The Goldmine's spirit gallops on

Terrance Millard knows a bit about the ponies. In a 40-year career, the trainer had 117 Group 1 winners - including six Durban Julys and six Mets. So when he says, "The best horse I ever handled was .", you prick up your ears.

The creature in question was the great racemare Empress Club, aka "the Galloping Goldmine", who won 15 of 20 races she contested in South Africa before being exported to the US.

Millard only trained the filly for a year and four unbeaten runs before he retired and handed the reins to his son, Tony. But the old master saw enough to rate her above such exceptional performers as Peter Beware, Arctic Cove, Mark Anthony, Jungle Cove, Devon Air, Royal Chalice and Ilustrador.

Empress Club was born in Argentina and nearly didn't make it to these shores. Millard, who'd imported several good South American horses - notably the filly Ecurie - was on another buying mission in Argentina when his money backer pulled out of the purchase of two fillies.

Millard was dreading having to tell his volatile Latin hosts he was pulling out of the deal when rescue arrived.

Laurie Jaffee, boss of Premier Milling and a gregarious racing fanatic, rang up out of the blue to ask the trainer if any handy-looking horses were going begging. He took the R100000 filly - a lot of money in 1989 - while Millard and a pal scraped together R80000 for the other one.

The horse Millard pitched in for died of colic three months later. But Jaffee's Empress Club ended up in a stable beside the Vaal River and in short order wrote her name large in local racing history.

Jean Jaffee, Laurie's wife and co-owner of Empress Club, wrote that the couple had enjoyed success with other Argentine-bred runners, "but never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined that the best was yet to come".

Jean's memoirs contain many quotes from newspaper racing scribes of the 1990s (yes, they used to have such things) and one is struck by how unequivocal most of them were in their opinion that Empress Club was the best horse to have raced in South Africa.

Rupert Langerman was one: "When horseracing's supply of superlatives is exhausted, the simple fact remains that Empress Club is a horse-and-a-half."

That week the mare went out and hammered top-class colts like Spanish Galliard and Flaming Rock to win the 1993 Met.

Tonight, the R1-million LJaffee Empress Club Stakes is run over the Turffontein 1600m - in remembrance of the two giants.

The race is a fitting tribute to Empress Club, with some of the best female horses around fighting it out. But the name that leaps off the page is that of another charismatic filly, Triple Tiara winner Cherry On The Top.

The star is drawn on the shores of Wemmer Pan and, coupled with a four-month layoff, it makes it hard to tip her to win. However, veteran trainer Ormond Ferraris has lofty ambitions for Cherry On The Top this winter and it'll be absorbing to watch her try to emulate the Galloping Goldmine.