Until now it has been accepted that the gallant Gqeberha hero Hear The Drums holds the SA record for most number of wins. New facts reveal this not to be correct.
Ethanicity Research report that the NHA Of SA maintains statistics only since its inception.
Hear The Drums – a big winner but not the record holder (Pic – Supplied)
SA Horseracing is fortunate that detailed annual records have been documented in the South African Racing Calendar pre-modern era.
These annual volumes are an incredible output of the human endeavour considering that for much of their publication period there was no electronic equipment – faxes/email etc and everything was hand recorded at source, probably conveyed by steam train or carriage to a central point, collated, checked, type-set and then only culminated into hard cover in Johannesburg.
Illustrating the magnitude of the endeavour was the fact that racing took place in numerous small centres dotted across the SA landscape such as Barkly West, Bushmanskop, Fort Beaufort, Harrismith, King Williamstown, Kokstad, Ladismith, Matatiele, Outshoorn and even Thab ‘Nchu! Each volume contains every detail of all official horseracing information and record across South Africa in a single horse racing year.
And it these detailed SA Racing Calendars that contain the proof of some incredible early horseracing achievements.
Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hear_the_Drums) advises that HEAR THE DRUMS (Gold Press x Winning Glory) 2002-2016 holds the title of “Most Wins By A Racehorse In SA” at 34 from 64 runs from 2005 – 2011. Trained by Des McLachlan and bred at Summerhill, KZN.
This incredible horse competed for 6 years, retiring as a 9 year-old and, until now, has been accepted. However Wikipedia discloses that unconfirmed reports claimed that “Darius won 43 races between the period 1912 and 1929”
A search through the SARC volumes for that period verified that DARIUS does in fact surpass HEAR THE DRUMS with 41 wins, not the 43 mentioned by Wikipedia.
The story does not end there however because the celebratory coffee was still steaming when another discovery was made in that there is in fact another horse that won 44 races.
Fanie Chambers – recalls Harbour Patrol (Pic – Supplied)
COMMANDO b2010 (Wilkens Micawber x Sweetlips) first competed on 5 August 1914 as a 3 YO and last ran on 27 June 1923 at age 13. He achieved 44 wins from 164 runs. In three consecutive racing seasons he ran a total of 92 races or a remarkable average of 2.55 races per month over 36 months.
Bred at the National Stud Farm, Glen OFS, was from a son of mighty St Simon and 2nd dam sire Isonomy, who were both exceptionally high-performance racehorses and outstanding stallions of that era.
Owned initially by an H Wessels, he ran for a B Richter for the bulk of his career. Richter appears to have been a prominent figure in Port Elizabeth and Kimberely where the horse mainly competed apart from a brief unsuccessful stint in Johannesburg at the end of his career.
Whilst it is a fact that COMMANDO holds the record number of wins by a South African Racehorse (until proven otherwise), the story of DARIUS is an astounding one well worth contemplating for other records.
DARIUS b1910 (Quickmarch x Passionate Flower) first ran on 17 October 1912 as a 2YO and his last on 6 February 1929 at an unfathomable 18 years of age with an astounding 236 runs for 41 wins and 37 places.
His achievements are nothing less than remarkable for a number of reasons:
- His breeding is scantily recorded and appears to carry no major significance other than some high-quality inbreeding located in the very deep pedigree (1700-1800’s).
- As an 8 YO he competed in 30 races, as a 9 YO in 19 races and at age 10 in 33 races. That is a total of 82 races over 3 seasons at an average 2.27 races per month, eclipsed only by COMMANDO.
- He had 4 owners, initially owned and trained by C E Tod, then briefly C London, G Maddern and finally M Bernstein, who owned/raced him for the majority of his career.
- He campaigned in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Closer study unravels how remarkable this fact is because one must appreciate that travel was by steam rail over a few days. The records reveal that he would often raid for a few races into Natal, presumably hardly arrive, race, and then on the train back to Johannesburg to race again. His sojourns to the Cape, principally Milnerton, were of understandably longer duration.
