked on whether this horse was good enough to set the pace, he said that he could be taught in training to fulfil the role and he didn’t believe that the other possibility, that he was there to deliver a sucker punch, held much water.

They went a snails pace?Her time was certainly no slower than that of recent winners.

Here are the winners and times of the Fillies Guineas for the last few years:

No Horse Jockey Al/Bl Kg Dr Fin Dist Time OP SP Price
1 PRINCESS VICTORIA Sean Cormack A 58.0 2 1 0.00 100.23 3/10 1/5F KW192
1 EBONY FLYER Bernard Fayd'Herbe A 58.0 4 1 0.00 100.21 7/20 9/20F KW206
14 FIELD FLOWER Gerrit Schlechter A 57.0 8 1 0.00 101.63 33/1 50/1 KW223
4 SPARKLING GEM Richard Fourie A - 57.0 11 1 0.00 100.89 7-1 12-1 KW217
1 CAPTAIN'S LOVER Richard Fourie A - 57.0 11 1 0.00 103.20 2-1 11-10F KW225
2 SUN CLASSIQUE (AUS) Jeff Lloyd A - 57.0 13 1 0.00 98.70 16-10 12-10F KW281
1 BAD GIRL RUNS Karl Neisius A - 57.0 14 1 0.00 99.41 7-2 4-1 KW225
14 SHADOW DANCING Glen Hatt A - 57.0 13 1 0.00 100.47 20-1 40-1 KW269
6 EMERALD BEAUTY (ARG) Kevin Shea A B 57.0 9 1 0.00 101.61 16-10 2-1 NT403
10 PERFECT PROMISE Martin D A 57.0 2 1 0.00 98.90 7/1 5/1 K 213

and here are the colts:

No Horse Jockey Al/Bl Kg Dr Fin Dist Time OP SP Prev
4 SOLO TRAVELLER Bernard Fayd'Herbe A 58.0 3 1 0.00 98.74 5/1 7/2 KW258
7 NOORDHOEK FLYER (SNL) Karl Neisius A 57.0 6 1 0.00 99.62 7-2 9-2 KW281
9 LE DRAKKAR (AUS) M J Byleveld A - 57.0 14 1 0.00 99.82 5-1 5-1 KW277
2 POINTING NORTH Piere Strydom A - 57.0 8 1 0.00 99.09 3-1 5-2F TN416
4 JAY PEG Anton Marcus A - 57.0 2 1 0.00 97.46 3-1 22-10 KW333
1 EXPRESS WAY (BRZ) Karl Neisius A - 57.0 8 1 0.00 97.91 18-10 18-10F KW317
5 RABIYA Gerrit Schlechter A - 57.0 2 1 0.00 100.38 5-1 5-1 KW334

Note the weight for the last 2 years has been lifted from 57kgs to 58kgs.

The Mike de Kock-trained Investec Dingaans winner Silver Flyer leaves for Cape Town today (Wednesday), where he runs in the Cape Premier Yearling Sales Guineas, and the champion trainer makes him a big runner.



De Kock wanted to geld this horse the Monday after his Dingaans run, but was forced to change the plan after he came out and won fluently by 2,5 lengths under Glen Hatt, who keeps the ride.



De Kock said, “He does not have temperament problems he is just coltish, so likes to do what he likes to do, but otherwise he is pretty straight forward.”



De Kock said that there is a concern about how well any horse will travel, but he does not have any concern about his coltishness affecting his performance on the day.



“There has never been a problem before, he has always run genuine races,” he said.



He added that it couldn’t be said that the Cape form was better than the Dingaans form or vice versa.



“It’s not race over like some of them down in the Cape seem to think. I feel that if Silver Flyer brings his Dingaans form with him he will finish in the first three.”



“He finished less than a length behind Gimmethegreenlight in the Premier’s Champion Stakes over 1600m at Greyville when he was still green and dumb.”



“The race will tell and that’s why we race.”



De Kock felt that the Joey Ramsden-trained Selangor Cup winner, Variety Club, was the horse to beat.



“He’s done the mile and beaten them all, at least as far as the colts and geldings are concerned.”



Regarding the top class Fillies Guineas winner Princess Victoria, he said, “I think she will need to improve, at least on that last run. I think Variety Club has beaten better horses than she’s beaten. But I must say it’s a bold move by the connections.”



Silver Flyer will stay at the Kenilworth Quarantine station and won’t need to do much more in his preparation.



De Kock concluded, “He is very fit and there’s not much more to do.”



Silver Flyer has a great draw of five and experienced jockey Hatt is sure to make the most of it.



