David Mollett
25 August 2008
Newmarket — They dished out plenty of gold medals last week, but there wasn't a prouder man on the planet than Johannesburg businessman Chris van Niekerk after his mare, National Colour, won silver in the Nunthorpe Stakes at the headquarters of British racing in York.
The Nunthorpe attracted its usual quality field and one wondered whether SA's 2006 horse of the year could be competitive in only her second start this year. However, National Colour ran the race of her life, going down by just half a length to 12-1 chance Borderlescott, who stopped the clock in a staggering 56,09 seconds.
"I've never felt so happy about finishing second in my life," said Van Niekerk as he took congratulatory calls in the number two box. "They had hardly passed the post when I was contacted by both Markus Jooste (head of Steinhoff) and Bernard Kantor (MD of Investec)."
For Gauteng trainer Sean Tarry, this run was a monumental achievement considering that he took out his licence only 10 years ago. "It's a feather in Sean's cap that she has come back to her best after all her problems," Van Niekerk said. "One can say she's back from the dead. She has come through two knee operations and the vet in Dubai told us that he felt she would never race again."
Jockey Kevin Shea, who has been in action all over the world this year, said he felt the mare was going to win entering the final furlong, but Borderlescott found the better finish to provide Yorkshire trainer Robin Bastiman with the biggest win of his career.
"The tailwind was a bonus for us and I don't think I've ever gone so fast in my life -- it's no surprise it's a new record," said Shea. "It proves she's gone the right way since Ascot."
Surrounded by UK racing reporters after the race, Tarry said the next race for National Colour would be the Prix de L'Abbaye in Paris, where the daughter of National Assembly is likely to resume rivalry with Borderlescott as well as Europe's top sprinter, Marchand D'Or. The winner of the July Cup, Marchand D'Or has had a recent setback in training, resulting in him being taken out of next month's Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock. "It's nothing serious, but he was stopped for two days and we'll train him for the Prix de L'Abbaye," said trainer Freddie Head.
National Colour shortened dramatically in the betting prior to the five furlongs dash with bookmakers offering the mare at only 9-1 after 20-1 had been available earlier in the week. "Probably the support came from SA -- I told a number of my friends that we were confident of a big run," said Tarry.
Nevertheless, it was a good result for the bookmakers as the best backed horses were the French-bred filly, Equiano, who started favourite at 100-30, and last year's winner, Kingsgate Native, sent off at 4-1.
Equiano, who ran fourth, was transferred from the Madrid stable of Mauricio Sanchez to that of Barry Hills after his victory in the King Stand Stakes at Ascot, and he's another likely to make the journey to Paris in October.
Van Niekerk more than covered expenses with National Colour, earning £35000 for her second place, and he hosted a big night out for the small South African contingent. Unhappily, these celebrations were cut short when Tarry was contacted at midnight to be told that his star filly, Wendywood, also owned by Van Niekerk, had died in Durban after a bout of colic.
"This is absolutely gut-renching," said Tarry. "She had the world at her feet and I had told (Van Niekerk) she would be the horse to beat in the Steinhoff Summer Cup in November."
"That's racing -- you have to take the downs with the ups," was Van Niekerk's viewpoint.
While the loss of Wendywood is a serious blow, Van Niekerk flew back to SA with the knowledge that National Colour can match strides with the best speed merchants in the world. Like Kevin Shea, he will feel the game is far from over.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
