Owner Shawe has positive message as his runners excel

On his most memorable day as an owner at the Vaal on Saturday, David Shawe had a positive message about the future of the sport on the Highveld. He said: “Cape racing is on the up, but so are we [Gauteng].”

Shaw was referring to the success of the recent Betway Summer Cup and the fact that Saturday’s unique race — with 27 horses facing the starter — attracted a good crowd to the Free State track.

“We couldn’t have scripted it better,” enthused Shawe after his two runners in the WSB Grand Heritage, Duke Of Sussex and Dyce, had filled the first two places in the 1,475m stampede.

Both horses are trained by Lucky Houdalakis and — while Dyce was the stable fancy — Duke Of Sussex has proved a soldier for the yard and was winning the eighth race of his career.

Duke Of Sussex, bred at Drakenstein Stud, is a son of Duke Of Marmalade who died in November last year. He is best known for winning five consecutive grade 1 races in 2008.

It was also a red-letter day for jockey JP van der Merwe. Not only did he win the Grand Heritage but also the supporting feature, the Heritage Consolation, on Gavin van Zyl’'s runner, Fateful Day.

With 200m to go in the Grand Heritage, Muzi Yeni looked set to take the R312,500 first prize on Dyce, but Van der Merwe got a late burst out of Duke Of Sussex and got his mount in front close to home.

Whafeef looked to have a good each-way chance and Stuart Pettigrew’s four-year-old took third place in front of Grant van Niekerk’s mount, Outofthedarkness.

There were two disappointing runs from two well-backed runners, Irish Tractor and Prophet. The former had beaten Outofthedarkness at Turffontein in October, but now was never a factor finishing eight lengths adrift of the winner.

Trainer Corné Spies was confident of a big run from Prophet but the son of Querari — the only three-year-old in the field — also turned in a lacklustre performance.

Gavin van Zyl’s decision to have a satellite stable on the Highveld has paid dividends and his four-year-old, Fateful Day, responded to Van der Merwe’s urgings to win the R175,000 Heritage Consolation.

The first prize of R109,375 is seven times the amount it cost to purchase the son of Master Of My Fate as a yearling.

Trainer Roy Magner shocked punters with a 74-1 winner in the opening event, but his sprinter, Taikonaut, ticked a lot of boxes in the Sophomore 1,000 and just got the better of Karangetang in the best finish at the meeting.

Racing in the colours of Hong Kong owner Robert Chung, Taikonaut was a R600,000 purchase from Cheveley Stud but is well on the way to recouping that outlay and may reach the top of the speedster ranks.

Earlier in the meeting, Houdalakis introduced a promising three-year-old filly, Kinky Boots, who just got home in a close finish to the second race. The daughter of Master Of My Fate looks on course for a successful career.