De Kock has won the Cape Guineas three times before with the great Horse Chestnut in 1999, with Flight Alert in 2002 and Domino Man in 2003.

By David Thiselton


Geoff Woodruff trained the filly Star Effort to become the only horse to win both the fillies and colts version of the Cape Guineas in 1991 and he wished Glen Kotzen and the connections of Princess Victoria all the best in their effort to emulate the feat this year.



Princess Victoria, an Equus Champion filly by Victory Moon, lines up in the Cape Premier Yearling Sales Guineas on Saturday at Kenilworth Racecourse against the boys having already beaten the girls on December 3 in the Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas.



“I think it will be harder for Princess Victoria as the two races are only two weeks apart this year, while we had about a month,” said Woodruff, “But she is very talented and it will be lovely for them if they can do it, so I wish them well.”



Star Effort was by the stallion Esplendor and was only defeated once in an eleven start career that included six Grade 1 victories.



Woodruff said, “She was a very big, strong, muscular filly. She had a head like a Duchess and an arse like a barmaid, which is what any horseman looks for in a filly. She had the most perfect nature on top of it. She was very quiet. We’ve been fortunate to have had some good fillies, but she was without doubt the best filly I’ve ever trained.”



Star Effort was in fact the first horse Woodruff, who has been South Africa’s champion trainer on five occasions, was given after taking out his license in October 1988.



Woodruff recalled, “Tolly Novick bred her as she was out of a mare called Pilgrim’s Rest who was by Flower Power, whom he raced. She was on Hyjo Stud farm which was next door to Ralph Rixon’s place from where I worked and Tolly said I could go and see her. She was only a weanling, but was just about as big as the two-year-olds. She was lovely, well proportioned, beautifully balanced and just about perfect conformation-wise. She was later sent to Penny Bester’s to be broken in and came into the yard as a two-year-old. We knew immediately that she was special.”



Star Effort made her debut very early over 800m in December 1989 at Milnerton and won by 1,5 lengths.



She followed by winning a Juvenile Plate over 1000m at Kenilworth by a comfortable 3,65 lengths and then won the Ascot Fillies Nursery Stakes over 1200m at Milnerton by 2,35 lengths.



Woodruff said, “We then took her to Durban and Eric Chelin and I contrived to get her beaten with the wrong tactics (in the Grade 3 Strelitzia Stakes over 1200m at Greyville where she had a wide draw of 13). But that was the last and only time she was beaten. She was brilliant.”



In her next two starts she won the Grade 1 Allan Robertson over 1200m at Scottsville and the Grade 1 Golden Slipper over 1400m at Greyville, before going on to have an incredible three-year-old career.



Woodruff knew a lot about the great Empress Club as he is trainer Tony Millard’s brother-in-law, and he reckoned Star Effort was every bit as good as her.



He continued, “In fact in her first start as a three-year-old she was back in the Cape and met Flaming Rock in the Computaform Stakes (a Grade 2 over 1600m at Kenilworth) and she beat him. It was an exceptionally good win and I remember Karl Neisius couldn’t believe it.”



Flaming Rock was the same age and did give Star Effort 7,5kg that day, but he is still rated by Neisius as the best horse he’s ever ridden and was at his very best over a mile.



Star Effort followed that by doing the Guineas double on January 5 and February 2 1991 respectively, although Flaming Rock didn’t line up for the colts Guineas.



“We were pretty confident for both races and I think she started odds on in both,” said Woodruff.



She was in fact 5-10 for the fillies Guineas and even money for the colts.



The great eleven-times South African champion jockey and once British champion jockey Michael “Muis” Roberts was aboard for both Guineas wins.



“Eric (Chelin) had swallowed a fishbone, so couldn’t ride and luckily Muis was available,” recalled Woodruff.



Chelin rode her in all of her other races.



After the Guineas successes she was taken back to Durban and after winning the Grade 1 SA Fillies Guineas at Scottsville she was made the ante-post favourite for the Durban July.



Her last race was in the Grade 1 South African 2000 at Greyville.



Woodruff recalled, “During the race she was galloped into and lost one shoe, while another shoe was turned sideways. How she won the race we will never know, but she did a tendon and never raced again.”



Flaming Rock, who didn’t run in the South African 2000, went on to win the July although he was denied the chance to avenge his defeat by the great filly.

The Joey Ramsden-trained Var colt Variety Club will go into the R1 million Grade 1 Cape Premier Yearling Sales Guineas on Saturday at Kenilworth as the choice of many pundits to win and Ramsden agreed that he had a lot in his favour.



