Charity Mile

NEIL ANDREWS, fresh from working for SuperSport as the senior anchor for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, has been one of the celebrities at all six Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile racedays and will represent a horse at this year’s event as well.
"The Charity Mile is unique. It brings together the best of the sport of thoroughbred horseracing and the ‘wow factor’ that is celebrity,” says the popular TV star.
An ace poker player, he enjoys sport - any sport - and gets involved in any “interesting project” - like the SA celebrity edition of “Come Dine With Me” - that comes his way. But his personal passion is horseracing.
In fact, Andrews started his broadcasting career commentating horse racing in the Western Cape before relocating to Johannesburg in 1991 to become the frontman and executive producer at International Gaming Network (IGN), now TellyTrack (horseracing’s dedicated TV channel on DStv, channel 232). His career sky-rocketed a couple of years later when he joined SuperSport to became the anchor and producer of the popular magazine programme "Super Saturday". Since that show closed, he presents and produces “Betting World with Neil Andrews” on Tellytrack.
Also a racehorse owner, he describes his biggest recent thrill as being co-owner of feature-race winner The Mouseketeer with his good friend Francois Diedrechsen. The Mouseketeer may also be at Turffontein on Saturday 5 November and it could be another huge day for Andrews!
The Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile, one of JSE-listed horseracing company Phumelela’s biggest events of the year, is a unique horserace in which each of the runners also races on behalf of a charity. To add glamour to the occasion, each horse is publically represented by a celebrity. A total of R550,000 is shared between the charities with the charity represented by the winning horse collecting R100,000. Each participating charity will win R20,000 regardless of where its horse finishes.

ONE runner in the R600,000 Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile at Turffontein on Saturday 5 November will be represented by The SoapGirls – “super-sassy, sexy and outrageous” sisters Camille (Mille) and Noemie (Mie) Debray.
The girls are bubbling with excitement about being part of the event, saying: “We’re honoured that we’ve been asked to give of our time to help charity and join the other people who are doing it too.”
Although they have not attended a race meeting before, they enthused: “We’re so excited, we’re counting down the days. We love horses - they’re definitely one of our favourite animals - and bringing an element of fun to help charity is great.”
Two French-born blond bombshells from Hout Bay in the Western Cape, they have become South Africa’s newest pop sensation and are described as “the voice of a new sound soaring from Africa’s southern shores across the globe”.
They are known as the SoapGirls because they spent their former years selling hand-made soap in support of various charities (the homeless, abused animals and even contributing to equipment for the neo-natal ward at Groote Schuur Hospital).
The SoapGirls released their first pop single “Sour” off their debut album “Xperience” this year with other sound-tracks including "In Your Arms", "On My Lips", "Lucky Tonight" and the racy "Take It Fast".
They won’t be singing and dancing officially at Charity Mile, but you can guarantee that everybody who gets to Turffontein on Saturday 5 November will enjoy their infectious joie de vivre!
The Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile, one of JSE-listed racing company Phumelela’s biggest events of the year, is a unique horserace where each of the 16 horses in the field runs for a charity. To add glamour to the occasion, each horse is publically represented by a celebrity - or in this case, celebrities. A total of R550,000 will be shared between the charities, with the charity represented by the winning horse taking away R100,000. No charity will leave the racecourse without a cheque for at least R20,000.

THE R100,000 charity bonanza at last year’s Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile went to Emperors Palace-nominated Fortune Kunene Primary.
The money went towards supporting the school’s after-care project, which provides more than 50 children with nutrition, trained supervision of classes and the space and opportunity to do homework in a safe environment, as well as access to a library where they can read and research projects.
The project is one of several after-care programmes run by the Peermont Children’s Trust. These after-care programmes were established to serve as a support system for orphans and learners in Ekurhuleni’s primary schools.
According to Emperors Palace spokesman Moitheri Ratshitanga: “We want to encourage these learners to attend school to ensure the development of foundational skills. The programme also provides school uniforms, and orphans are provided with food parcels every school holiday so they have something to eat at home.”
The Charity Mile is a normal horserace, but what makes it unique is that each of the horses also runs on behalf of a charity and is publically represented by a celebrity. The charities take home a total of R550,000 with the finishing positions of the runners determining the amount each charity wins.
The charity represented by the winner receives R100,000 with R70,000 for second, R50,000 for third, R40,000 for fourth and R30,000 for fifth. No charity goes home with less than R20,000 and the raceday is one of the most heart-warming events of the year.
Last year Fortune Kunene Primary was represented by Mike de Kock-trained Alderry, who won well, and was publically represented by award-winning actress Mmabatho Montsho.

