Media release L'Ormarins Queens Plate

4 JANUARY 2011



The 150th running of the Queen’s Plate, sponsored by L’Ormarins Wine Estate since 2008, will celebrate the royal history of this premier horse race with a gathering of the finest thoroughbreds in South Africa at Kenilworth Racecourse, Cape Town, on Saturday, 8 January 2011.



AN ILLUSTRIOUS EQUINE HISTORY

Steeped in tradition and prestige, the Queen’s Plate is the oldest horse racing event in South Africa bearing international significance. The event was first raced in 1861 in honour of Queen Victoria. When she died, the race became the King's Plate during the reigns of Edward VII and George VI but reverted to its original name in 1953 after the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne. To this day, Her Majesty retains a keen interest in the race and its outcome, and she is represented here every year by the British High Commissioner, the Hon Dr Nicola Brewer. This year, in honour of the 150th anniversary, L’Ormarins is anticipating additional royal interest. With its royal involvement, the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate not only hosts courageous and determined champion racehorses, but its stylish theme of blue and white also brings elegance and beauty into the mix. The 2011 event will commemorate 150 years since Queen Victoria donated a silver plate and 500 sovereigns.



According to Charles Faull, global expert on thoroughbred pedigrees and director of the Form Organisation, the race was originally run over two miles and on handicap terms before it settled into its current format of weight-for-age over a mile (1 600 metres). It was first raced this way at Kenilworth Racecourse in October 1948 and has now distinguished itself as a sophisticated meeting of racing excellence, matched by the style and grace worthy of such a prestigious event. It brings the country’s finest thoroughbred horses onto centre stage and surrounds them with haute couture, vintage cars and fine wines. ‘It’s the most important, defining race in our racing year, run at a time when horses are at their peak,’ says Charles.



The current champion of the Queen’s Plate is Pocket Power, who has won it a record four consecutive times and will attempt an unprecedented fifth win at the 2011 event. Significantly, Pocket Power was sired by Jet Master, himself a double Queen’s Plate winner. ‘It’s a feather in the cap for the South African stud book,’ says Faull. ‘The Queen’s Plate is without a doubt the most prestigious weight-for-age race on the South African calendar, with a meritorious honour roll. To win it once is difficult; to win it two or more times is remarkable. Unlike handicap races in which lesser horses are given the chance to beat better horses, it is always an outstanding horse that wins the Queen’s Plate. Weight-for-age races are the purest form of racing and define the best horses around. I like to think of it as the Currie Cup of horse racing and the pinnacle defining race. If you take the average merit rating of the horses that have filled the first four places in the Queen’s Plate, it would be considerably higher than any other race in the country. No other race held here is technically in the same league. This is the 62nd running of it since 1948, apart from a year when it was cancelled because of equine flu.’



Interestingly, between 1877 and 1882 Riley won the race four times, but over a different distance and not consecutively. So Pocket Power’s dominance of the race for four consecutive years has earned him his place as one of South Africa’s greats. This year, his bid to set the record by winning five successive titles is a fitting tribute to what is probably Pocket Power’s last season and his final running of the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate.



MOST GLAMOROUS FASHION EVENT

As one of the most stylish events on the Cape Town calendar, everyone will enjoy dressing in blue and white to the ‘Timeless Elegance’ theme, for which prizes will be aptly awarded for the ‘Best Dressed’ and ‘Best Hat’. UK-based Tatler magazine will be in attendance to capture the style highlights and the who’s who of this exclusive event, and it’s likely that many of SA’s most elegant women will be wearing the work of talented local designers such as Stefania Morland and Malcolm Klûk, who previously dressed Michelle McLean. ‘The great thing about the day is how sophisticated it is in comparison to the other big races’ Malcolm says.



SPECIAL VIEWING OF VINTAGE CLASSICS

Admirers of further rare beauty will enjoy the veteran, vintage and classic cars on display courtesy of the Franschhoek Motor Museum on L’Ormarins Wine Estate. Extending the blue-and-white theme the cars will be specially selected based on their colour, and for the flair and glamour they will bring to the event. Some of the vehicle collection will be participating in an exciting new event set to rival the famous Mille Miglia and Tour Auto as they take on some of the most spectacular roads in the Cape in the L’Ormarins 1200’, October 2011.