The race features one of the strongest line ups of three-year-old colts and geldings ever seen in this race and Ramsden said, “I’m not one of those fools who thinks my horse is perfect and I have respect for everybody else’s horses whether I like them as human beings or not. I have the utmost respect for Mike’s (de Kock) horse, Dean’s (Kannemeyer) horse and Justin’s (Snaith) horse. I would never make the statement that Variety Club is the best three-year-old I’ve ever trained, but he’s certainly very useful and he’s got terrific form. He is race hardy and it certainly helps in the Guineas to have a horse that knows what it’s all about. He has had a great prep, has a good draw and a good jockey (the reigning champion, Anton Marcus). He has a lot in his favour, so fingers crossed …”



Variety Club’s form speaks for itself.



He beat the Justin Snaith-trained Gimmethegreenlight narrowly in the traditional best pointer to the Guineas, the Selangor Cup over 1600m of the Kenilworth Old Course, and this pair had a top class field strung out like the washing.



The highly regarded Liancourt Rock was three lengths behind them, there was then three lengths back to the dual Grade 3 winner Depardieu and then a further four lengths back to two horses regarded as classic contenders from the Ramsden yard, Master Mascus and Silver Haven.



The Dingaans form, won quite comfortably by the Mike de Kock-trained Guineas contender Silver Flyer, has been a bit muddled as Mushreq, the horse that finished eighth, 7,5 lengths behind Silver Flyer, came out and beat Baracah, who had finished sixth, very easily indeed over 1800m at level weights this past Saturday.



Furthermore, Tandragee, the horse that finished tenth in the Dingaans 9,5 lengths back, was beaten over 1400m on Saturday in a MR77 Handicap off a merit rating of 89.



It is therefore questionable whether the Dingaans form is as strong as the Selangor’s.



Regarding the pace on Saturday, Ramsden said that trainers always hoped for a good pace, implying that it led to a true run race.



In this regard one of his quartet of contenders, The Balladeer, who has a fair draw of seven and has not had a rider declared yet, is a most intriguing entry as he took seven runs to win his maiden and is yet to run beyond 1400m.



He also has the same owners as Variety Club, Markus and Ingrid Jooste.



However, Ramsden would not be drawn on whether he was in the race as a pacemaker.



“I’m not saying he is the pacemaker or isn’t. We will decide his tactics on the day.”



Ramsden’s two other contenders are the aforementioned Master Mascus and Silver Haven.



The Western Winter colt Master Mascus finished within 0,2 lengths of Variety Club as a two-year-old in a favourite race of Ramsden’s and one in which he has an outstanding record, the Langerman over 1500m at Kenilworth.



However, he was beaten ten lengths in the Selangor as was the Silvano colt Silver Haven, who started his career later and has put up some notable performances, including a one length second to Liancourt Rock over 1400m at Durbanville and a facile Novice Plate win over 1600m at Durbanville.



Ramsden said both of these horses were doing very well and added, “We like to make the excuse that horses are better suited to the new course (with its longer straight), but both of them are lovely big striding horses, who come from behind, so, yes, the new course will be more to their liking.”



One of the best people placed to comment on Ramsden’s runners is Glen Hatt, who rode Variety Club to victory in the Grade 3 Matchem Stakes over 1400m at Durbanville on October 9 and rode Master Mascus in the Langerman.



In mid-October he described Variety Club as a “top horse” and a “huge Guineas runner” and added, “He has the speed and can stay the trip.”



Variety Club’s Selangor win has backed him up and his comments at the same time on Master Mascus are equally informative and point to this horse not being one that can be written off, despite the ten length defeat in the Selangor.



He said, “He was beaten just a neck by Variety Club in the Langerman and although I think Variety Club was the better horse on the day there were excuses as Master Mascus is normally a horse that comes from off them and on that day (as it panned out) I rode him from the front. He is also a typical Guineas horse.”



Ramsden agreed that with the ban on direct exports to Europe at present due to an African Horse Sickness (AHS) breakout in the AHS Controlled Area in February the Grade 1s would be very hard to win this Sizzling Summer Season and he added, “To win a Grade 1 in any year, or just to be competitive in a Grade 1, is very hard.”

Dean Kannemeyer’s trio of Divine Jet, Liancourt Rock and Depardieu provide his prolific classic winning yard with a strong hand in the Cape Premier yearling Sales Guineas at Kenilworth on Saturday and he reckoned he had engaged the three best jockeys in the country to bring home the trophy.



Dean and his father Peter have won this race seven times between them and everything points to the somewhat controversial colt Divine Jet being the one that has the best chance of bringing them an eighth.



