Frankie goes to Turfies, Francia to Kenilworth

21 October 2016 - 09:53 By Mike Moon

Just about the only good news of the week was the announcement that Frankie's coming to town. Frankie Dettori, the ebullient jockey of legend will be captaining a team of overseas riders in the International Jockeys' Challenge on November 18 and 20 - at Fairview and Turffontein.The maestro has been to South Africa for this event before, but not for some years now, and, if anything, his reputation has been burnished in his absence.He's bounced back from a six-month drug ban, a split with the mighty Godolphin yard and advancing age in a young man's game (he's 45 now) to prove he's as good a jockey as ever. And, when he starts chattering, excellent entertainment into the bargain.Last year he and the wonder horse Golden Horn dominated European racing, winning the Epsom Derby, the Irish Champion Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. A few months ago, the Italian-English dynamo landed his umpteenth British Classic winner on Galileo Gold in the 2000 Guineas.Another popular member of the international squad is Hayley Turner, the most successful female rider in Europe for several years. She retired a year ago, but renewed her licence specially to ride in the Shergar Cup world jockey series at Ascot last month and in this event. We are privileged.The other visiting riders are Pat Cosgrave and Fergus Sweeney of Ireland, Robert Hablin of Scotland and Aurelian Lemaitre of France.The South African team is: S'manga Khumalo (captain), Andrew Fortune, Anthony Delpech, Muzi Yeni, Gavin Lerena and Grant van Niekerk.Last month marked the 20th anniversary of Dettori's crowning achievement - riding all seven winners on the card at Ascot Champions' Day.Before the day's racing began, the cumulative odds on the jockey completing the feat were 25 000-1, even though he was riding a few favourites. Several of his fans piled in - and the bookies smiled quietly to themselves. Mug money.Dettori duly won the first six, with the longest price being 12-1.The excellent British racing paper Sporting Life takes up the tale: "The two-mile Gordon Carter Handicap was the revenge of the mug punters, those long derided by so-called serious backers for filling the bookmakers' satchels with easy money from bets built on ridiculous dreams."They piled on Dettori's mount Fujiyama Crest to a man - or woman - as the final leg of an unheard-of seven-timer. It couldn't happen, could it?"The big battalions of off-course bookmakers knew they faced massive liabilities already and that mug bets were rolling on to the Michael Stoute-trained four-year-old, who had won the race the year before."Early-bird punters had got 11-1, but Fujiyama Crest came down to 2-1 as millions of pounds were piled on in betting shops around the country.Bookmakers couldn't believe their luck in the amounts of money being thrown at them at such poor odds, and they wanted to take as much of it as they could."All that could save the bookmakers - both off-course and on by now - was the defeat of Fujiyama Crest," recalled Sporting Life."Dettori bounced him out of the stalls and was soon in front, playing catch-me-if-you-can, and as they turned into the final straight he was still there as the crowd's roars reached frenzied proportions."The challenges came, but Fujiyama Crest held on by a neck.The bookmaking industry lost at least £30-million in that moment. Dettori's name was chiselled into racing folklore.When the opportunity arose for him to acquire a special memento of the day, he took it - he bought Fujiyama Crest and put him out to graze in a paddock at home.The excitement of the international jockeys is a month away. But we need to build up a betting pot for that occasion.The Woolavington Handicap is the feature race of the weekend - as Western Cape racing returns to Kenilworth.In a sad reflection of a trend away from breeding stamina horses, the 2400m, R150000 contest has attracted only seven runners.I'm aware of the saying that the smaller the field, the bigger the upset, but there's also the cliché that a horse with two runs under the belt after a rest is "cherry-ripe".The progressive filly Francia must be my choice, with My World and Three Balloons the dangers...

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