Highveld Racing Award Competition.

Who do you fancy?


CHAMPIONS Day brought the curtain down on the Highveld Spring-Autumn Feature-Race Season and the Racing Association is to host a gala dinner in the Aquanaut Room at Turffontein on Thursday 7 May at which the stars of the turf will be honoured.

Three Racing Express readers who enter our Highveld Racing Awards competition stand in line to share R5,000 in tote bets. Pick the winners in each of the award categories and get the list to us before noon on Thursday next week. The prizes will be deposited into telebetting accounts with the first correct entry drawn getting R3,000, the second R1,500 and the third R500.

The award winners were picked by a panel comprising Phumelela’s Patrick Davis, racing reporter Nicci Garner, Computaform Editor Germaine Maharaj, Daily Sun Racing Editor Ronald Madikane, Racing Express Editor Jack Milner, commentator Shaheen Shaw and handicapper Ryan Skelton.

Fifteen awards will be presented, but competition entrants need only pick the winners in the categories below. The categories with nominees are:

Champion Two-Year-Old Filly: Corps Da Elite; Spring Clover
Champion Two-Year-Old Colt: Runaway Man; Vacherin
Champion Three-Year-Old Filly: Gypsy’s Warning; Zirconeum
Champion Three-Year-Old Colt/Gelding: Bouquet-Garni; Forest Path; Oracy; Private Jet
Champion Older Horse: Dancer’s Daughter; Our Giant; Rudra; Smart Banker
Champion Sprinter: Private Jet; Rebel King; Warm White Night
Champion Middle-Distance: Dancer’s Daughter; Likeithot; Our Giant; Rudra; Smart Banker
Champion Stayer: Bayete; Bouquet-Garni; Long Dollar; Santa; Western Walk
Champion Sand Specialist: Alimony; Galahad
Horse of the Season:
Champion Jockey of the Season: Mark Khan; Anton Marcus; Piere Strydom
Champion Trainer of the Season: Charles Laird; Mike De Kock; Ormond Ferraris

* Not included in the competition: Champion Breeder of the Season; Champion Owner of the Season (Ingrid and Markus Jooste) and Champion Work Rider of the Season (Abram Makhubo).

Fax your entry to (011) 681-1725; email: jackm@phumelela.com; post: Racing Express, PO Box 82625 Southdale 2135, or hand-deliver: Phumelela Publishing, Turffontein Racecourse.

(No employee of Phumelela or Phumelela TAB may enter the competition. The judge’s decision is final.)

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Smart Banker is the Highveld Horse of the Year

SMART Banker has been named the Highveld Horse of the Year.

The four-year-old gelding by Strike Smartly out of Larapinta (by Al Mufti) was honoured as the outstanding horse of the recent Highveld Autumn Feature Season – during which he won both the HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes (Grade 1) and the Champions Challenge (Grade 1).

Smart Banker’s owners, Lionel Lindsay, Norman Isaacs, Markus Jooste and Chris von Solms, and trainer Charles Laird, received the Horse of the Year statuette at the Highveld Awards function at Turffontein last night (May 7).

Smart Banker received two other awards on the evening – for Champion Older Horse and Champion Middle Distance Horse.

The full list of Highveld Feature Season Award winners:

Champion Two Year Old Filly: SPRING CLOVER (trainer Jon Vos)

Champion Two Year Old Colt: VACHERIN (Mike Azzie)

Champion Three Year Old Filly: GYPSY’S WARNING (Ormond Ferraris)

Champion Three Year Old Colt/Gelding: PRIVATE JET (Geoff Woodruff)

Champion Older Horse: (Four year old and older): SMART BANKER (Charles Laird)

Champion Sprinter (1000m-1200m): PRIVATE JET

Champion Middle Distance (1400m - 2000m): SMART BANKER

Champion Stayer (2400m and further): SANTA (Ormond Ferraris)

Champion Sand Specialist: GALAHAD (Charles Laird)

Champion Work Rider: ABRAM MAKHUBO

Champion Breeder of the Season: SUMMERHILL STUD

Champion Owner: MARKUS & INGRID JOOSTE

Champion Jockey: PIERE STRYDOM

Champion Trainer: CHARLES LAIRD

Special Award: ETIENNE LOUW, racing journalist

Horse of the Year: SMART BANKER

Maria Makhubo received R20 000 on behalf of her husband Abram, the Champion Work Rider, who is currently riding on contract in Korea.

Clyde Basel, CEO of the Racing Association, described the awards evening, held in Turffontein’s Aquanaut Room, as “a really good event – one of the best we’ve ever had”.

Basel congratulated all the winners, in particular the connections of Horse of the Year Smart Banker.

The awards judging panel, which selected winners by secret vote last week, was made up of Patrick Davis, Nicci Garner, Germaine Maharaj, Ronald Madikane, Jack Milner, Shaheen Shaw and Ryan Skelton.