What was your favourite horse to grace the tracks of S.A.

Politician winning the Met that time is the best race I have ever seen in SA. Very few if any could have done what he did there
and Bertie Hayden said the same.Incredible race, incredible run from a hopeless position with 150m to go. Listen to the
commentary.Sandy Bickett I think it was, was speechless for the last portion of the race. Could not believe what he was seeing!
Brilliant.

I think Polititian's Met was the first I ever watched on TV - still quite a new thing for SA audiences those days - wow, did I shout when he poked that fierce dragon's head of his into a gap and stormed through! I'd been rolling my eyes and muttering "hopeless" and "not a chance" - every horse was running to its maximum speed in the last furlong and he STILL went past them as if they were tied to the spot.

Same for Sun Classique in the 2008 Balanchine. I know she went on to doddle a win in the Sheema (I think it was?) on WC night, a much bigger race, but it's the Balanchine that I'll always remember.

There's something about horses and races like these that catches in the throat and makes one gasp, and the memories of them stay with one for a lifetime too.

Many for me, some of my favourites were... Wolf Power, just watching the popular grey come home was awesome. Pocket Power, the peoples champ, who did not make some money on him during his career? and watching JJ the Jet plane at his best a couple of weeks back gave me goosebumps and made me feel proudly South African.

Craig Eudey Wrote:

---

> Politician winning the Met that time is the best
> race I have ever seen in SA. Very few if any could
> have done what he did there
> and Bertie Hayden said the same.Incredible race,
> incredible run from a hopeless position with 150m
> to go. Listen to the
> commentary.Sandy Bickett I think it was, was
> speechless for the last portion of the race.
> Could not believe what he was seeing!
> Brilliant.


Errol Lang riding the second horse Festive Season couldn't believe what he was seeing either, I bet. He probably still gets nightmares about it more than 30 years later.

Colorado King - won ten races in South Africa including the Durban July Handicap.
Sold to an American racing partnership .Colorado King won six races in 1964 including
the Hollywood Gold Cup in which he defeated Native Diver and the American Handicap
where he equaled the world record for 9 furlongs.

Craig Eudey Wrote:

---

> Politician winning the Met that time is the best
> race I have ever seen in SA. Very few if any could
> have done what he did there
> and Bertie Hayden said the same.Incredible race,
> incredible run from a hopeless position with 150m
> to go. Listen to the
> commentary.Sandy Bickett I think it was, was
> speechless for the last portion of the race.
> Could not believe what he was seeing!
> Brilliant.

The TV commentary that day was by Francois Wolfaardt and he eventually gave up on Politician, but then didn't spot him until he'd crossed the line. "His cry of and POLITICIAN I DON'T BELIEVE IT etc." was unforgettable.

Senorsanta
Sloop
Politician
Brutus
Mark Antony
Occult
Bush Telegraph

there are so many its hard to make one the all time fav.

Also Illustrador. I cant remember any other horse winning feature races from 1200m - 3200m in one season. He is awesome.

My favourite was Wolf Power; I went to see him at stud when I visited the US.
The best was Horse Chestnut. Gatecrasher, Sea Cottage and the likes were around before I got interested in racing.

i too was not around with many mentioned here.

As Sloop says too many to pick out one!

A few good ones that come to mind
St just , Rolands song Overdog , Cavilan ,Camp arthur
Model man , Aquanaut , Cincinati , Star Effort , Bush telegraph Empress club, Jet master ,Classic flag , Olympic duel , Free my heart ,Yard ARM ,Surfing home , the mighty Horse chestnut ,Tommy hotspur ,Harrys darling , Ruby clipper ,Tracey element i could go on and on and on................

sprinting types,Harry Hotspur,Sentinel

Politician
Gatecrasher
Bush Telegraph
illustrador