Dig deeper and beyond the obvious

THE Gr1 HKJC Champions Cup marks the end of Champions Season on the final weekend of July. That meeting also marks the end of top class racing in KZN as the cream of the country's gallopers move to centres with more lucrative offerings and added value of black type.

- ANDREW HARRISON

Couple that with the two-year-old sale in Johannesburg and Hollywoodbets Scottsville resembled a ghost town with trainers and owners hunting a lucky bean at Germiston.

It was a bread-and-butter meeting, but the like that keeps racing folk interested and while none of yesterday's winners will be headed for 'Hollywood', there was some hard-fought battles worthy of any major race.

It is also racing that gives the lessor lights an opportunity to shine out of the spotlight of the 'big' races and those punters paying attention may find a few unpolished gems amongst the bling.

I remember a time back where an observer commented that a good 'mouth' is more valuable to a trainer than any ability to train horses. He went on to opine, “good horses train themselves, but it takes a proper horseman 'woman' to get the best out of a slow horse”.