I was alerted to this post by Pirates and feel that if Pro Racer knew the following he might have taken a different view. I did three review articles on the Golden Horse, the first for the Sunday Tribune, the second for the Monday Mercury the next day and the next for the Mercury Tuesday. I have copied them below. As you can see the first two cover all the Grade 1 races and the Tuesday Mercury article was prompted after a phonecall to Azzie to find out how Vacherin had pulled up. In light of the necessary accolades already having been given to the winners in TWO articles, I felt the short Vacherin story was newsworthy and justifiable. Were I to work for a website, the articles would be seen in sequence by people who frequent the website ... such are the difficulties of working for a group of newspapers where people might only see the final article of a sequence.
Sunday Tribune May 31
EARL OF SURREY HITS THE JACKPOT
David Thiselton
The Zimbabwean-bred Earl Of Surrey stamped himself as a genuine Grade 1 performer at Scottsville yesterday when romping home to a scintillating win under Johnny Geroudis in the Grade 1 R600 000 Golden Horse Casino Sprint, despite carrying top weight.
Geoff Woodruff has sent out the five-year-old Century Stand gelding three times for a second in the Grade 2 Senor Santa over 1 160m, a brilliant win in the Grade 2 Drill Hall Stakes over 1 400m at Greyville and yesterday’s win.
However, he gave credit to former trainer, Lisa Harris, saying: “She has given us so much helpful information on the horse.”
Best horse
Harris was on course and described Earl Of Surrey as the best horse she had ever trained.
Earl Of Surrey was slightly slowly away but Geroudis did not panic and made the ground up gradually.
The big chestnut showed an excellent turn of foot when asked the question at the 400m mark and burst through a gap before running away to a comfortable 2,5 length victory from the Glen Kotzen-trained Thunder Key with the Mike Bass pair Gaultier and Blue Tiger next best.
The time was just 0,34 seconds outside Kildonan’s track record.
Earl Of Surrey is owned by John Smith and John Koumides and was bred by Diz and Byrne Buckler’s Sarahdane Stud in Zimbabwe.
His sire Century Stand, who interestingly was one of only two horses to ever beat Horse Chestnut, still stands at Sarahdane Stud.
Geroudis scored a Grade 1 double as he also won the R500 000 Allan Robertson Fillies Championships aboard the Sean Tarry-trained Goldkeeper filly Give Me Five.
It was Tarry’s first ever Grade 1 juvenile victory.
Give Me Five was having only her second start, having romped home on debut, and beat home the Gavin Smith-trained Port Elizabeth raider Fairy Queen by 0,25 lengths after coming with a sweeping late run on the outside.
The Mike Azzie-trained Valeta was next best ahead of the Glen Kotzen-trained Captain's Call.
Give Me Five is owned by LM and DJ Michael and was bred by the late Laurie and Jean Jaffee.
One of the most eagerly awaited races of the day was the R500 000 Gold Reef Resorts Medallion over 1 200m and it duly brought the exciting new stallion on the block, Var, his first Grade 1 winner.
It was the Vaughan Marshall-trained Villandry, under Felix Coetzee, who took the honours as the favourite, another Var colt, Vacherin, faded to nothing in the final 50m.
Villandry, bred by Avontuur Thoroughbred Farm and owned by Aubrey Jacobs, AC Rhodes, B Finlayson and PRC Freestone, broke very well and travelled comfortably throughout.
He kept the Charles Laird-trained Exclaim'N'Exclude at bay by 2,25 lengths.
However, after an objection, the Dominic Zaki-trained Exhiliration was awarded second as Exclaim'N'Exclude had moved inward and boxed him in on the rail.
The Dennis Drier-trained Never Forever finished fourth.
Final stages
The Grade 1 R500 000 SA Fillies Sprint was won by the Glen Kotzen-trained Western Winter filly, Lady Windermere, who quickened well in the final stages under Greg Cheyne.
She beat home the favourite, the Charles Laird-trained Merlene De Lago.
Port Elizabeth raider, the Gavin Smith-trained Royal Extravagance, finished third ahead of the Mike Azzie-trained Mochachino.
Lady Windermere gave owner Peter De Beyer his first Grade 1 winner.
Her breeders, the Gary Player Stud, also have shares in her as does Johann and Gaynor Rupert’s Drakenstein Stud.
June 01 Mercury
EARL TO THE RESCUE
David Thiselton
Punters were left reeling at Scottsville on Saturday as, among other upsets, the
touted horses failed in the Grade 1
1 200m juvenile races but the class horse in the main race of the day, Earl Of Surrey, did
prevent a trip or two to the bank manager.
Earl Of Surrey, now trained by Geoff Woodruff, was formerly trained by Lisa Harris in Zimbabwe and asked on whether this was
the best horse she had ever trained she replied, “Yes, by a million miles.”
He started his career with six wins, including the Zimbabwe Derby over 2 400m.
However, it was when tackling top class company in South Africa, that he was put in his place over middle distance trips as he failed to place in both the Grade 1 Summer Cup over 2 000m and the Grade 3 London News Stakes over 1 800m, both races at Turffontein.
After a ten month rest he came back in a Grade 3 sprint at Borrowdale and romped home by 5,25 lengths, despite carrying 62,5kg.
He has not been further than 1 450m since.
His win on Saturday carrying topweight of 57kg under Johnny Geroudis in the Grade 1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint over 1 200m came in a time just 0,34 seconds outside Kildonan’s track record.
