Race Coast off to a fast start

Race Coast had a cheering start. The new brand unites the operations of Western Cape’s Cape Racing and Gold Circle of KwaZulu-Natal and Durban’s Bay of Plenty beach was the sunny venue for the official launch last week. Horses galloped on the sands of the surfers’ haunt and racing’s great and good proclaimed a new dawn, to the roar of Indian Ocean breakers.

Then there was exciting and uplifting racing itself. This was a little out of earshot of the waves – 80km inland to be precise, at Maritzburg for the annual Festival of Speed on Saturday. For every race to the coast there must be a midlands meander.

Scottsville racecourse introduced Race Coast in a rather special way, with any number of upbeat stories crammed into its famous four-feature card.

Jockeys back in the mix

Race Coast represents renewal in racing and you couldn’t ask for better redemption stories than those of jockeys Andrew Fortune and Chad Little who have overcome dark times and fought their way back into the winners’ circle.

Little, back in the irons at the age of 40, found his reward in the shape of a first Grade 1 victory – a battling effort aboard the appropriately named Good For You, trained by Glen Kotzen, in the Gold Medallion for juveniles.

Former champion jockey Fortune returned to the saddle at 57 earlier this year, after years in retirement and following unlikely recoveries from drug addiction and weight issues. On Saturday, he won the Grade 2 Golden Horse Sprint on Tenango for trainer Candice Bass-Robinson and his ebullient interview contained this gem of wisdom: “You’ve got to turn up for yourself!”

Epitomising that philosophy is Sean Tarry, who’s diligence has kept him at the top of the training ranks for decades – not least with phenomenal annual success at Scottsville’s biggest meeting. This time around, he landed the topliner on the card, the Grade 1 SA Fillies And Mares Sprint, with Mia Moo.

More success stories

On the four-year-old’s back was Callan Murray, a talented young jockey who plied his trade in Australia for a few years – as South African racing looked headed for the knacker’s yard – but is back in his homeland after hearing good things about the revival of the game – a la Race Coast.

Another welcome stirring in local racing waters has been successful raiding around the country by trainer Alan Greeff from the backwaters of Eastern Cape. His juvenile filly Direct Hit cruised to victory in the ultra-prestigious Grade 1 Allan Robertson Championship, remaining unbeaten in four starts.

Further landmark events at Scottsville included emerging stallion Canford Cliffs registering his first Grade 1 win, with Direct Hit, and complementing it with a Grade 2, with Tenango.

And there were plenty more diverting moments, such as grooms with stage-fright and big cheques and babbling owners regaling us with their inevitable tales of lows and highs in the infernal game.

If there was a note of disappointment it was the small crowd at one of the year’s major race meetings. But, then again, Race Coast has just got started.