The St John Gray owned and trained Yer-Maan, with Quinton Riddle up, won the Gr1 $50 000 Castle Tankard run over 2000m at Borrowdale Park on Saturday.

The 53rd edition of Africa’s oldest sponsored horserace produced a thriller with the Gauteng based owner-trainer St John Gray winning with the lesser fancied of his coupling.

Lucky Sam ran second and was followed by another SA raider in Alyson Wright’s KZN based Warcraft,  with Rock The Country in fourth.

Yer-Maan, by Jam Alley (AUS) is out of a Jallad mare and was bred by Graystone Stud.

The winning margin was 1.25 lengths.

The talented Yer-Maan proved to be ideally course and distance suited and showed no ill effects after a five month layoff.

He hadn’t run since finishing tailed off in unsuitable soft going in the Gr 2 Victory Moon Stakes at Turffontein last November.

Yer-Maan’s next goal could be the $40 000 OK Grand Challenge to be run at Borrowdale over 1800m on June 6.

Sharon Paterson and Quinton Riddle celebrating the big win.

…but difficult to find the winner in this open race

Fourteen horses will line-up for the prestigious $50 000 Castle Tankard (Gr 1) to be run over 2000m at Borrowdale Park on Saturday, and I am prepared to be surprised by the outcome. Most of the runners have claims to fame but also come equipped with queries.

The field includes 2014 Tankard winner, Equina; Lucky Sam who beat Equina in the subsequent 1900m Republic Cup, and three South African raiders – Yer-Maan, Norgay and Warcraft. These three will be racing at Borrowdale for the first time, they have come here for a purpose and must therefore be taken seriously. However, local punters tend to be over-awed by newcomers and we are not always right.

The Joey-Ramsay-trained Coltrane (ARG), carrying 58kgs, took part in the 2014 Tankard and ran a great race, but was narrowly beaten by Equina, followed by A King Is Born. This time the visitors don’t have massive weights to contend with but are they likely to outshine Coltrane? St John Gray’s duo, Yer-Maan and Norgay, will have supporters but I am going along with Alyson Wright’s Warcraft, mainly because this yard has won the Tankard twice previously, with Code Rock in 2012 and A King Is Born in 2013, so must know what is required. Not that I am convinced that Warcraft, despite his recent South African successes, is a sure-fire winner.
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Thanks to the two most fancied horses, Merhaba and Mica Point, last Sunday’s Zimbabwe Derby, third leg of the Triple Crown, became a race to refer to whenever anyone hints that Borrowdale Park three-year-olds can’t produce the goods over 2400m.
As expected the Second Empire (IRE) filly, Second Light, set a blistering pace with the rest of the pack staying seven or eight lengths behind until approaching the home turn. With about 600m to run the field moved up to her and by the 200m mark it was obvious Merhaba and Mica Point would fight out this finish.
And what a finish it was watching Mica Point and Merhaba matching strides up to the line with Merhaba getting the verdict by a head.
Although neither earned a place in the first leg of the Triple Crown, the 1600m Zimbabwe Guineas, this pair dominated the second leg, the Bloodstock SA 2000, when Mica Point went down to Merhaba by 1.25 lengths.
By Mullins Bay (GB), Merhaba is trained by Gokhan Terzi, was ridden by Apprentice Wesley Marwing, and bred by Shadwell Stud. He is owned by Mr S. Armstrong, whose other runner, River Waltz, ran third. The early leader Second Light was fourth, 11.10 lengths off the winner.
At this meeting the Corne Spies yard teamed up with jockey Kevin Derere and produced three winners. Ebony Silver (22/1) triumphed in the first race, a 1000m Maiden Plate, and the Derere/Spies combination scored again with Prince Fireball (25/1) in a 1600m Maiden Plate, first leg of the Pick 6. Their third success was with Amas Amat in the last leg, a 1200m Graduation Plate where the son of National Emblem got the better of Wat’s Up Sarge and Supa Challenge.
Kirk Swanson’s stable was also firing on all cylinders. Road To Dubai and Francois Herholdt gave the 1200m MR 55 Handicap field a galloping lesson, going clear by 6 lengths. In the next race, a 1600m Maiden Plate, Goose Green held on to beat Neptune’s Rock in another nail-biting finish.
Some real excitement, however, erupted in the 1800m MR 50 Handicap where Swanson sent out the favourite, Nugget’s Effect, and Stirling Road. Nuggett Effect, with Apprentice Norbert Takawira aboard, did all he was supposed to, winning by 2.5 lengths – but that was after Stirling Road had broken through the stalls, dislodging JP van der Merwe, and cantered up and down the course for a while.
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Anyone who felt it was all over bar the shouting was wrong. Mica Point, nearest the camera, gave it all he had in the 2400m Zimbabwe Derby run at Borrowdale Park on Sunday, only going down by 0.10 lengths to the favourite, Merhaba, at the finish.
A great race, and a great effort from both horses. Trained by Gokhan Terzi, Merhaba, by Mullins Bay, was ridden by Apprentice Wesley Marwing. Donavan Mansour was aboard Mica Point who is owned by Rosemary Dorward and Tommy Millar.
Photographs: Gavin MacLeod

Below: Gokhan Terzi, on behalf of Mr S. Armstrong, accepts the Zimbabwe Derby Trophy from Nadia Barnwell.

Racing gets off to an early start at Borrowdale Park on Sunday with nine races on the card, including the 2400m Zimbabwe Derby (GR3) which has been carried forward from the abandoned race meeting on April 19.

With three-year-old Classics in full swing, worldwide, this weekend what more can I say about our Derby – bearing in mind that I have said it all before and the field hasn’t changed in the ensuing fortnight?

Merhaba, son of the stallion ,Mullins Bay, who sadly passed on this week, remains the one to beat with plenty of cheek expected from Tallie Two, possibly Mica Point, and Gokhan Terzi’s other charge, River Waltz.

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says C. John Smith writing from the U.K.

This weekend sees the renewal of the Zimbabwe Derby. I have raced for almost forty years at Borrowdale and in that time I have been fortunate enough to have had/been involved with some cracking horses, excellent trainers and some superb jockeys.

For old farts like me can I mention The Toff, Bayshore Towers, Glen Monarch and Earl Of Surrey, then Roy Magner, Sharon Patterson, Noelene Peech, Lisa Harris and Geoff Woodruff, then we had Ivan Moore, Reid Patterson, the brilliant Dewi Williams and two Riddles, Noel and Quinton – not to mention Gavin Lerena (world class) Johnny Geroudis and Richard Fourie.

Former Borrowdale Park trainer, Noelene Peech