Paul Lafferty

Paul Lafferty is one of the great and vibrant colours on South Africa’s racing scene – whether through his on course presenting, his position as co-anchor of the popular Winning Ways show or now, as a South African ambassador and competitor on the international stage. He is currently campaigning Harry’s Son in the 2016 Dubai World Cup Carnival and has just been pronounced in remission after a battle with cancer. We catch up with him and chat about the roller coaster that has been that last 2 years.

On Harry’s Son

Like many popular public figures, Paul Lafferty has been elevated to single name status and when we chat, the man everyone knows as ‘Laff’ is characteristically energetic and chats with his trademark enthusiasm. We start off discussing his stable star, Harry’s Son, who is fresh from running 4th in the 2016 Gr1 Jebel Hatta at Dubai’s Super Saturday meeting.

“I’m an agent for Magic Millions and was over in Australia for their June sale. One of my great mates is a guy called James Bester – he is one of the world’s great bloodstock agents who I’ve known for many, many years. He’s based in Australia and buys for Coolmore and a lot of great clients. Phil Georgiou was with me that year and James approached us at the sale and said ‘I’ve found a very nice horse I want you to look at.’ He took us right to the bottom of the sale ground and showed us Harry’s Son.”

“Of course we loved him immediately. Phil said we had to have him and he bought him for AUD$60,000, but make no bones about it, James was the one who found him. I then had the unenviable task of putting him together. Let me tell you, it was a nightmare! I touted this horse to the bulk of the major players in South Africa and no-one wanted to come forward. I was getting pretty frustrated, but at the death Roy Moodley took the last portion. I must say there are a few people who must be looking back and think they missed out on a super star. Anyway, thank goodness for Phil having the tenacity to bang on doors and Roy for showing up at the right time.”

“Right from day one Harry showed that he’s a fabulous horse and when we started working with him, we realised sjoe, this is a very decent horse.” ‘Harry’ debuted over 1000m at Scottsville on 12 January 2014 with Stuart Randolph in the saddle and delivered by 2.25 lengths. “We ran him a bit early. I was at a Magic Millions sale in Australia and listened to his debut run. He walked out of the gate and lost lengths, but still managed to win with his ears pricked and I knew we had a superstar in the making.”

“People forget – he ran his first Gr1 in the 2014 Gold Medallion. If you look at that race, you’ll see he was the most unlucky horse in it – with 200m to go, he was 3rd behind Guinness and Carry On Alice – both Gr1 horses – and he should have won that race. Guiness took him out at his next start (the 2014 Golden Horseshoe) and he then won the Gr1 Premiers Champion Stakes which earned him the Equus Champion 2yo Colt Award.”

Grade 1

“Your first Grade 1 is very special. I’d had a Gr1 in the SA Classic with Love Struck for Alesh Naidoo and I’m often asked to compare Love Struck and Harry’s Son, and I always say there’s a cricket pitch between them! Harry went to Joburg and had to give away between 4 and 5 kgs to most of them and still beat them without taking a breath.”

“He then got beaten twice because he ran in the bog in the Dingaans when we got beaten by Unparalleled, but we turned that around when he won the Gauteng Guineas when he beat French Navy into second and Unparalleled into 4th and we decided then and there he was good enough to run anywhere in the world. His run in the SA Classic 1800 is beyond me. It’s the only time he hasn’t got in the first four. We really thought he had the SA Guineas field at his mercy, but three days before the race he jarred himself and that was that.”

“I omit to tell you – we haven’t shirked any responsibilities: we flew him down for the Cape Guineas. Our plane was delayed for 3 hours, so he stood on tarmac for 3 hours, took off, landed in PE (we didn’t even know we were going to PE!), and then finally got to Kenilworth racecourse at 10am on the Saturday morning and he still ran 2nd behind Act of War. It was an extremely arduous journey and took tenacity and a great attitude. It showed what a class horse he is.”

“I also take my hat off to Piere Strydom, who has a great interest in Harry’s Son. He rode his 5000th winner on Act of War and was offered the ride on him in the Guineas. However, he said no and chose to stand by me which cost him the Guineas, so the ride on Harry is his whenever he wants. He’s part of the programme and he speaks to Phil and I twice a week. He’s doing everything he can to speed up his recovery to try and ride him on the big night. At this stage he’s ahead of the clock and he’s hoping to be back in the saddle before the World Cup. He’ll try and get a couple of race meetings in beforehand, which would be great. But anytime he wants, this horse will be there for him.”

International campaign

“I’ve always been looking to get out there and mainly for the stake money and the owners have been great sports. I remember a good friend of mine, Herman Brown jnr saying to me that in 30 years of training he hadn’t made what he did abroad in 2 years and we’ve just seen that. Just by running 3 places we’ve already recovered our costs and we’re in front.