Welwitchia at 20/1 looks decent each way value.

shrek Wrote:

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> Welwitchia at 20/1 looks decent each way value.


Not sure that she will run - De Kock mentioned last time that she may prefer shorter?

Would have had Kavanagh as my Favourite,just

Perana take the 50/1 before the week end.

Not sure if Gibraltar Blue will run, but 14/1 seems a big price

Fillies have an awesome record in this race recently. Fovs Fantasy, Duchess Daba, Jamaica and Alderry are the ones I recall. So it could pay to follow the fairer sex (tu)

CHARITY MILE FINAL FIELD

1 DANCEWITHTHEDEVIL 61.5 113 (113) 13 A G Lerena St John Gray 2t14/8D18/6D16
2 PIERRE JOURDAN 61.0 112 (112) 8 A D David Gary Alexander 1t14/2D22/2T18
3 RUDRA 59.5 109 (109) 2 A *J P v'd Merwe Mike de Kock 6T14/4T20/1T16
4 BULSARA 59.0 108 (108) 14 B A R Danielson Gavin van Zyl 5t18/7t14/2D18
5 BLACK WING 58.5 107 (107) 1 A S Veale Paul Gadsby 2C16/19D22/4D20
6 KAVANAGH 58.5 107 (107) 9 A A Delpech Mike de Kock 1T14/11C16/15S12
7 TWO TONE 58.0 106 (106) 4 A M Yeni Mike Azzie 2T14/3t14/4R12
8 FLIRTATION 57.0 104 (104) 18 A W Marwing Mike de Kock 5t14/14D22/3T20
9 WELWITSCHIA (GB) 56.5 105 (105) 10 A A Marcus Mike de Kock 1t14/2T16/1t16
10 THE MOUSEKETEER 56.0 102 (102) 5 A *N Juglall Sean Tarry 1R14/1R12/1C16
11 EMPENOSO HENN (ARG) 55.5 101 (101) 3 A *T Appie Mike de Kock 1T16/2R18/5S14
12 KNOCK ON WOOD 55.0 100 (100) 12 A R Simons Ormond Ferraris 1V16/2t14/1T14
13 MIKE'S CHOICE 54.5 99 ( 99) 7 B A B Lerena Michael Roberts 3C16/2C12/2C12
14 D J DETZKY 54.0 98 ( 98) 17 Bt A P Strydom Louis Goosen 3T14/6t14/6t18
15 ENGAGEMENT 54.0 98 ( 98) 15 A S Chambers St John Gray 3t14/4R14/8D16
16 WITTENBERG 54.0 98 ( 98) 11 A D Mansour Geoff Woodruff 10R14/1T16/2D16
Reserve Runners
17 ACROSS THE ICE 54.0 98 ( 98) 16 Bt A Reserve 1 Sean Tarry 5R14/2R12/1D14
18 MAHOGANY 52.0 94 ( 94) 6 A Reserve 2 Weiho Marwing 4t18/9R14/5R16

