INARA defied altitude difficulties to chalk up her fourth Grade 1 win in the L Jaffee Empress Club Stakes at Turffontein last Saturday and by all accounts there is more to come.

Horses trained at sea-level in Cape Town have serious problems racing at 6,000 feet in Johannesburg and the accepted wisdom is that they have to travel either several weeks in advance or as near to the race as possible.

Mike Bass combined the two with his star filly, despatching her last month to the Summerveld training centre north-west of Durban (and about 2, 000 feet up) and last Friday sending her on the final 375 mile, six-hour leg to Turffontein so that she would arrive at the racecourse at 11.00pm.

“We thought we would be halfway there with the altitude by going to Summerveld first,” Bass explained and after the race he wasted little time in sending her back again. “It was better to get out of there as quickly as possible so that she had no time to acclimatise.” The four-year-old daughter of Trippi (a success in America before being purchased by Gaynor Rupert to stand at her Drakenstein Stud) started favourite, was always travelling strongly and surged clear over a furlong out to beat Sensible Lover rather more comfortably than the length margin would suggest.

“We only went a canter and coming into the straight they turned it into a sprint,” related stable jockey Grant van Niekerk. “But this is an amazing filly – every time she runs she surprises me – and she won’t stop here.”

Bass added: “She is a pleasure to train – she does it all for you – but I am not sure that she will run in the Premier’s Champions Challenge (also at Turffontein) next Saturday. I haven’t discussed it with the owner.”

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Inara is out of the Shirley Heights mare Mountains Of Mist who was bred in Ireland by Stavros Niarchos.

Oratorio, trained by Aidan O’Brien to win three Group 1s (Jean-Luc Lagardere, Eclipse and Irish Champion), is proving a big draw in the South African sales rings and the former Coolmore sire was responsible for the two joint R3.2 million (nearly €200,000) sale-toppers at last week’s Emperor’s Palace Select Yearling Sale.

South Africa’s perennial leading owner Markus Jooste, whose interests now extend to part-ownership of a number of horses at Ballydoyle, bought the colt out of Majorca winner Sarabande and the big spending computer magnate Adriaan van Vuuren purchased the one out of the Var mare Varsity Queen. Both horses were sold by the Avontuur Stud, who own Oratorio. The stallion has a further 18 yearlings in next week’s National Yearling Sale.

In Cape Town, Joey Ramsden has been turning out a quick-fire succession of well-bred two-year-old winners, some of them by Coolmore sires from Australian foalings. These include Newlands, a son of High Chaparral.

However stable companion Brutal Force, only just beaten in the Cape Flying Championship and in Johannesburg being prepared for next Saturday’s Computaform Sprint, almost died of colic and is out for the season.

“Part of his gut got trapped between the rib cage and the liver, apparently one of the worst types of colic a horse can get,” Ramsden related. “He had an operation and fortunately the vets were able to pull it out and they didn’t have to cut it. The horse is now back in the yard looking a bit sorry for himself but otherwise he is okay. He will be out of action for four months.”

Horse illness hits Durbanville races

DURBANVILLE has fallen victim to the latest case of African Horse Sickness and is effectively out of bounds for 40 days. The state veterinary department ruled that the racecourse comes just within the 25 mile radius of the dead horse. It’s only meeting during the exclusion period has been transferred to Kenilworth but more problematic for trainers is that the course cannot open for the Thursday morning gallop sessions that so many rely on. Galloping at Kenilworth is only permitted on raceday mornings and is restricted to horses already entered for black type races.

Glen Kotzen whose stables are far closer to where the horse was found is also experiencing big problems due to the sickness. He was asked not to run anything the first weekend and last Saturday the state vet ordered that all his five runners be withdrawn.

New rule for owners

THE National Horseracing Authority is to bring in a rule making owners responsible for ensuring that their horses are given good homes when they finish racing. This follows criticism in the newspaper letter columns that some ex-racehorses are living their final years in misery.