Sands of Time: December 1993

November 28 – December 4

A crowd of 180.000 attends the Japan Cup, in which US jockey Desormeaux mistakes a sign post for the winning post and gets beaten late. Desormeaux rides last month’s $2 million Breeders Cup Turf winner Kotashaan and could have scored a unique (if not rich!) double, while at the same time securing the US Horse of the Year title for Kotashaan. Desormeaux’s error is grotesque, as he’d made the same error in the third race on the card and had been warned not to repeat the mistake in the big race.

Volume 4 of the Racing Record Annual goes on sale at racetracks around the country. One Head Executive steward of long standing (who thankfully shall remain nameless) forfeits brownie-points for the knowledgeable Jockey Club, when he enquires “Whats this? Who does this book?”. Then again, this is only the fourth annual volume of the big book and possibly a little too soon to expect a suitable reaction from members of the august body.

In Hong Kong, Basil Marcus heads the jockey table with 19 wins, three ahead of his nearest pursuer Tony Cruz. To assert his authority he scores a narrow victory on River Verdon in the HK$2.75 million Stewards Cup at Sha Tin. River Verdon is favourite at 9/5 and beats his stable companion Happy Guy ridden by Michael Kinane, with Felix Coetzee on Sound Print in third. The race is the first leg of the Hong Kong Triple Crown.

At the Durban Turf Club’s AGM Tony Stiebel is voted the Greyville club’s new chairman.

Irish Coolmore Stud announces studfees for 1994. The stud’s flagship stallion Sadler’s Wells will stand at a fee of IR100.000 guineas (payable Oct 1). Caerleon commands IR40.000 guineas, while Sadler’s Wells full brother Fairy King jumps in fee from last year’s IR7.500 to IR20.000 guineas following his Gr1 successes in 1993.
Sadler’s Wells covered 112 mares in 1993. British studs frown on the practise of stallions covering more than 60/70 mares in a season, but in Ireland no such inhibitions exist.

Belgian-based auctioneer John O’Kelly, who took the rostrum at our National Sales a few times in recent years, enters the big time at the Tattersall December Sales. Says one observer: “O’Kelly stepped up the pace with his patter, bilingual if necessary, and the sales finished consistently ahead of schedule, a blessed release for leg-weary buyers and vendors”.
Top price at the December Sales is 450.000 guineas (more than R2 million) for 12-year old Sir Ivor mare Ivy, in foal to Nureyev. Ivy is the dam of 1992 Italian Oaks winner Ivyanna (Reference Point) who is also on the sale and fetches the second highest price of 410.000 guineas. Third highest price is 340.000 guineas paid for Shernazar mare Darayana in foal to Sadler’s Wells, bought by German breeder Baron George von Ulmann. Dear George had topped the yearling sale a few months earlier when he laid out 880.000 guineas for a Sadler’s Wells colt.

Phantom Saga scores a hattrick when he follows his Gr2 Computaform Stakes win with a sparkling victory in the Gr2 Diadem Stakes over 1200m at Kenilworth. Starting at 8/1, the son of Phantom Earl beats Best Of The Best and Tough Love and now enters the Queen’s Plate picture.

Heavy rains cause postponement of the meetings at Turffontein (25mm overnight) and Clairwood Park (31mm overnight).

In Mauritius, Robbie Fradd has two winners and overtakes longtime log-leader Mark Sutherland to clinch the island’s jockey title by a single winner. Jungle Sands is named Horse Of The Year.

December 5 – 11

At a second meeting of the Milnerton Turf Club slightly more than 50 members eligible to vote turn up to decide on the merger with the club at Kenilworth. Not a single query is received from the floor and the motion to merge is adopted unanimously by show of hands.
The newly merged club will be known as Western Province Racing Club. Its first chairman is Paddy Wilson, who heads a card of seventeen stewards (5 others are forced to retire because of an age proviso). The first proper election is set for the end of March, when the number of stewards will be reduced to nine.

Australian breeders put forward a proposal to stage the world’s richest race in the year 2000, on the Sunday following the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics. Horses competing on the day will race for stakes of AUS$15 million, with the big race (most likely an invitational event along the lines of the Japan Cup) worth AUS$7 million.
Two Breeders Cup racedays in the two years leading up to the year 2000 will carry stakes of AUS$12 million between them. The scheme starts with matings of 1995, the ensuing 2yo’s of ’98/’99 being eligible for Breeders Cup racedays, and 4yo’s when the rich Olympic Day is staged.
Owners of foals would pay a registration fee of $75 for all Breeders Cup related races, while stallion managers or owners will have to contribute 50% of that stallion’s service fee to have his progeny eligible. But that won’t be enough: the breeders believe the government (!) will have to top up the pool by $1 million a year for the next two years, this rising to $2 million from 1996 to 2000.
Talk about sweet dreams…

English Daily Mail gossip columnist and “Royals” watcher visits South Africa, spending a week in Cape Town. Nigel admits that his hobby, after gossip, is horse racing (he has two in training in the UK). Self-proclaimed Cape Times gossip monger Diane Cassere reports in the Saturday edition of Top of the Times “today will find Nigel Dempster at Kenilworth Racecourse” .
It is on the same day at Milnerton, however, that Michael Roberts is in action in the Gr2 Premium Stakes . Easy to back at 7/1, Roberts’ mount Crown Estate equals the course record as he gets the better of Gee C and Flying Wizard in the 1800m race. Crown Estate’s stable companion Sapieha, the 8/10 favourite, finishes unplaced. Nigel Dempster’s thoughts go unreported.

