CAPE FEATURE SEASON GETS HOT!

Ambleway graduates have featured prominently in feature races in the current Cape summer season. We are very proud of our pre-training graduate LOVE IS IN THE AIR and two spelling horses, KAPIL and GIANT'S JEWEL.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR has competed well in two big races: she ran a cracking third to River Jetez and Sparkling Gem in the Victress Stakes (listed) over 1600m, coming with a late burst she got to within three quarters of a length of these fillies. This was a great effort and it gave her supporters high hopes in the Paddock Stakes, a Gr1 over 1800m a few weeks later where she started as third favourite. On the day the old rivalry between Mother Russia and Sparkling Gem re-emerged and the diminutive filly, Mother Russia, won again for Mike de Kock. River Jetez and LOVE IS IN THE AIR from the Mike Bass yard both were very strongly fancied and unfortunately were far back in the field throughout the race and they ran on very strongly to finish third and fourth respectively. Unfortunately it was a slow run race and so LOVE IS IN THE AIR had to make up a lot of ground that was not ideal for her as they sprinted to the line. This filly is owned and bred by Pat and Henry Devine and she is a very big, strong, good-looking daughter of Jetmaster. She is definitely improving with age and looks like she will pick up a big one in the near future. She has an amazingly consistent record of 11 runs for 5 wins and 3 places, now two of them being in feature races.

KAPIL has been a consistent horse in all the features this season having won the Matchem's Sprint the first time out this season, winning a cracking race. Then he disappointed in the Diadem Stakes. He was now fancied again in the Queen's Plate, a Gr1 over 1600m and ran a cracking second to the champion Pocket Power. He came from the back of the field to track Pocket Power and run him to within three quarters of a length on the line. This horse has been being plagued with soundness problems so all credit must be given to his conditioner, Stan Elly, who has got so much out of this son of Jallad. He has had 18 starts for 7 wins and 7 places. His connections, Messrs Fullard, Drew, Watson-Smith and Gabbler and, of course, his breeder Craig Carey from Arc 'N Ciel Stud must be delighted with this horse.

GIANT'S JEWEL has shown good form in KwaZulu-Natal having won two races for Mike de Kock over 1200m. She then travelled to the Cape under the new care of Dylan Cunha and competed in the Southern Cross Stakes were she finished fifth just off the leaders. In the Sceptre Stakes, a Gr2 over 1200m, she ran on very well to come second by half a length to Badger's Cove. Congratulations to Mr Snyman who seems to have an exciting future with this daughter of Giant's Causeway, and this run will certainly improve her value at stud!

Dylan Cunha was successful in the Cape with a very nice filly of ours, WE HAVE LIFT OFF, in her second start. This strapping daughter of Jetmaster was fancied in her debut at which she was green but in her second start over 1200m she ran away from the field to win by two lengths for Des Scott, Michael Gramani, Wickus Roets and the Anfield Stud nomination Marlon Aronson. Congratulations to all of you and to her breeders, Pat and Henry Devine!

Another daughter of one of the top up-and-coming stallions of Dynasty is CRUELLA. She won her maiden in Gauteng. This big filly, owned and bred by an English patron, Keith Dye, won over 1600m and I know her trainer Spike Lerena thinks she will improve more with maturity so do continue to watch her.

Back in KwaZulu-Natal we have to take our hats off to the Michael Roberts team - they have been knocking on the door with getting winners but in the month of December 2009 they really did hit the headlines! Michael was Gold Circle's Champion Trainer, Ian Sturgeon was Gold Circle's Champion Jockey and Sydney Cassell was Gold Circle's Champion Owner! It was a really memorable month for this combination as they won 5 races and Sydney Cassell I know was delighted to have been so successful in this time.

Included in these successive wins were two night meetings at Greyville where they scored doubles: INDECENT OBSESSION and ZIZOU won on the same night, INDECENT OBSESSION winning a sprint over 1000m by two and quarter lengths and ZIZOU competed successfully over 1900m to win by one and quarter lengths. At a night meeting a few weeks later INDECENT OBSESSION won again over the sprint distance and ETERNAL FLAME won over 1600m after a long rest. It is of interest that Syd purchased INDECENT OBSESSION in his first batch from Australia. This son of Zeddrich has always been a very good-looking horse and has taken time to mature but it certainly looks like he is finding his form over the sprint distances. The filly ETERNAL FLAME is by Scenic and she has now won two races for Sydney. He also has another horse by Scenic - DAUNTLESS DELANCE and it is interesting to notice that he has bought two from the same sire. ZIZOU is also a very well-related being a half-brother to James Jaguar by Western Winter. Hats off to Sydney as he certainly has purchased horses with good pedigrees for which he has had to pay for and he deserves all the success he can get!

Ambleway has been successful in other race meetings apart from these two doubles. We have scored a treble on 30 December with IDLER, KEY OF GOLD and BET ON BLUE winning. A week later in early January we scored a quartet of wins with KING'S WINGS, NATIONAL APPEAL, SYLVAN SHADE and SEVEN VEILS winning. It has been a very exciting time for us over this festive season!

