A star is born - from a hunting hack
May 13, 2010 10:59 PM | By Mike Moon
Mike Moon: Most people in South Africa have never heard of the horse which is arguably the country's best racehorse at the moment. Until recently even racing fans were barely aware of the uncommon talent that glories in the peculiar name of Lizard's Desire.
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Mike Moon
The four-year-old gelding has crept almost imperceptibly into our consciousness. Like a lizard. Like desire.
In a game full of the hubbub of punditry and praise singing, this quiet ascent is remarkable. But it's not as startling as the story of where the horse came from.
Albert Boshoff is the two-legged hero who narrated the rags-to-riches tale in Racing Express a few months ago. It bears repeating - a Hollywood film producer might be reading.
Albert, on a hunting trip six years ago, was mounted on a farm hack as he traversed the Karoo bushveld. Impressed by the mare, he asked about her background.
As a racing man, his interest was stirred when he learnt she was a thoroughbred of fine breeding - a daughter of Northfields, a top sire and son of the legendary Northern Dancer.
Albert's bid of R5000 for Annsfield was snapped up and the mare's hunting career was over. However, her stud prospects weren't glittering. Two earlier foals had failed on the track.
Albert secured a free service to the stallion Lizard Island, an Australian-bred import that hadn't exactly ignited the South African breeding scene.
A proud Albert thought the offspring a bit special. He would, wouldn't he? He sent Lizard's Desire to trainer Mitch Wiese in Port Elizabeth, where the dream started coming true.
The gelding won on debut; then won the Eastern Cape Derby. Second place in a Durban Derby followed.
Albert's phone rang - and he was suddenly R2.5-million richer.
Trainer Mike de Kock bought the horse for client Sheik Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum and a 2010 Dubai campaign.
Despite this endorsement, Lizard's Desire didn't make the headlines. He was seen as an afterthought in De Kock's string.
Even after he won twice during the Dubai Carnival and qualified for the world's richest race - the World Cup - no one took him seriously.
Starting the big race at very long odds, he was beaten by just a whisker, earning $2-million.
Albert Boshoff, sitting in Joburg, was surprisingly unperturbed at losing out on international money and glory. "I made R2.5-million . the sheik made R16-million. Everybody's happy," he said.
There's more. Lizard's Desire was entered for the prestigious QEII Cup in Hong Kong at the end of April. Few tipsters sided with him.
The World Cup second was seen as something of a freak result and the yokel from PE would be found wanting in a high-class turf contest at Sha Tin.
Ahem. Another close second.
Now we're paying attention.
And the attention is focused on Singapore, where the South African horse is fancied to win Sunday's Singapore Airlines International Cup.
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