December 12 – 18

The great owner debate, instigated by Richard McMillan in the Natal Mercury some weeks ago and a source of much dirty linen washing, comes to an end. McMillan concludes: “The owner is the most important link in the chain. He is the only person with a major financial investment on which his chances of getting a return are very low. The bottom line is to keep costs down to help the owner. Without him there simply would be no racing”.
To which any punter worth his salt will reply: “Bullshit!”

No Payne, No Gain. Natal trainer David Payne saddles three runners in the Cape Argus Guineas, of which 6/1 shot Crystal’s Garter has the best prospects. Yet it is his filly Little Ballerina, at 20/1, who makes all the running to win by ju st over 2 lengths . “Just shows”, admits David, “in this game you can never be too clever. I didn’t particularly fancy the filly for a race of this caliber, but the owner persuaded me to let her take her chances. I decided to let her bowl along freely rather than be restrained, as she didn’t seem to like that in her previous run”. Fair Model runs on nicely to be second, with Jewel Of Asia third. Race favourite Command Control is never going well and casts a shoe in the running, finishing fourth, some five lengths off the winner.
It is the third time in four years that a filly win the prestigious Cape Guineas, and the first time in the history of the race that the weaker sex scores a one-two. Turnover on the day marginally surpasses the previous record for Cape Guineas day racing set in 1991 when filly Star Effort won. This year the race is sponsored by The Argus newspaper, an inspired sponsorship that gives the race more publicity in the weeks leading up to the race than it has ever had.

In Hong Kong the HK$5 million Invitational Cup is won by local hope Motivation, who holds off French filly Verveine and US representative Stark South. Motivation is a son of Argentinian stallion Egg Toss.

December 19 – 25

Man Of Property’s daughter Marla causes an upset in the Varsfontein Stud sponsored Sceptre Stakes , winning the 1200m race at Kenilworth by a length, at 20/1. That price was somewhat suprising, as Marla had been 5 lengths behind Hispanola in the Cape Fillies Guineas last time out, where she was the first Cape-trained filly to finish.

It’s frontpage news for leading trainer Jean Heming , who is shot three times when she goes to investigate unusual noises on her farm near Viljoensdrift one evening. Jean undergoes an emergency operation, but recovers remarkably well and astounds racing officials by telephoning from her hospital bed to finalise riding plans for her horses for next week’s meetings. “I’m alright”, says Heming, “I’m a survivor”.

December 26 – January 1

The R100.000 Christmas handicap, run on the Monday after Christmas at Clairwood, is won by 5/1 shot Cape Saffron, who scores from City State and Botanique in the mile race.

In England, the British Jockey Association together with the bookmaking firm William Hill launch the first official Jockey Championship, for 1994. The winner will decided on number of races won in the country.
Opening betting has Pat Eddery at evens, Kevin Darley and Frankie Dettori at 4/1, Michael Roberts at 9/2. They bet 14/1 bar.

Also in England, the horse Petraco makes history when winning a 6-furlong event at Wolverhampton . The race, called the First Ever Floodlit in Britain handicap, is just that. Two floodlit races are staged under 78 columns of light at the new œ23 million all-weather track. A crowd of 9000 stretches facilities to breaking point, with racegoers queueing six-deep. Ironically, jockeys had walked the track before racing and declared it unsafe, which meant that groundsmen had to remove lumps of frozen dirt from the Fibresand surface before the meeting could begin.
Wolverhampton is, after Lingfield (which has Equitrack) and Southwell (with Fibresand), the third artificial racing surface in the UK. Lingfield has a 10-furlong almost triangular course, with Equitrack giving the equivalent of a fast-ish surface on turf. Southwell is a traditional American-style oval, where Fibresand (a mixture of silica sand and rot-proof synthetic fibres) is deeper and slower. Both are used at various training centres in the UK, and racehorses have demonstrated a distinct preference for one over the other. All tracks stage a majority of flat races, but also hurdling and steeplechasing. All Wolverhampton trotting will be staged occasionally, even though attempts to introduce this elsewhere have met with failure.
The introduction of racing on artificial surfaces has been a success, almost too much, some believe: before 1988 many three-year-olds were sold to go hurdling, now more and more horses are kept in training to race on the flat. Consequently there has been a slight reduction in the average size of hurdling fields, bringing a potential fall in betting turnover.
The expansion of racing on artificial surfaces may not be over: Kempton Park, close to London, is up for sale and is suggested as a fourth all-weather facility.

One of last year’s leading juvenile fillies, Star Award, scores convincingly in the Gr2 Majorca Stakes over a mile at Kenilworth. As the 13/10 favourite, the Elliodor filly scores by 2 lengths from Double d’Or and Miss Ringham. Despite this favourite’s win, other winners are more difficult to find: there’s a Pick Six carry-over to Queens Plate day, which greatly pleases the cash-strapped Cape racing bosses.

Transvaal trainer Michael Azzie let’s it be known that last year’s champion juvenile Imperial Despatch has been resting on the farm since his only defeat (early in October), and that the colt will be slowly brought on with the 1994 Rothmans July handicap as his specific mission.

TAB Transvaal introduces the Superfecta, a ten cent bet to forecast the first six horses in a race in the right order. For openers the bet is only available on the last race of any meeting on which bets can be taken in the Transvaal.

David Payne continues his incredible run of success when Take A Walk wins the Gr1 Queens Plate by two lengths from Vesta and Eli’s Truth. Race favourite Dancing Duel runs unplaced and returns to the Transvaal shortly after the race, giving the Gr1 J&B Met a miss. Take A Walk’s win is the third Gr1 victory of the season for Payne, whose seasonal earnings are now R2 million, with his nearest pursuer yet to break the R1 million barrier.