Final field for Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile

TRAINER Mike de Kock will saddle nearly a quarter of the field when the R600,000 Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile is run over 1600m at Turffontein on Saturday 5 November.
De Kock won this race last year with Alderry and will be hoping that he can score the double when he saddles Rudra, Kavanagh, Flirtation, Welwitschia and Empenoso Henn.
His team enjoyed mixed fortunes in the ballot for barrier positions at Emperors Palace on Wednesday with Rudra (fourth from a bad draw in the Premier’s Champions Challenge earlier this year) and three-time winner Empenoso Henn (who takes a huge step up in class) drawing at Nos 2 and 3 respectively, with highly rated Kavanagh and Welwitschia, winner of the recent Joburg Spring Fillies And Mares Challenge, pulling Nos 9 and 10 respectively and Flirtation, who has good feature form to her credit, drawing widest of all at 18.
The De Kock horses will represent the Racing Association-nominated charity San Michele (Rudra, who will be publicly represented by Karolina Sky) and Daily Sun-nominated Thokomala – KZN (Kavanagh, who will be publicly represented by Alfred “Shorty” Ntombela) as well as the Peermont Emperors Palace-nominated charities Fortune Kunene Primary After Care Center (Flirtation – Anele Mdoda), which got the R100,000 last year, Umkhathizwe Primary After Care Center (Welwitschia – Paul Almeida) and Nageng Primary After Care Centre (Empenoso Henn – Neil Andrews).
Champion “miler” Dancewiththedevil, who will run for Peermont Emperors Palace’s charity Thembakazi Primary After Care Centre and will be publicly represented by ProVerb, has been set a tough task in her bid to retain her 1600m crown. The handicappers have allotted St John Gray’s Modus Vivendi mare the welter burden of 61.5kg and she drew wide at No 13, so Gavin Lerena, who understands her quirks, is not going to have an easy task.
Her trainer commented yesterday: “I’m disappointed with the draw and she has tough task at the weights.”
Her stable companion, Engagement (Reahile Primary After Care Centre and to be represented by Hykie Berg), drew at No 15.
Pierre Jourdan, who is also set to be high up on bookmakers’ boards, fared better in the ballot with trainer Gary Alexander’s sister Julie pulling No 8 draw for the Parade Leader gelding. The SoapGirls will be hoping he wins for the Animal Anti-Cruelty League, nominated by The Citizen.
``I’m happy with No 8 draw for him. He’s never been a front-runner, so it will give Derreck (David) options about where to place him. Hopefully we get a bit of rain before the race to slow the track up. The tracks are running very fast at the moment.
“Work-wise so far, so good. He’s working lovely and he’s getting better all the time. But these races are always competitive. And his main mission this summer is the Sansui Summer Cup hosted by Gauteng.”
Gavin van Zyl’s sole runner, Bulsara, also did not do well when the barrier positions were decided, pulling No 14 draw. Many racing fans will believe that his big-race jockey Raymond Danielson, who is an expert at overcoming wide draws, will go a long way towards nullifying that disadvantage, though.
The trainer said: “That draw does not excite me. He’s going to have to get lucky from there.”
He continued that, although Bulsara’s two races so far this season had not been quite as good as anticipated – “We didn’t overdo him for the Joburg Spring Challenge, where he ran seventh behind Gibraltar Blue, and he did improve but was a bit disappointing in his next race” – he believes the Silvano five-year-old will “hopefully be spot-on for this race”.
He did point out, though, that this race was part of Bulsara’s preparation into the Summer Cup. Bulsara will run for Jongimfundo Primary After Care Centre and will be represented by Leanne Manas.
Paul Gadsby’s KwaZulu-Natal raider Black Wing, who finished a close fourth behind Van Zyl’s The Apache in last season’s Grade 1 Daily News 2000, drew at pole position, while DJ Detzky, who many believe is the best “long-shot” in the field, drew wide at No 17.
The final field in order of saddle-cloth number, draw, horse, trainer, jockey, weight (including the jockey and his equipment) and merit rating (the handicappers’ assessment of the horse’s ability depicted in half kilograms):
1 - 13 DANCEWITHTHEDEVIL (S J Gray) G Lerena 61.5 - 113
2 - 8 PIERRE JOURDAN (G M Alexander) D David 61.0 - 112
3 - 2 RUDRA (M F De Kock) J P v'd Merwe 59.5 - 109
4 - 14 BULSARA (G H Van Zyl) R Danielson 59.0 - 108
5 - 1 BLACK WING (P M Gadsby) S Veale 58.5 - 107
6 - 9 KAVANAGH (M F De Kock) A Delpech 58.5 - 107
7 - 4 TWO TONE (M G Azzie) M Yeni 58.0 - 106
8 - 18 FLIRTATION (M F De Kock) W Marwing 57.0 - 104
9 - 10 WELWITSCHIA (M F De Kock) A Marcus 56.5 - 105
10 - 5 THE MOUSEKETEER (S G Tarry) N Juglall 56.0 - 102
11 - 3 EMPENOSO HENN (M F De Kock) T Appie 55.5 - 101
12 - 12 KNOCK ON WOOD (O A Ferraris) R Simons 55.0 - 100
13 - 7 MIKE'S CHOICE (M L Roberts) B Lerena 54.5 - 99
14 - 17 D J DETZKY (L W Goosen) P Strydom 54.0 - 98
15 - 15 ENGAGEMENT (S J Gray) S Chambers 54.0 - 98
16 - 11 WITTENBERG (G V Woodruff) D Mansour 54.0 - 98
Reserve Runners
17 - 16 ACROSS THE ICE (S G Tarry) Reserve 1 54.0 - 98
18 - 6 MAHOGANY (W H Marwing) Reserve 2 52.0 - 94
Coupled for Pick 6 ONLY: (1, 15); (3, 6, 8, 9, 11); (10, 17).