The late Graham Beck originally named this colt “Devine Jet” as a dig at Henry Devine, owner of the late great stallion Jet Master.



Shortly after Jet Master’s stud career had begun Devine removed him from Beck’s Highlands farm Stud after a disagreement.



He thereafter refused any of Beck’s mares a cover by Jet Master.



However, Beck was the highest bidder at an auction for one cover by Jet Master and “Devine Jet” was the resultant progeny.



Beck was forced to change the name after Devine appealed to the NHRA, whose naming laws state there has to be permission for any surname to be used in a horse’s name.



Kannemeyer earmarked this colt at the National Yearling Sales but was forced out of the bidding at roundabout R3,8 million.



It was sold for a record R4 million, but as luck would have it he then picked him up for just R1 million for the same client, Lady Laidlaw, at the dispersal sale after Beck’s death.



Divine Jet has lived up to his price tag as he oozes class, has a devastating turn of foot and is unbeaten in three impressive wins from 1200-1400m.



Kannemeyer reckoned he had got him “spot on” for Saturday’s race and said he would be a better horse than in his last start.



The colt had a setback after arriving at Cape Town after his first win at Clairwood over 1200m on August 11, but after recovering he came out and won easily at Durbanville over 1200m.



The aim of his last race over the Kenilworth 1400m was to drop him out and teach him to settle and he came through with “flying colours”, winning comfortably again.



Karl Neisius has chosen Divine Jet, theorising that Liancourt Rock would be booked for third place at best after his three length defeat by Variety Club and Gimmethgreenlight in the Selangor Cup over the Kenilworth Old Course 1600m, while Divine Jet on the other hand was still an unknown quantity.



Kannemeyer reckoned Divine Jet had the class to win the Guineas but his wide draw meant he would need a bit of luck.



Divine Jet went to Kenilworth last Saturday in order to “blow clean” and Kannemeyer said he had done a “very, very good gallop over 800m.”



Liancourt Rock and Depardieu have just been kept ticking over after their Selangor runs on November 27 in which they were 3,3 lengths and 6,05 lengths in third and fourth place respectively behind Variety Club.



Kannemeyer said, “Liancourt Rock unwound and then became a bit one paced in the short straight of the Old Course in the Selangor. He was beaten fair and square, but he is a horse that will probably get 2000m and I think the long straight of the New Course will make a difference. I have lost the Selangor before and then won the Guineas by beating the Selangor winner. The draw hasn’t been kind to Liancourt Rock either, but he has a lot of class and a top jockey in Felix Coetzee who will suit him, so don’t write him off. He is very well and I have him ready for the Guineas.”



Depardieu is a dual Grade 3 winner and Kannemeyer said, “He has a lot to do to turn the tables on Variety Club and I think the mile is his maximum trip, but I couldn’t have him better so we will take our chances.”



Depardieu is drawn two with Bernard Fayd’herbe aboard.



Kannmeyer makes Variety Club the one to beat.



He concluded, “If mine were drawn well I think the opposition would be taking anti-ulcer treatment. I’m not sure what the opposition tactics will be but I have the services of three jockeys with years of experience and nobody can be better off than me in that regard. It has always been my policy that if you employ the right people you don’t tell them how to their job. I’ll leave it to them. It’s a great field and a bad horse has never won the Guineas. Only top horses win the Guineas.”



Of his other runners on the card he felt that the three-year-old filly Bermuda Sloop’s Avontuur Estate Fillies Guineas fifth position finish two weeks ago was “a very, very good run.”



She came from near last in the slow run race and was flying at the finish and Kannemeyer confirmed she would appreciate the extra 200m of Saturday’s Grade 3 Victress Stakes, although she also has a tough draw to overcome.

by David Thiselton

Charl thinks it could be an "ordinary" Guineas....


IN listening to the debates and forecasts for today’s R1-million Cape Premier Yearling Sales Guineas at Kenilworth one puzzling statement that is being made ad nauseam needs to be addressed: This year’s Guineas features the strongest line-up we’ve seen in years!

The truth is, it might well be one of the weakest we’ve seen in years. In studying form one also needs to put provincial prejudice and hype aside and look at the facts presented on paper.Read more

I am with Charl.That is why my comment is that ,unless its the filly,I will be surprised if the form holds up in the Natal season

I think the strength of this field lies in the number of milers in this years line-up. In comparison to the previous years mentined in the article, some of those only improved after the guineas or it was not thier optimum trip. In short I have to disagree, this is a very strong line-up of really good milers.