Harare-based jockeys won five of the seven races on Sunday’s Borrowdale Park card.

In addition to winning the main race on Equina, Quinton Riddle also scored on Pente’s Daughter.

Brendon McNaughton visited the Winner’s Enclosure three times with Nimble Dancer, Got A Hold On Me, for the Terzi yard, and Master Of The Sky.

Two of the visiting jockeys, Andrew Fortune and Fanie Chambers, had to settle for one winner each.

McNaughton and Nimble Dancer (above) completed a  hat-trick when the AP Answer colt won the 1100m Merit Rated 75 Handicap. Trained by Bridget Stidolph,  and bred by Clifton Stud, the colt is owned by Messrs S.N. Buchan, N. Evans,  S. Mawdsley, K.J. Mullen, K. Smith, M.K. Chant – and Bridget Stidolph, who was having a particularly good afternoon. Continue reading →

 

Zimbabwe’s champion race mare, Equina, clocked up another victory at Borrowdale Park on Sunday, despite carrying top weight. Quinton Riddle, master of the last – minute pounce, was in the irons and Equina is trained by Amy Bronkhorst. Gentle Brook, also from the Bronkhorst yard, was second. Print The Pounds was third and Diversify fourth.

Bred by Cheveley Stud, Equina is owned by Peter Moor. She has now won 12 races, including the Castle Tankard (GR 1), the OK Grand Challenge (GR 2) and the Republic Cup (GR 3).

Diz Buckler (second from left) presented the Champion Fillies Stakes trophy to Equina’s trainer Amy Bronkhorst and Richard Moor. Quinton Riddle was also in the line-up.

Photographs: Gavin Macleod

The Swanson Racing team was on hand to lead Gateway Gamble in after the Mullins Bay (GB) colt won the 1000m Maiden Plate at Borrowdale Park. Boniface Vengesa has been riding work, Kirk and Debra Swanson were there, Assistant Trainer Thomas Mason and Francis Mazarura, the groom. Unfortunately Gateway Gamble’s owner, Kevin Stainton, could not be on the course on Sunday.

The winning jockey was Francois Herholdt.

This was the three-year-old’s first start, he won in fine style and it seems he also impressed the handicapper. His Merit Rating is 74.

In the not too distant past a son of Century Stand (AUS), Earl Of Surrey, set the turf alight both in Zimbabwe and down South. At Borrowdale Park on Sunday another of his sons, Call Me Earl, lived up to expectations and won the 1200m Jacaranda Free Handicap.

Bred by Sarahdane Stud near Harare, Call Me Earl, out of a Rabah (GB) mare, is trained by the Alyson Wright satellite yard and was ridden by Apprentice Ryan Munger. He is owned by Diz Buckler of Sarahdane Stud, and Fiona Olivier.

Although the Jacaranda Free never developed into a duel between top weighted Demagogue and Call Me Earl, it did not lack excitement. Approaching the 200m mark there was a line of horses across the course and it could have been anyone’s race. Then the Bridget Stidolph-trained Super Good made his move and shot clear, chased by stable mate Duffi’s Call and Slick.

It seemed the Announce gelding had it made, until a fast finishing Call Me Earl caught him. The winning margin was 0.25 lengths – talk about timing!

This was the sixth race on the card and Tandava, also by Century Stand (AUS) won the seventh, a 1200m Novice Plate. Continue reading →

Hindsight is marvellous and plenty of Pick 6 punters probably regret not following Andrew Fortune at Borrowdale Park on October 18. The Gokhan Terzi/Fortune “combo” delivered four of the Pick 6 winners on Sunday.

First up was the three-year-old Century Stand (AUS) colt, Tandava, in the 1300m Maiden Plate. Out of a Kitalpha mare and owned and bred by Dave Rosser this was Tandava’s second start, and showed marked improvement since his debut in July.

Fortune’s mount, Rock The Country, failed to get the upper hand in the 1800m Merit Rated 80 Handicap, won by Madigan, but after that the rest of the card belonged to Glenwood Racing.

Scarlett Ice, winner of her previous start, narrowly beat Ice Pack in the 1800m Merit Rated 55 Handicap, and I wonder how many Swingers and Exactas were inspired by the word “Ice”?

