Alan Robertson Championship (Grade 1)

Gold Medallion (Grade 1)

FORMER Coolmore stallion Canford Cliffs sired his first South African Grade 1 winner when Direct Hit led from halfway to land odds of 56/100 in the Alan Robertson Championship at Scottsville’s Festival Of Speed last Saturday.

The Alan Greeff-trained filly did runner-up Elegantrix no favours by hanging in towards her but she never looked like getting beaten. Rider Richard Fourie, cautioned to ensure his mounts did not shift ground in future, said: “She is a special filly and this race was her mission from the day she started.”

It was an overdue Alan Robertson success for trainer Alan Greeff, who last won this in 2003, and a most appropriate win for the Ridgemont Highlands Stud, who own the filly with Devin Heffer and also stand Canford Cliffs.

The stud’s part owner, former England test cricket player Craig Kieswetter, said: “This was her mission from the day she started.”

Good as Gold

The male equivalent, the Gold Medallion, went to Good For You, a son of the 2014 Durban July winner Legislate whose stud career has been restricted by fertility problems. The 4/1 chance made every yard of the six furlongs but it was only by a neck that he held Charming Cheetah.

Indeed, third-placed Intensity - a daughter of Irish-bred United States out of a Giant’s Causeway mare - was finishing so fast that she would have won in another few strides.

The winner was bred by the Oldlands Stud, cost R300,000 (€14,633) as a yearling and is trained by Glen Kotzen, who said: “This is a super little horse but I am not in a hurry to run him again that soon.”

The win was also a triumph for rider Chad Little, 40, a former champion apprentice who admitted to drug abuse in the past. It took a five-year ban, considerable willpower, and encouragement from Kotzen, to get him back on the right path.

Changing fortunes

Nobody in South African racing knows more about the slings and arrows of life than Andrew Fortune. He his comeback bid with victory on the Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Canford Cliffs four-year-old Tenango in the Golden Horse Sprint, which was relegated to Grade 2 status this year.

“Nothing comes to you,” said the 58-year-old, explaining his philosophy in the winner’s enclosure. “And whatever you achieve in life, you’ve got to do things you don’t want to do. “Some mornings I wake up tired and I don’t want to ride work but I make myself do it.”

No trainer has a better record at this meeting than Sean Tarry who took his Scottsville Grade 1 total to 21 (all since 2006) when the Callan Murray-ridden Mia Moo got the best of a four-way photo in the SA Fillies Sprint. Little more than a length covered the first four.

Murray, who recently returned from Australia, said: “It was very tight and I was just praying that I’d got the verdict. It has been a long time between drinks for me as regards Grade 1s and that is one of the reasons I decided to return home. I can only thank Mr Tarry – he didn’t tie me down. He just said: ‘Keep it smooth and she will do the rest.’”

Back for more

Sadly Piere Strydom, 59 last Friday and temporarily out of action, is voicing concerns that he may soon be forced into retirement as the premiums on his compulsory insurance cover are increasing to impractical proportions.

But South African racing’s other golden oldie, Andrew Fortune, is busy making a comeback at the age of 58!