RELAX IN STYLE

The L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate creates an atmosphere of luxury, and in the exclusive style lounges, guests are accommodated in comfort and opulence in a variety of marquees. VIP guests can enjoy the ambience of the Style Lounge in the privacy of their own area. This year, Café Caprice will bring its own blend of Cape Town chic, along with elegant wines from L’Ormarins, to a dedicated venue. Viewing areas for an uninterrupted outlook of the winning horse romping home will be available. Later, as the sun dips behind the mountain and the last race is run, some of the country’s best musicians will take to the stage to entertain the crowds till late. Style Lounge tickets are available for those 18 and older. Food and drinks are not included in the Style Lounge Village Pass. Style Lounge tickets are available now from www computicket.co.za.



The L’Ormarins private luncheon, in honour of special guests who have flown out especially from the UK for the event, is by invitation only and is expected to be the event of the season. VIPs will also have access to the Stud Club. VIP inquiries should be directed to ksalt@pier2pier.co.za. This year, the exclusive charity selected for the event is the Montrose Foundation, known for its support of the Montrose Foundation Equine Assisted Youth at Risk Development Programme, in which horses offer an effective method of therapy and a healing process for human beings, especially disadvantaged youth with substance abuse problems.



‘In keeping with the history of this day and celebrating the royal theme throughout, the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate will be nothing other than haute couture, delicious food and fine wine, stimulating entertainment and, of course, noble thoroughbreds,’ says Kate Salt, spokesperson for the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate.



Gates for the 150th L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate Raceday officially open at 11h00.



FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Louise Porter or Janine Laubscher

Greater Than

Telephone: 021 481 1834

Mobile: 074 114 6349 or 072 911 1613

Email: louise@greaterthan.co.za or janine@greaterthan.co.za



FOR COMMENT PLEASE CONTACT:

Kate Salt

079 100 9986

Email: elcheg@trinergycx.com











Gill Simpkins
Public Relations Manager

David Thiselton

4 JANUARY 2011






Mike Bass was his usual philosophical self ahead of Pocket Power’s world record-equalling attempt in the Grade 1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate over 1600m on Saturday at Kenilworth Racecourse.



The eight-year-old three times Equus Horse Of The Year will attempt to equal the record of the 1960s USA horse Kelso, who is the only horse in history to have won the same major race five times in succession.



“He has won four Queen’s Plates, so he’s done enough already, I would never hold it against him if he didn’t win on Saturday,” said Bass.



Pocket Power galloped at Kenilworth with stable companion Fort Vogue on Boxing Day.



“The gallop went very nicely,” said Bass. “He will work on the sand on Thursday this week, but he has done most of his work and we will just be keeping him in one piece. I’m happy with him, he’s doing well and looks well. We have got him well and can do no more than that. It will be nobody’s fault if he doesn’t win, least of all him. This might well be the hardest Queen’s Plate field he’s faced and he is sure to have lost some of his brilliance at this age, so it’s a big ask.”



Bass was very pleased with his draw of two.



“A bad draw would’ve been a setback, he needs to have luck at his age,” he said.

However, his other four horses all drew wide.



“I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad,” said Bass about his overall draw fortunes.



Blue Tiger, a front runner who will ensure a good pace for Pocket Power, drew one from the outside in 14.



“It’s always tough from there for a frontrunner,” said Bass. “I would’ve liked him to have drawn one and been there for free.”



He found the stable companions difficult to assess due to their draws, but revealed that Karl Neisius had elected to ride Rushing Wind, who galloped at Kenilworth last Sunday (Boxing Day) and “went nicely”.



“He’s very versatile,” added Bass.



Of Captain’s Secret, he said, “He looks really well. His last race is difficult to assess as they went so slowly.”



He felt happy that Blue Tiger would be at his peak, as he was for his brilliant front running effort when runner up in last season’s Grade 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge over 1600m.



However, he added, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Super Storm (whom Piere Strydom requested to ride) is the best ride of the four.”



While Bass is relaxed ahead of the mammoth event that has had the racing public abuzz for weeks, it is a different story for his wife Carol, who is already a bundle of nerves.



“She worries about him all the time,” admitted Bass.

Bass mentioned Mother Russia as a danger from pole position draw but added, “Ebony Flyer will be the one to beat. She’s a big strapping filly, she’s very good, and the pull of 7,5kg she will be getting might be her main advantage.”





ends



Gill Simpkins
Public Relations Manager

Golden Miller also won five Chelt Gold Cups in succesion, but over the jumps.

I think i saw Kate Salt in a movie recently she was playing a Russian assassin very sexy.

Must say just watched a show on Tellytrack re: the Queens Plate and the Snaith lads certainly know how to market an event, are all the Cape Town females so stunning?

