Considering Mr Azzie’s aspirations for his Champ to be 100 % ready for The South African Derby, surely it would have been wiser to teach Potala Palace to settle a bit and let him learn to run past horses?
Were it not for another outbreak of African Horse Sickness earlier this year The Apache would have left out shores a long time ago, but Hong Kong’s loss is South Africa’s gain.
ROBYN LOUW: Last Thursday afternoon found me on a plane to Joburg for the Equus Awards. Much like dentist visits, I find air travel a bit of an evil, necessary though it might be.
Same-stable “Exactas” were the order of the afternoon at Greyville on Sunday. Little more than half-an-hour after Sean Tarry sent out the first two finishers to the Canon Gold Cup, Gavin van Zyl pulled off the same trick when The Apache and Bulsara occupied the first two places in the Champions Cup.
Former jockeys seldom make it to the big time in the training ranks, but Summerveld-based Gavin Van Zyl bucked that trend when he followed up his first Gr1 win as a trainer recently in the SA Derby with Seal, when he sent out The Apache to win the R1 million Gr1 Daily News 2000
The son of Master Of My Fate will likely side-step stablemate Eight On Eighteen in the Daily News and go via the Greyville 1900 and Cup Trial into the big one on 5 July
Outstanding colt Nepotism (Brutal) scored one of the most remarkable Gr1 wins by a 2YO on an Australian racetrack in recent memory
A R1 million yearling at Nationals last week, and a maiden stakes winner on Sunday – Soqrat’s shares are on the up
