J&B Met A Clash of the Underdogs

J&B MET A CLASH OF THE UNDERDOGS 
By Liesl King 
Racing seems to be an equal mix of hard luck and fairy tale stories. For the casual observer, Cape Town’s biggest race, the G1 J&B Met over 10 furlongs at Kenilworth today, is seemingly a two-horse race, if the betting is to be believed. At 15/10 and 16/10 there is very little between number two Futura (SAf) (Dynasty {SAf}) and number three Louis The King (SAf) (Black Minnaloushe). 

Both are 4-year-olds, both are colts, both are bay, both have a merit rating of 116 and both will be carrying the top weight allowed of 132 pounds. One is by local sire Dynasty and the other by American import Black Minnaloushe. Yet there is so much more to today’s epic clash, for behind each of these two bay colts lies a tale that is so incredible it reads like a Hollywood script. 

Louis The King is the not the biggest of boys, but what he lacks in stature he makes up for in presence, and with his signature bushy forelock he is instantly recognizable. First offered for sale at the KZN Yearling Sale in Durban, Louis The King went through the ring without a hand being raised. The auctioneer tried hard, but the bay colt out of the Rich Man’s Gold mare Pamushana (SAf) was eventually waved out, with the damning words “no bid” recorded behind his name. 

Despondent, his breeder Philip Kahan headed for the car park, where he happened to run into an old acquaintance, Epsom-born and five-time champion trainer Geoff Woodruff. Woodruff had not come to buy yearlings; he was simply dropping off a parcel for a friend. On enquiring how the sale had been, Kahan regaled him with the story of his friendless colt. 

“What do you want for him?” A chance remark, and yet unbeknownst to either, the start of something magical for both Woodruff and the plain bay colt. R60, 000 (US$5,172), the answer came. “Ok I’ll take him,” Woodruff replied. A glance at the pedigree page, a shake of hands and without having ever seen the horse, Woodruff was Louis The King’s new owner. 

The rest, as they say, is history. Woodruff found Louis The King the perfect owner in Mr. Louis van der Vyver and in 2014, Louis The King, the horse nobody wanted, became only the second horse in South African racing history to win the Triple Crown. Louis The King would go on to add the G1 Summer Cup over 10 furlongs to his collection of trophies, prompting Woodruff to add, “there is nothing in his pedigree to suggest he could stay, you know. I think it is down to his demeanour–he just switches off.” 

The other bay colt is Futura (SAf), by Dynasty (SAf), sire of the moment and sire of 2014 Horse of the Year Legislate (SAf). His dam, Scribblin’ The Cat (SAf) (Badger’s Drift {SAf}) happens to belong to stud manager Guy Murdoch, and hence Futura had an extraordinary upbringing. Conceived at Gary Player’s Stud in the Karoo, he was born at Yellow Star Stud in Kwa-Zulu Natal and then raised at Mauritzfontein Stud in the Northern Cape, where Murdoch currently resides. A fair bit of travelling for one so young and Futura’s challenges were far from over. 

Foals are fragile creatures and retained meconium at birth, a bad bout of diarrhea and a mom whose milk supply was extremely limited, would have meant the end of many a foal. Fortunately, Futura was made of sterner stuff, for after some dedicated care with milk powder and special formulas, the little colt pulled through, only to develop strangles at 6 months of age. 

Today, Futura is a beautiful bright bay, with six victories, including the G1 Champions Cup over nine furlongs and the G1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate over a mile behind his name. The colt that was never expected to make it has never been out of the first three in 10 starts and today he is joint-favourite for race of the season. 

Futura will be ridden by Bernard Fayd’Herbe while Louis The King will have the services of champion jockey Piere Strydom. Drawn in barriers nine and eight respectively, the two colts and their jockeys are sure to keep a beady eye on each other as the race unfolds. With a merit rating of 109, seven points behind the two colts, their nearest rivals are the evergreen Gold Onyx (NZ) (Black Minnaloushe), carrying 129 pounds and drawn in barrier 14, and Woodruff’s other two charges Tellina (SAf) (Silvano {Ger}) (barrier 3) and Killua Castle (Aus) (Churchill Downs {Aus}) (barrier 10). Trained by Sean Tarry, Gold Onyx is a solid campaigner, as his recent third in the Queen’s Plate will attest, while Tellina and Killua Castle are no slouches either. 

Of the rest, the five runners from Justin Snaith’s stable could all hit the board, but the pick of the bunch is probably Arion (SAf) (Silvano {Ger}), easy winner of the G2 Glorious Goodwood Peninsula Handicap over nine furlongs, whileDynamic (SAf) (Dynasty {SAf}) ran a sharp second in the 2013 G1 Investec Cape Derby over 10 furlongs on this card before being sidelined with a tendon injury.