It will be interesting to see now whether Earl Of Surrey will run in the Gold Challenge over 1 600m at Clairwood on June 13, for considering the strength of the form of the Drill Hall Stakes, which he won, he would be a leading contender for that Grade 1 event.
Trainer Vaughan Marshall completed the Scottsville Grade 1 juvenile double after his win with Villandry, ridden by Felix Coetzee, in the Gold Reef Resorts Medallion. Marshall won the Alan Robertson with Readallaboutit in 1997.
Coetzee won the Medallion, then the Smirnoff, exactly a quarter of a century ago with Prontisimo in 1984.
Villandry fittingly became the exciting new speed stallion Var’s first Grade 1 winner, for he had been the horse that first drew the headlines for the Avontuur stallion with his scintillating Cape Summer victories.
Pippa Mickelburgh of Avontuur did not have a preference for either of the two home-bred Vars in the race but, as it happened, the odds-on favourite Vacherin stopped to nothing in the final 50m while Villandry, despite looking dull in the coat, travelled like a winner throughout.
Marcus and Azzie honoured
There was consolation for Vacherin’s defeated trainer Mike Azzie as he was honoured by Scottsville for having won eleven features there in the past. Anton Marcus was also honoured for having won ten.
Sean Tarry landed his first juvenile Grade 1 victory when winning the Allan Robertson with Give Me Five, who was ridden by Johnny Geroudis.
Geroudis had won one Grade 1 juvenile race before with Tytola in the Premier’s Champion Stakes over 1 400m on July day, 2000.
Tarry had rated Give Me Five the best of a crop of yearlings bred by the late Jean Jaffee, after being asked by her to look at the batch before the sales.
He advised her to keep the filly, but she elected to sell. Tarry bought her without having a buyer and his friends Mark, Derek and Lance Michael made the now wise decision to take over ownership. Tarry said that he felt beforehand that the 1 200m trip might be too sharp for her.
The SA Fillies Sprint seemed to hinge on whether Charles Laird’s Merlene De Lago would behave herself in the pre-race formalities.
Renowned horse whisperer, Malan du Toit, had worked with the troublesome filly for a week beforehand in unison with KZN starter, Paul Hepworth. With first time ear muffs on, she entered the parade ring late and was sweat free. She caused no delay at the start when loaded last of all.
There were reports of some unwarranted gamesmanship by one jockey, who apparently called that he was not ready as Hepworth was poised to press the button, but even this slight delay did not upset the filly.
As it happened, she could only finish second to the Glen Kotzen-trained Lady Windermere. The latter was stopped in the mud on a wet day at Clairwood last time but in the fast going this time was able to quicken well under Greg Cheyne.
Lady Windermere had won two Grade 2 sprints during the Cape Summer and this was Kotzen’s second Grade 1 win in what has been a fantastic season for the trainer who has yards in the Paardeberg and at Summerveld.
June 02 Mercury
VACHERIN JARRED UP IN MEDALLION
David Thiselton
Mike Azzie said yesterday that a post race inspection of his star juvenile, Vacherin, revealed that he had jarred up during his disappointing run in the Gold Reef Resorts Medallion, although it was nothing serious.
“He had a little bit of tightness and heat in the knee,” said Azzie.
Vacherin started as odds on favourite, but finished unplaced after fading late.
“That wasn’t his run,” continued Azzie, “One only has to look at the form turnaround with Exhiliration.
“Vacherin annihilated him in the Nursery, it wasn’t even a race, and now he’s been beaten by him.
“But Scottsville is a racecourse that has buried many champions in the past. In Full Flight, Sentinel, Elevation, they were all beaten there. Even Harry’s Charm hated the track.
“She won there, but on a number of occasions she disappointed us when we thought she’d win.”
Knows Scottsville
Azzie knows the Scottsville track well and was given an accolade award on Saturday for having trained eleven feature winners there.
For the first time with any of his horses, he had mentioned Vacherin in the same breath as his great sprinter National Currency before the Scottsville feature.
“I am a bit annoyed with myself for having taken Vacherin to Scottsville for a gallop last week,” he said.
“I have never done that with any of my past feature winners, but allowed myself to be talked into doing it this time. Having taken him there, he knew what to look for and I think it would have been better had he gone there cold.
“Villandry running across him in the closing stages didn’t help either.
“In my opinion Charles Laird’s horse, Exclaim’N’Exclude, was very hard done by. The interference he caused to Exhiliration was actually as a result of Villandry running across the leading horses.
“I watched the head on and couldn’t believe it when they upheld the objection.
“I think Villandry was actually lucky to keep the race, even though he was well clear at the line.”
Confidence booster
Azzie said that he would find another race for Vacherin before resting him and giving him his African Horse Sickness vaccines.
“I believe that after a disappointing performance a horse should be given another run before a rest,” he said.
“That way the horse goes into the rest period with his confidence up.”
Vacherin’s long term goal is the Cape Flying Championship at Kenilworth in January next year.
“I am looking forward to the rematch with Villandry,” he said.
In other Azzie yard news he said that his Western Winter Umzimkhulu and KRA Fillies Guineas winner, On Her Toes, would be going straight for the Grade 1 Garden Province over 1 600m on Vodacom Durban July day, while another star Var juvenile
colt of his, August Rush, would be going
for the Grade 1 Golden Horseshoe over 1 400m on the same day.
