Just hours after his champion jockey son Lyle was demonstrating his ample skills 10 000 km away at Sha Tin in Hong Kong, Summerveld trainer Carl Hewitson celebrated a fine training achievement when the consistent Sea Master backed up just a week after winning at the same venue, when he scored in the R100 000 PinkDrive Michaelmas Handicap at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
Earlier on a memorable Sunday for the Hewitson family, S J Tourbillon landed a HK$1 million PP Bonus for his owners with a narrow victory in the H. Moser & CIE. Excellent Handicap after scrambling to a nose margin under the talented multiple national champion Lyle for trainer Douglas Whyte. Formerly prepared by Aidan O’Brien in Ireland where he was a two-year-old maiden winner before finishing second in the 2021 Gr3 Hampton Stakes at Royal Ascot, S J Tourbillon had placed only once in 11 starts since export to Hong Kong. But Lyle produced the magic.
Across the world at a cloudy Durban on the PinkDrive raceday, the Varsfontein-bred Sea Master finished with a sustained burst under Smanga Khumalo to register his maiden stakes success – just a week after winning – to make it a fine treble.
Smanga Khumalo is the picture of confidence as Sea Master returns (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Allowed to relax as Super Silver made the fractions in the 1900m contest, Sea Master (3-1) burst through down the inside in the distinctive De Haast yellow and black flag to hold off a solid late challenge from Fight Song (8-1) by 1,40 lengths in a time of 116.94 secs.
Another Varsfontein product in the grey Judpot gelding Boundless Bash (33-10) ran third, a further 1,10 lengths away.
The winner was a sentimental hero on a day when South African racing learnt of the sad passing of Henry Devine, a man who changed our local breeding landscape with the fairytale-writing Jet Master. Sea Master is a son of Master Of My Fate, a R3 million yearling son of the great Jet Master and a multiple Gr1 winning stallion in his own right.
Bred by Varsfontein, Sea Master is a R175 000 National Yearling Sale graduate and out of the multiple winner producing Spectrum mare, Subyan Dreams (GB).
Sea Master has won 5 races with 9 places from 23 starts for stakes of R409 250.
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