- Another outstanding fact is the distance range of his successes. He was a dead-heat winner of the 1913 Natal Breeders Handicap over 1400m, but lost the match race a week later to ARCADE. Winner of the 1914 Michaelmas Handicap 1800m and the 1914 Johannesburg Summer Handicap (Summer Cup) 2000m. A month later he ran 7th in the 1915 Goldfields Handicap. In the 1916 Merchants Handicap 1000m he ran 2nd and at the same Meeting also ran in a 1600m race where he ran 10th! In July 1916 he ran 2nd in the Durban Turf Club Handicap (the Durban July) 2000m.
Oddly both of these incredible horses were born in 1910 and although their achievements were achieved a century ago, these official records are likely to stand for a long time to come.
Now for a slight twist.
Mr ‘Turn-to’, Zietsman Oosthuizen! (Pic – Pauline Herman)
Former Kimberley, now Gqeberha-based smiling giant and self-confessed unrehabilitated ‘turn-to’ addict, Zietsman Oosthuizen (a.k.a Mr Turn-To), regales that that ain’t the true record.
His late Dad Nico Ooosthuizen, and close friend Coen Nel, bought a 5-time turf winning thoroughbred horse called HARBOUR PATROL (Jan Ekels x Desert Music) from George Tambourlas in Johannesburg.
They took their horse into Bush Racing where he won an incredible 57 of his 59 races (WSR of 96.6%!) between 1991 and 1995 under his regular pilots, Fanie Chambers and Coen’s 2 sons, Brandt and Harry Nel.
Bush Racing was not recognised by the Jockey Club and so its statistics do not form part of official records.
Races were presided over by a panel of judges at every meeting held at Mogol Club (Ellisras), Rustenburg, Nylstroom, Beska and Baltimore.
All tracks were sand, horses jumped from Starting Gates and there were no rails with only some near the finish on some of the tracks.
Fanie Chambers remembers the horse as a 1400m to 2000m competitor, average sized dark bay horse, with a lovely temperament, best ridden with a loose rein and allowed to switch off at the back typically falling 5-6 lengths behind the 2nd last horse as he pleased.
The magic happened when he was pushed 500 to 400m from home, when he switched on and mowed them all down to win by comfortable margins invariably going away.
Fanie added that the pace of Bush Racing was always helter-skelter due to the relative inexperience of the amateur jockeys and that HARBOUR PATROL had no preference being able to either run through or around them. In fact, if he was allowed to, he would probably have run over them says Fanie!
How life has changed – today trainers moan about no gallops and waiting a half hour for a flight (Pic – Supplied)
So until proven otherwise, the records as confirmed by South African Racing Digest are:
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COMMANDO – Most Wins By A South African Racehorse at 44 between 1914 and 19123. DARIUS is the 2nd highest with 41 between 1912 and 1928.
COMMANDO – Most Races Competed over 3 Consecutive South African Racing Seasons – 92 races – 29 (1915/16) + 31(1916/17 + 32(1917/18)
DARIUS – Longest Racing Career Of A South African Racehorse of 17 years – 1912/29
DARIUS – Most Number Of Races Run By A South African Racehorse of 236 races – 1912/29.
DARIUS – Most Number Of Races In A Single Racing Season of 33 – 1920-21.
HEAR THE DRUMS – Highest Win Strike Rate By A South African Racehorse at 34 of 64 at 53.1% – 2005-11
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Unofficially (Bush Racing is not recognised as official horseracing in SA) as told by “Mr Turn-To”:
HARBOUR WATCH holds the record for the Most Wins By A South African Racehorse at 57, and also the Highest Win Strike Rate at 57 of 59 at 96.6%.
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Readers are invited to participate in the compilation of a SA Horseracing Records Register by submitting information regarding any record to [email protected] for further investigation and report back. The information will be vetted for correctness and once verified, placed on record.
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For those with an appetite for the subject of outstanding horseracing achievements visit this web address for global achievements:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_leading_Thoroughbred_racehorses
- Report compiled by Ethanicity Research
