Household Cavalry in Frankel Silks
What a year it’s been for racing.
The rivalry between the two American queens of the turf, Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra has moved onto the next generation when both ladies foaled down successfully earlier this year.
We nearly had a US Triple Crown winner. We’ve had scandal galore from Downunder with the race fixing debacle and then jockey Damien Oliver banned for 10 months after being caught betting on a rival runner. But nothing lit up the racing pages like Black Caviar. She was quite simply Australia’s darling and her long haul flight, new age space suit and near disaster in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Ascot only served brightened her halo. She became the first horse to grace the cover of Vogue magazine in its 53 year history, causing such a stir that the publishers were forced to go to print early to meet demand. And she outshone both her trainer and jockey by being crowned Australia’s Racing Personality of the Year. She has become more than a horse, she is an Australian institution.
Antipodal to that, jockey Richard Hughes promoted himself from the sports pages into the mainstream news by winning seven out of eight races at Windsor in October at odds in excess of 10,000-1. It is the closest anyone has come to matching Frankie Dettori’s seven from seven back in 1996.
And speaking of which, the charismatic Dettori caused a stir earlier this year with his split from Godolphin. This was followed shortly afterwards by drug rumours after testing positive for a banned substance in France (simultaneously hanging potential question marks over the British Horseracing Association’s testing programme). The press have gone mad and rumour and speculation have reached fever pitch.
Black Caviar on Vogue Cover
Fascinating Frankel
But there’s been good news too. The Brits (and everyone else really) has been gripped by Frankel fever. It has been an incredible fairy tale for owner/breeder Prince Khalid Abdullah, trainer Sir Henry Cecil, young Irish jockey Tom Queally, and the gloriously gorgeous and unstoppable bay colt that has bound them all. The colt was named for renowned American trainer, the late Bobby Frankel. His trainer, the aristocratic Sir Henry Cecil has had his own story of ups, downs and an incredible comeback, but is now also afflicted by ill health. 28 year old Tom Queally has had to maintain his smile and dry sense of humour through an incredibly pressured campaign. The press and public have hung on every word. When Frankel sustained a slight injury earlier this year, the media went into a frenzy. When he was pronounced fit to go back to work, it got even worse. The colt just got better and better and the hype grew with each run. He made front page news. He had no less than 2 TV ads to his name. Racecourse attendances rocketed and tickets to ‘his’ meetings (or even just meetings he was due to gallop at) were sold out way in advance. Even the Household Cavalry dressed up in his colours to promote his last run. He retired to stud unbeaten, to a full book of 130 mares, for a fee of a staggering £125,000. Cartier could do no more than name him Horse of the Year for an unprecedented second year running.
Steeplechase Star
At the end of October, steeplechase fans saw the end of an era when National Hunt legend Kauto Star retired. Winner of 5 King George VI Chases, 2 Cheltenham Gold Cups, £2,375,883 in prize money and generally considered one of the best steeplechasers ever. Racing Post awarded him their highest ever rating of 192. Timeform were less effusive, rating him joint 3rd, alongside Mill House on 191, and behind Arkle (212) and Flyingbolt (210). Accolades literally poured in. He got multiple page reports in the broadsheets, tribute videos, people tattooed themselves with pictures of him – it was just crazy. He retired a legend. Aptly, his jockey Ruby Walsh was named champion jockey for a staggering 17th year in a row.
Sad for South Africa
Somehow, we’ve lost the art of promoting our local heroes. We’ve seen Karl Neisius clock his 3,000th career win and Felix Coetzee chalk up his milestone of 3,500. Apart from a few articles in the racing media, their achievements went largely unnoticed and unacknowledged.
We recently had the mouth-watering prospect of Variety Club, Jackson and Princess Victoria going head to head in the “Buy One Meal Get One Free Pinnacle Stakes” on 4 November. We had arguably three of the best horses in the country squaring up to one another for an R88k purse. Now if that isn’t good racing value, I simply don’t know what is. But one could be forgiven for not knowing it was happening as there was little mention in the mainstream press and it was probably only witnessed by on course staff and a few of the food vendors.
Green Point Stakes
At least last Saturday’s Green Point Stakes carried some black type and a R300k stakes cheque, but again – where was the hype? We had two feature races and some of the cream of the Cape runners on the card, but no-one was there to see it. The private boxes were closed and the stands were empty.
It reminded me of when Pocket Power cantered out for the 2010 Green Point Stakes. It was to be his last career win and there were less than 20 people on the rail willing him over the line. Tragic.
Well, I was at Kenilworth last Saturday to watch the runners and riders prepare for this year’s Green Point Stakes. Some of the runners came out early and seemed to take things in their stride. Jackson rounded the corner in a brightly coloured day sheet emblazoned with his name, but sadly disappeared into the large loose box before I could snap a pic.
“The Princess” was fashionably late in her royal yellow regalia.
I’ve had a number of opportunities to appraise Changingoftheguard and thought he looked particularly good on parade.