The Black Minnalouche (USA) filly has now won both her starts in Harare and seems likely to do more. She runs in the colours of Gengiz Goksel and was bred by the Estate of the late Mr R.B. Wallace.

Anthony’s Lazer, bred by Druk-My-Niet Stud, gave owner John Koumides a second winner when he scored in the 1600m Maiden Plate. The four-year-old colt by Tiger Dancer (USA) had been rested for 134 days and finished two lengths clear of Promising.

By then Seb d’Aquino, the trainer of Promising, had already saddled three runners placed second, so he was possibly quite pleased the afternoon was coming to an end.

Last race on the card was the 1600m Commissioner General of Police’s Charity Handicap won by Principled Man, in defiance of my predictions, gut feelings and so forth. The Amy Bronkhorst-trained Gentle Brook (second) featured prominently, but I am still wondering what happened to Thriller In Manila (fourth), Tallie Two and Super Trouper.

Principled Man has now won four races and been placed 9 times from 16 starts. Like Gentle Brook he too is by Windrush (USA). This five-year-old gelding is owned by Messrs G. Goksel and T.J. Shawe and was bred by Geoff Armitage.

Once again the training honours in the first race went to Bridget Stidolph at Borrowdale Park on Sunday. The Soar With Eagles gelding, MacFly, with Fanie Chambers in the irons, won the 1000m MR 49 Handicap, followed by Royal Revenge, Lake Nakuru and Yesterday Man. He is owned by Christopher Peech, Rob Davenport and the Sunmark Syndicate, and was bred by Sunmark Thoroughbreds.

The Stidolph yard scored again in the second race with Nimble Dancer.

TIME TO TAKE NIMBLE DANCER SERIOUSLY

The AP Answer (USA) colt, Nimble Dancer, won the 1200m MR 65 Handicap on Sunday making this the third victory from his last four starts. He was followed closely across the line by Call Me Earl, the only three-year-old in this race.

Nimble Dancer latest success proves he is worth following with some confidence in future and credit must also go to Call Me Earl who was returning to racing after 112 days off – and giving the winner 2 kgs. Changa and Pente’s Daughter filled the remaining places.

Nimble Dancer is owned by Messrs S.N. Buchan, N. Evans, S. Mawdsley, K.J. Mullen, K. Smith and M.K. Chant, and his trainer. Brendon McNaughton has partnered the four-year-old each time he won. Congratulations to all the connections, including Clifton Stud, the breeders.

Photographs: Gavin Macleod

Principled Man, with Andrew Fortune up, got up to beat Gentle Brook in the 1600m Commissioner General of Police’s Charity Handicap at Borrowdale Park on Sunday. Trained by Gokhan Terzi, the Windrush gelding was bred by Geoff Armitage, and this was his fourth win.

Gentle Brook (Apprentice Mathew Thackeray) from the Amy Bronkhorst yard tried to make every post a winning one but Principled Man struck when it mattered. The winning margin was 0.25 lengths. The winner’s stable mate,. Got A Hold On Me (Brendon McNaughton) was third, followed by Thriller In Manila (Fanie Chambers).

The Borrowdale Park Pick Six paid R21 121.40. The Jackpot Dividend was R763.20 and the Place Accumulator R103.50.

Photograph: Gavin Macleod.

Only two Tote Favourites delivered the goods at Borrowdale Park on Sunday and after the sixth race 1.1 Pick Six tickets went forward into the last leg – according to Tellytrack. (Have been checking websites this morning but haven’t discovered whether or not the Borrowdale Pick Six was won.)

The sixth race on the Borrowdale Park card, the 1800m Maiden Plate, was won by Slick (14/1), with the more fancied Master Of The Sky having to settle for second place.

The actual Tote favourite, Vaya Con Dios, finished well back but was fractious in the pens and post race it was reported she was “bleeding from the left nostril, probably injured in the pens”.

Slick, a three-year-old colt by West Man (USA), was ridden by Apprentice Ryan Munger. The winning margin was 1.25 lengths and Slick is trained by Amy Bronkhorst and owned, as well as bred, by Peter Moor.

Photograph: Gavin Macleod