“But let me tell you, this business of getting horses out of the country is more costly and protracted than the Second World War! We did a month in Johannesburg, then flew to Mauritius. In Mauritius he had to do 3 months quarantine of which the last month was in total lock down, then he flew to France and from there to one of my great mates, Jim Boyle, in Epsom. From there he went to Dubai where he ran 2nd three weeks later.”

A lot of people have asked why we didn’t just send the horse to Mike, but if we did that would never get started and expand in our own right. Mike is a legend in my eyes, make no mistake, but it was a matter of us saying ‘we’ve got to get our feet in the water.’ The more horses you can have, the better for the string, so we’re definitely looking for more horses and would like to build a stable. Roy Moodley has bought another horse from Coolmore called Royal Navy Ship by War Front. He’s a bit of a staying galumph and probably wants a mile and a half. He came to us with feet problems, so we’ve had to nurse him along, but as he’s got sounder, he’s got better. He’s still a colt and it would probably be my idea to geld him, but Roy’s a breeder and has his own plans, so we’ll see. ”

Future prospects

“Harry’s doing very well. He’s now had three runs back after a 10 month break and earned well over R1 million which has covered all our costs and was the bottom line of the exercise. In the Jebel Hatta he was just hampered in the straight, which cost him third place, but he ran a good race and he earned a cheque – as I said, he’s never out of the money. He’s come out of the race fine and we hope he’s done enough to qualify for the US$6 million Dubai Turf (previously named the Dubai Duty Free) on World Cup night. They’re going strictly on Merit Ratings and there will be a lot of horses from Europe trying to get in, so I think we’ve only got a very small chance of getting in. We always knew it would be a tough call, but he’s done us proud and we will roll on. Either way he will have an international campaign because he’s been invited to run in the Hong Kong Mile. It’s on a right hand bend (the same as he won his Gr1 on) and Piere will be back by then. The idea would be to train in Dubai and fly out from there. But we should know one way or another later this week. Harry’s Son is also still entire and he’s an absolute gentleman, so he’ll always remain an entire. He’s one of those laid back horses and he’s enjoying himself, so we’ve got a lot of options.

Cancer battle

A little over a year ago, Paul shared the news that he’d been diagnosed with non Hodgkins Lymphoma and after a brief, but spirited battle, he was given the all clear late last week. “After my last chemo session, we did a PET scan. My oncologist called me in and said I’m completely in remission and we’ll do anther PET scan in 6 months. It’s a big weight off my shoulders,” he says in typical understated Laff fashion. He continues, “When my daughter put out the message that I’d beaten cancer, I’ve just been overwhelmed,” and in fact we have to take several breaks during our chat for him to answer phone calls from people ringing up to wish him well.

“The way I found out was that I’d just finished one of the Australian horse sales and was going for a beer with Steve Davis and Grant Burns and didn’t feel well. I still remember saying to them I felt like I was wearing a corset. I went to the doc and they took 7 vials of blood and urine and came back and said ‘your blood picture is perfect, it’s just a sore stomach’. Even though I don’t smoke, they did a chest x-ray and found that it could be cancer, so they went and cut me open and took biopsies of my liver and kidneys. I woke up in pain with all these staples in my stomach. The found I had stage 2 lymphoma and it all came as a big jolt, I can tell you. I got a second opinion from a professor at the Royal Marsden in the UK who confirmed the diagnosis. He said that South Africa uses the same treatment as the rest of the world and not to worry, but I had to go through the chemo and all that.”

“That’s when the weight just started falling off me. I’ve had a few new nicknames as I went through the process. First it was Lester Piggott, then Mahatma Ghandi, then when my hair started going it was Jack Nicholson and Bruce Willis!” he laughs. “I got down to 88 kilos, but I’m 110kgs as I talk to you now. Strangely, the chemo never affected me and I never had to take a nausea tablet or a pain killer. Chemo sessions were 15 hours a day, Monday to Friday, of putting stuff in through a port in my chest. I’d come home a little tired and probably not watch Friday racing, but I’d be up for a bit of racing on Saturday and by Monday I’d be back to normal again. I had to have six sessions in total and just after the second session, my daughter and assistant Roy Waugh said they’d found this breakthrough product which came onto the market last September called Fucoidan. It’s part seaweed and part mushroom, but apparently it pumps your immune system. We got it off the net and I started taking it as per instructions from Roy. From then on, I could go and have a chemo session and come out and play a round of golf – I couldn’t believe it”! My hair started growing back, I was gaining weight and everyone started saying how good I was looking.”

“Right from the start I decided that I’m going to stay positive and just attack it head on and I have to say a huge thanks for the overwhelming support I’ve received from the racing industry. I could not have been this confident without the help and messages of goodwill I’ve had. It’s been unbelievable. Every major player in the industry came forward and offered support – there wasn’t one who didn’t pick up the phone. It’s been extremely heart-warming. I’ve always had the attitude of never look in the rear view mirror – only through the front windscreen, but I’m very chuffed.”