SIZZLING CAPE SUMMER SEASON

The Feature races have all been in the Cape over their summer time and wow there has been some exciting racing! Gimmethegreenlight, Variety Club, Princess Victoria and Thunder Dance are among some of the successful three year olds as well as the older horses Val Da Ra, What a Winter and Ebony Flier have won some of the features there.

It has been very frustrating for all the connections of the Dynasty filly BEACH BEAUTY (pictured) that has run second in both the Victress Stakes Grade 3 and the Paddock Stakes Grade 1. The pace has been really a 'Cape Crawl' and she has had to make the pace instead of her usual style of settling down in the field and finding a devastating turn of foot at the end. She has been caught on the line, and in the latter race only just, where on both occasions giving weight away! She is now in the final Met Field and the longer trip low weight and bigger field will hope fully now test her ability in a properly run race. We wish her team of owners and conditioner Dennis Drier the very best in this prestigious event.

Dennis has had a good run during his visit to the Cape with other graduates from Ambleway including HAPPY HEART and POTENT POWER. HAPPY HEART is another daughter of Dynasty that won for him over 1600 meters in fine style. This was her second win for Cape owner Hassim Adams. He then won with our first juvenile POTENT POWER who although a little green found his way to surge through at the end of the 1000 meter sprint to win easily. The team of owners Messrs Buhr, Dally, Pitman and Currie must have been thrilled with this win in his debut on the track! Congratulations to all!

St John Gray has had some success with our horses we have sent to him recently including YER-MAAN, FORMATION and PAVLOVA. All of these horses have rewarded him with wins in their first few starts. YER-MAAN won over 1600 meters to provide St John a win in his second start and he is one of the first off spring of Jam Alley to run. The daughter of this well bred stallion PAVLOVA obliged in her third start to win easily over 1450 meters. St John talks very highly of the actions of these progeny of his winner of the Grade 1 Classic over 1800 meters. FORMATION won her third start over 1450 in the sand easily and she is a big rangy daughter of the mare Polinnaise who has already had progeny compete in Dubai. Congratulations - may they keep firing for you.

We have been lucky on several occasions with other owner breeders including Pat and Henry Devine and Mrs Bridget Oppenheimer. The latter won with two progeny of her ill-fated stallion - Strike Smartly. CHILL won over 1450 meters for Craig Eudey and WILD TYPE won for Gavin Van Zyl over 1400 meters. Both of these horses have been very honest types and between them have picked up a few wins each! Congratulations to you all!

SKY CAPERS and ICE GODDESS have won good races for their owner breeders Pat and Henry Devine. SKY CAPERS won her second race in a row for them in PE, and she is trained by Justin Snaith. In Cape Town ICE GODDESS was successful on Queens Plate day winning the first race in easy fashion. She won the grooms race so the rider had to guide her home with hands and heels only and she did so in fine style from the back of the field suggesting she is a useful filly for conditioner Mike Bass. Well done to you all!

We have had success for a number of different owners including Alesh Naidoo whose filly PROUD MOMENT won over 1600 meters for Paul Lafferty. STELLAR SEASON obliged the Murphys by getting her head in front where it counts for conditioner Duncan Howells over the sprint distance of 1200 meters, as did LAMORNA and DAUNTLESS DELANCE for the Cassell family and conditioner Michael Roberts over 1000 meters. MR GIGILO was successful for Moodleys Racing Team and Garth Puller over a mile and FRENCH REEF was rewarded for his consistency winning over 1300 meters for Pauline and Keith Young. Congratulations again to Craig Eudey who has got the best out of this horse to boast several wins now! Well done to all the successful owners and trainers of these horses.

We have a list of horses that have been knocking on the door and should be successful soon……WEST VIRGINIA, JET INTO THE WIND, CHRYSTAL BAY, LINK MAN, LORD LEIGH, GRASP YOUR DESTINY, MAJESTIC EMBLEM, HALLOWED, WYNNHOLMES STAR, LILY THE PINK, WATCH THE SUNSET, NICETY, MADAME ROONEY, TULLYNALLY, OLIMPIC MADAME, SPY GLASS, TWO TONE, GREEN LINE and ISLE OF DOGS.

The other juvenile to watch is SKWELETI for Dennis Drier as she has run 3 places in the Cape and is improving with each run!

The Cape season winds up at the end of the month with the Cape Met and the Cape Premier Yearling Sale held at the ICC the two days leading up to the big race day. This sale was held for the first time last year and appeared very successful for sellers with good prices being paid for yearlings. We hope that the foreign buyers who are in the city for their holiday and the Met are there in full force as well to keep the sale successful. We will be there at the sale and are very willing to assist buyers purchasing yearlings and to help them grow out any babies they may select and purchase.

See you at the sale and the Met!

Jane Trotter