Bit of a pointer today with Run for it running in the grade 2 race and the yard thinking Ebony Flyer streets/lenths a head of anything else

luca cumanis daughter will be doing the presenting...worth the 250 rand entrance fee alone to see her

Here is one of Francesca for you Pirates, cheap at half the price

Snaith Stable by DT


Trainer Justin Snaith said yesterday that everything had gone to plan with Ebony Flyer’s preparation for Saturday’s Grade 1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate at Kenilworth and her work had been “exceptional”.



The huge Jet Master filly, who stands at over 17 hands, will attempt to become the first ever three-year-old filly to win the race that celebrates its 150th anniversary on Saturday.



She had her final serious gallop at Kenilworth last week and jockey Felix Coetzee had been “very impressed”.



“She is doing well,” said Snaith. “You get good horses and very good horses and she’s very good.”



She drew 13, which was a blow and Snaith said, “It wasn’t what I was hoping for. She’s a young filly taking on the best in the country and two of them have drawn one and two. A punter when he sees draw 13 usually overlooks the horse, that’s the immediate feeling you get. But racing isn’t meant to be fair and we will do what we have to do. I haven’t put her in this race to ruin her career, we believe we can win. She is a horse that will do anything you ask of her. She has an off button, an on button and a turbo boost button and whatever Felix asks her to do, whether it is to be at the front or the back, she will do.”



Snaith said that Ebony Flyer had come on “lengths” since her win in the Grade 1 Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas and compared her favourably with some of the best fillies he had ever trained.



“She is very different to Dancer’s Daughter. She has the combination of Sparkling Gem’s size and power and Dancer’s Daughter’s turn of foot. She has an exceptional temperament unlike Dancer’s Daughter who just wanted to get out there and race. But like Dancer’s Daughter, Ebony Flyer gets better and better with every race. She seems to have endless talent.”



Snaith has not had many runners in the Queen’s Plate before, but rated this as one of the strongest line ups he had encountered in any of his career races.



“You have the best older horse, the champion Pocket Power. Past Master is the best up and coming horse in the country and has huge potential. Mother Russia is the best older filly and then there is Ebony Flyer. It could be the hottest Queen’s Plate yet.”



Snaith also has two runners in the Grade 1 TBA Paddock Stakes, Emerald Cove and We Three.



Felix Coetzee has chosen to ride Emerald Cove, but Snaith said, “It’s too close to call between them. Emerald Cove put up the most impressive workout this week of any of my runners on Saturday, but the one hiccup with her is whether she will stay. Her mother stayed so I think she should.”



Snaith questioned whether either of his Paddock Stakes contenders were “Grade 1 winning material”, but added, “Nothing really stands out in the race. Mike Bass and Mike de Kock’s horses will be the ones to beat, while A Daughter’s Legacy is also very highly rated.”



Snaith’s Solo Traveller, winner of the Grade 1 Bloodstock SA Cape Guineas, runs in the Listed Politician Stakes over 1800m, a conditions race for three-year-olds. He carries joint top weight of 58kg and has a fine draw of two. Bernard Fayd’herbe keeps the ride.



Snaith said, “Solo Traveller is doing exceptionally well and is at his best. He will take some beating and this should be a nice build up for his main aim, which is the Investec Cape Derby.”



Snaith rated the second race, the Protea Juvenile Plate, where he runs Soweto Slew, Gimmethegreenlight and Pink Martini, as his best chance on the day of having a winner.



“All three of them have been set up for this race,” he said. He regarded Soweto Slew as the one to beat.



He felt he had a very strong coupling in the fourth race, a Fillies and Mares Handicap over 1400m, with Townsend, Peonie Paradise, Are We There Yet and Danish Diva.



Coetzee has chosen to ride Danish Diva here, but Snaith could not separate them.



Snaith added, “Wing Man will run well in the third, last time was too far for him.”

Past Master by DT

Trainer Darryl Hodgson is pleased with his top Grade 1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate contender, Past Master, ahead of the big race on Saturday at Kenilworth Racecourse.



Hodgson won the Queen’s Plate almost twenty years ago with I’m Taking It in December 1991, beating a top class field that ultimately included two Durban July winners, Flaming Rock and Spanish Galliard, and two J&B Met winners, Pas De Quoi and Divine Master.



Past Master, a four-year-old gelding by Jet Master, caused a surprise last season when winning the Selangor Cup at odds of 35-1 when with Dean Kannemeyer, beating his much touted stablemate Noordhoek Flyer.



However, the win didn’t surprise jockey Gerrit Schlechter, who rated him better than Noordhoek Flyer at the time.



Past Master sustained an injury after that win which put him out for ten months.