Three of the successes over the past two meetings have been graduates schooled for Dennis Drier. Dennis had a break at Christmas in the Cape and now returned to KwaZulu-Natal to continue where his able assistant, Stewart, started off. KING'S WINGS was arguably one of the best-looking yearlings schooled here and looked to be a very useful type winning his graduation race over 1200m from ROYAL UNION (also a graduate). He was tried over 1900m on July Day as he looks like he may develop as a stayer later, but at the moment appears to be winning well over sprints for Greg Blank, Alan Burke and Bryan Burgess. BET ON BLUE is a small filly by Mogok who was purchased by Dennis for Alan Gooderson, Greg Blank and Michael Stones. She has turned out very useful winning her second start over 1400m. She was prepared here at Ambleway for Des Scott and sold at the Sibaya sale in 2008 and looks like she should fulfil her promises.

KEY OF GOLD showed promise as a juvenile winning very easily over 1000m for Dennis Drier and then disappointed. Dennis felt he needed further and tried him over 1600m with Sean Veale in the saddle who rode him to perfection. He ran on very strongly at the end to beat a very good field to notch up his second win for Ian van Schalkwyk, Bruce Campbell and yours truly. We do hope the success story does continue!

IDLER is a very well-bred daughter of Fort Wood who we schooled for Mrs Oppenheimer in her first string of horses sent to us. She is trained by Gavin van Zyl and was knocking on the door for some time before she won her race over 1600m where she finished very strongly. She was amongst the first group of horses we schooled for Mrs Oppenheimer who is currently having a great time at the track. I would like to wish her and all of the people from the farm the best of luck for 2010, as certainly last year was a great success and I hope they continue in the same fashion!

SEVEN VEILS was schooled here for David Allan and won her first start for Alistair Gordon. Then she moved to Cape Town under the care of Vaughan Marshall. Here she won a graduation race in fine style and then followed up her second win by running a good second for her new stable. Watch this daughter of Rich Man's Gold!

SYLVAN SHADE is a daughter of Silvano who came from a rest to win a very nice race for Ron Hamilton, her owner and conditioner Des Edges over 1600m. NATIONAL APPEAL, now a seven-year old, is still firing and won very nicely again for Pat Lunn. Well done to you all!

We have been supported a lot over the last season by Anfield Stud and, apart from preparing juveniles going through the pre-training programme we have also sold quite a few horses for them off the farm and at the Ready-To-Run Sales. We have also spelled quite a few resting horses. We were delighted to see that, apart from JET INTO THE WIND having won, that one of the other older fillies, VILAYET, come and won again, this time for her new stable, Glen Kotzen. This Argentinian-bred filly has always been one of my favourites as she looked such a lovely race horse as a youngster and it was great to see her back in the winning frame for Greg Blank and Marlon. This team has also been successful with quite a few placed horses - ROYAL UNION, SILENT MIST and WOMEN'S RIGHTS and we look forward to seeing them running and winning soon. A juvenile that was referred here by this stud who is owned by Australian owner, Sean Buckley, FIREINTHEWOODS, is also knocking on the door. She had two starts where she has been fancied very strongly as she is very speedy and has been running up there but has not won yet - we look forward to her breaking her maiden soon for Glenn Kotzen. She is a half sister to the speedy WINTERINTHEWOODS whom we spelled.

The New Year has started well for Ambleway graduates as we also scored another double at Scottsville on the Michael Roberts Race Day. NIGHT TIME broke his maiden and CLEARLY SILVER notched up his third win! It was an exciting day for Wendy Whitehead, the conditioner of NIGHT TIME, the big son of Fort Wood. He had showed plenty in his first start. Since then he has disappointed. However, now being gelded and allowed to run freely, did the trick! Well done again to Wendy, who trains this horse for Mrs Oppenheimer!

CLEARLY SILVER started his career winning sprints over the distance of 1000m. He tore to the front in his early 1000m sprints and then placed over 1200m. This time he settled off the pace and ran on strongly for his Hong Kong connection, Mr Lau. Well done to Dennis Drier who brought this horse back to his best after a rest. This horse looks like developing into a top sprinter!

We have a list of horses that have been placed and do watch these as I am sure in the next few weeks they should win and end up in the victory box: RAKHEE, COUNT IVANSKI, MIKE'S CHOICE, BOLD APPLICATION, IPSI DIXIT, EMPEROR RISING, BARANOVA, LE NEGRITA, WOMEN'S RIGHTS, KEEP THE KEY, IRELAND, REIGN AND RULE, SILENT MIST, ARGENTINA, BARON BLIXEN, LEOPARD TREE, TAKE OVER TARGET, CRYSTAL BAY, COSMIC JET, AVILA, FRANKIE MERCURY, CANDY TUFT, FIRST CLASS ACTION, SPANISH ARMADA, AIR POCKET, ASIAN AFFAIR, STREET CRED and CHARMING LADY.

We would like to wish everybody the best for 2010 - we hope it is a successful year for everybody on the breeding side, and on the racing side! In particular, we have three horses nominated here for the Met from Ambleway. We have KAPIL, LOVE IS IN THE AIR and SEATTLE ICE. I do hope these horses get a run and I hope they run well for their connections.

The first sale for this season is on 7 February, the Cape Summer Yearling Sale, which is going to be held at the Sandringham Farm in Cape Town. We will not be present but we will certainly have space for anybody who does have horses that need schooling or growing out. So, if you do purchase anything at the sale please contact me on 082 800 4048 - we will be delighted to care for your youngster!

See you at the Met!

JANE TROTTER