First-timer Israel won the 1260m Maiden Plate at Borrowdale last Sunday. Sherman Brown rode for Kirk Swanson and the three-year-old Seventh Rock (AUS) gelding is owned and bred by Christopher Peech of Rumbavu Stud.

With so much sad, bad news about racing in the outside world let’s be glad our horses are safe. There are plenty of nominations for next week’s race meeting, Kirk Swanson continues to score with first timers, and all our scandals, if any, are minor.

The tragic results of the wild fires in California are horrifying and we can only be thankful that most of the horses were saved, and shed some tears for those that perished in the blaze.

The Jooste fiasco is likely to have serious repercussions in South Africa and internationally – talk about bringing racing into disrepute! Fortunately Marcus Jooste was never a fan of Zimbabwe racing….in fact I believe we have him to thank for our removal from the South African Jockey and Trainers logs, which we used to be part of.

That said, kindest thoughts and best wishes to all racing stables, worldwide, likely to be affected by these issues.