Since joining the Hodgson yard he has come back in fine style, winning two of his four races, including a very impressive win in the Grade 2 WPOTA Diadem Stakes over 1200m in his last start.



Past Master had his last serious Queen’s Plate workout yesterday morning (Tuesday) with Schlechter aboard.



“He did it very well,” said Hodgson. “He doesn’t set the training tracks alight as he is very laid back. If a bookmaker watched him work, he would make him a 20-1 shot. A race is the only way to give him a full gallop, otherwise he just goes three-quarter pace. That’s why I put him in the Diadem and he showed how good he is by winning it in a time only 0,3 seconds outside the course record.”



Hodgson admitted that the J&B Met was Past Master’s chief mission and that he wouldn’t quite be at his peak for the Queen’s Plate.



“We are holding thumbs that he wins on Saturday, but if he doesn’t he will go into the Met carrying 2kg less which is worth about three lengths.”



He used the adage “one in the hand is worth two in the bush” to illustrate the connections hopes of winning on Saturday.



Regarding the dangers in the Queen’s Plate, Hodgson said, “I said to Mike Bass the other day that Pocket Power was still the champion and the one to beat. I saw Pocket Power this morning, he is looking very, very well. For an eight-year-old he is amazing. You have to respect Mother Russia too. We will be keeping our eyes on Ebony Flyer too as she carries a light weight. But she’s carrying that light weight because she’s not yet in her prime and it might be a little bit much for her to win at her age.”



Hodgson regarded the fifth horse in the Queen’s Plate betting, the 10-1 shot Tales Of Bravery, as “not quite having the class to win.”



Hodgson also runs Casey Cool, whose last win was in the Grade 2 Post Merchants over 1200m at Greyville Racecourse back in June last year.



“We originally put him in to ensure a good pace,” he said, “but there is so much pace in the line up that I don’t think it will be necessary. He should be able to just run his own race. I’ve always thought he needs further than sprints and I can’t find another race for him, so we might as well run him in the Queen’s Plate.”



Hodgson was happy about the bright prospects of a good pace.



“It should be a true run race and the best horse will win,” he said.



He said that Past Master would become the best horse he had ever trained if winning the Queen’s Plate and J&B Met.



“Vesta is still very close to my heart,” he revealed.



The 1989-born filly won three Grade 1 races including the Cape Fillies Guineas, the SA Fillies Guineas and the Champion Stakes.



Hodgson only has two runners on Saturday, both in the big one.



“Hopefully I will arrive, saddle up, win and go home!” he laughed.

My horse Gitano Hernando is stabled in Cumani's stable in Dubai. I think I just might take the opportunity to introduce myself to his daughter!

Trivia by DT


In the same way numerical history points to a Tottenham Hotspur FA Cup or Premiership win this season, Mike Bass could win this year’s L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate to be run on Saturday at Kenilworth Racecourse.



Spurs have won the FA Cup eight times including in 1901, 1921, 1961, 1981 and 1991 and have won the top flight league twice, in 1951 and 1961. It is not surprising they have become famous for their success in years ending with one.



Mike Bass’s first Grade 1 winner was Sweet Chestnut, who followed up her Grade 1 Cape Guineas win in 1980 by winning the Grade 1 Cape Flying Championship in 1981 in her final appearance. She earned Bass his first major racing award for Champion Older filly of 1981.



Another groundbreaking year for the Bass yard came in 2001.



In that year Bass won the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and the Vodacom Durban July with Trademark, the J&B Met with Bunter Barlow and the Cape Fillies Guineas with Sport’s Chestnut. Trademark was named Champion Older Horse of the Year and Bass won the Western Province Trainer’s Championship for the second time.



It was the year in which the yard rose to their current prominence that they haven’t relinquished, winning the Western Cape Trainer’s Championship a further six times since.



Could 2011 be yet another groundbreaker for the yard as they attempt a world record on Saturday with Pocket Power, who will attempt to equal Kelso’s feat of five successive wins of the same major race, which he did in the USA in the 1960s.



Unfortunately the magic of the “one” year will not have been noticed by Bass as he does not support Spurs or even follow football much, despite his father-in-law having played for both South Africa and Bolton Wanderers.



Trademark was Bass’s second Queen’s Plate winner, the first being Counter Action in December 1995.



However, Trademark became the Bass yard’s first Queen’s Plate/July double horse.



Pocket Power achieved the same double in the 2007/2008 season.



The two great races have always been intertwined with other winners of both including such greats as London News, Flaming Rock, Over The Air, Politician, Yataghan, In Full Flight and Sea Cottage.