Jackson appeared to be in full throttle and made his way down the chute early, leaving fans in the parade ring in an agony of indecision – follow Jackson to the rail for the canter down, or wait for Variety Club, who had yet to make an appearance? Having been assured by Malan du Toit that Variety Club was ‘fine’, I opted for the former and watched Brett Crawford’s charge work off some steam down to the start.
The rest of the runners duly followed and disappeared around the bend. I made my way down to the post to wait for their return. It had been a bit of an iffy day weather-wise and it amused me to see the ghost of a rainbow appearing over the starting stalls on the far side of the track.
Of course, the result is already consigned to the pages of racing history. It was really a two-horse race and despite a spirited challenge from Jackson, there was never any question that Variety Club would finish his afternoon’s efforts in the winner’s enclosure. The rest of the field trailed in lengths behind, but it could not have mattered less. The eyes of the crowd were up the field watching the two colts pull up.
“Different class” came the summation – without rancour – from a leading, rival Cape yard and I don’t think one can really do any better than that. And so it is an even greater shame that these two super colts, generally acknowledged to be of international quality and certainly not destined to stay on our shores for long, are not receiving more attention. The superlatives surrounding Variety Club in particular are arresting. “The Beaumont Bullet”, “Living Legend”, current Cape Champion Trainer Joey Ramsden described his charge as one of those “good, reliable horses that one can set their watch by”.
With the likes of Zenyatta, Frankel and Kauto Star, isn’t it sad that South African turf heroes only live on the pages of the racing press? Well, luckily there are some people thinking out of the box.
Ebony Flyer QP Poster
“Argue for your limitations, and they’re yours?”
I am sorry to trot the Snaiths out as my text book example yet again, but these guys have some very firm ideas on their limitations – they don’t set any! They have cultivated their image, their string and their client base on some very firm and very high minimum standards. Their horses are always immaculate on parade. Their grooms are a joy to watch and to talk to as they are obviously proud of their horses and their boss. Justin is always on course, always neatly dressed, and as enthused talking about a maiden as he is about a Gr1 winner. Ebony Flyer is a fitting flagship runner and they have (sensibly) put their marketing skills to good use by including her in the Queen’s Plate campaign. Genius. It’s understated, it’s elegant, she is immediately recognisable to a racing person and immediately appealing to the man on the street. She’s big, she’s black and she’s already got her own ad campaign. For those who haven’t clocked it, she’ll be taking to the turf again this Wednesday at Kenilworth.
We are on the cusp of the Sizzling Summer Season. It is expected, if not entirely inevitable, that Jackson and Variety Club will square up in either or even both of the forthcoming big Cape features. And one or the other will win them (particularly if Mr Ramsden’s watch is correct). We are heading into Rumble in the Jungle territory ! In the blue corner, we have Jackson, the beautiful black colt with the snappy name, the softly-spoken trainer and the good-looking, acrobatic jockey. In the yellow corner, we have the glamorous chestnut, owned by our champion owner, trained by our champion trainer and ridden by our champion jockey. Not only are both of them superb individuals in their own right, they have forged a heated rivalry.
And yet, not a peep. Not a poster. Not a pamphlet.
In the age where champions are disappear abroad to chase foreign currencies at the drop of a hat, we have this very limited opportunity to market the heck out of these two horses. But no, even our on-course commentary was about the new ‘QuickMix’ bet.
It’s all about the bet
The number crunchers keep saying we need to sell bets. Sure. I get that. I’m just not convinced I’ll see a queue for “QuickMix” tattoos at the local Steel Chameleon.
You need to spark enough interest to make someone want to bet (or at the very least, to bet on one product rather than another, but perhaps we have most betting shop options sewn up and don’t need to bother…..). But assuming we ARE trying to sell bets on horses, going into a betting shop, putting on some money and watching the race on TV is just not the same. I might as well go into the bank, put my money into a savings account and ask them to print me a statement.
We’ve had some racing personalities say that you don’t need people on course. You don’t win fans in the bank. You win them on the track. Without getting people to the track it’s an awful lot harder to get them to appreciate what racing is all about.
We need fans
I dunno. I look at Zenyatta. I look at Frankel. I look at Kauto Star. I see super crazy fans, I see flags, I see people dressed in their fancy’s colours, I see racecourses sold out, I see people so passionate about their heroes that they are willing to have them tattooed into their flesh for perpetuity.
There is nothing to compare with standing on the rail, shouting your horse home. How do you get people to the track? You offer them a spectacle. But people are nervous of things they don’t know or understand. Well, how much easier does it get? Jackson or Variety Club.
But we need to jump on the bandwagon NOW while they are still here and people can come and watch them live.
Phumelela have the Cape very firmly in their grip thanks to their water-tight, in-perpetuity management agreement. The Sizzling Cape Summer Season is kicking into high gear. They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. We have the racing, we have the weather, now, more than ever, we have the horses.
I’d say, make it count guys!
