Corne Spies – doing well North of the Limpopo
It was all about Corne Spies at Borrowdale Park on November 29. His Harare satellite yard opened its winning account in February and has had its fair share of success, but this time was different, writes Sheldene Chant in Harare.
Of the seven races on the card the Spies yard won four of them, including the US$ 15 000 HRIB Gold Cup.
The arrival of Corne Spies, assisted by his man on the ground, Pierre Venter, has administered a badly needed injection of horses into racing at Borrowdale.
Our local yards have been hard hit by the difficult economic climate which has resulted in drastically reduced strings. In addition the firm going has understandably made some trainers think twice about acceptances. Hopefully this situation will improve when the long awaited rains finally arrive.
The Mashonaland Turf Club is reluctant to race if there are less than 66 carded runners, and have in the past cancelled race meetings. On HRIB Gold Cup Day Corne fielded 34 of the 95 horses racing, and there is no doubt the newcomers have come to the right place at the right time.
From day one they have proven a force to be reckoned with.
On February 23 the yard saddled Lilac Lily, winner of a 1200m Maiden Plate, and both Autumn J and Lane Geena ran second in their respective races. Since then horses have continued to arrive by the truckload, and it is interesting to note that those which came to Harare with a win to their credit have, in the main, gone on to better things.
On This Rock, a four-year-old gelding by Trippi, ran second to stable mate Atso’s Scheme in his first race on Zimbabwean soil on September 21. He has now won four races – three at Borrowdale Park – including the HRIB Gold Cup (Gr.3).
Atso’s Scheme carried top weight in the 1600m Tote Free Handicap on November 29, when beaten by the Ashaawes filly, Eversolucky. He won his first start at Borrowdale on September 7, and followed up with two more visits to the Winner’s Enclosure on October 19 and November 16. Atso’s Scheme has won four of his 14 starts.
Both On This Rock and Atso’s Scheme have been placed in all their Harare races.
Attracting attention – The Silvano filly Sin Latigo looks promising (Pic – Andrew Philip)
Although Sin Latigo travelled to Zimbabwe as a maiden and took a bit of time to get her act together, this four-year-old filly is also attracting attention. On May 25 she was second to Triple Tiara winner Casey’s Dance, in the Zimbabwe Oaks.
Sin Latigo shed her maiden certificate on June 7, then won a 1800m MR 55 Handicap on September 21, scored in a similar event over 2200m on November 2, and at the last race meeting, (November 29) won over 2000m.
Can Sin Latigo emulate that other daughter of Silvano, Equina, who joined Amy Bronkhorst’s yard at Borrowdale Park in May, 2013, as a two-time winner? Equina has now won seven races, including the US$ 50 000 Castle Tankard (Gr.1) and the US$40 000 OK Grand Challenge (Gr.2).
The Corne Spies team is a very welcome addition to racing in Zimbabwe and I trust the rest of the trainers at Borrowdale Park will not let him take the honours too often.
In the long term having one dominant stable doesn’t result in good racing!
