IT took 15 years for the same man – Jacques Strydom – to be the hero again.
After a lengthy wait, an Eastern Cape horse won the province’s premier horse race again.
Firealley stormed home to win the R350 000 Betway Algoa Cup over 2 000m this past Friday at the Fairview track in Greenbushes.
Firealley is trained by Strydom, who was the last East Cape trainer to win the race in 2009 with Surfin’ USA.
Since then, the Western Cape stables dominated this prestigious race and the locals were getting rather desperate to get their hands on their own trophy again.
Strydom came close last year when Gallic Tribe finished third behind two of the Cape Town horses.
It was back to the drawing board as Strydom was a man on a mission – he had to find a horse that could win the Algoa Cup again.
He got a partnership together to buy Firealley with the Algoa Cup earmarked for the horse.
Firealley’s preparation went really well, and he even got a favourable draw when the final field of 16 runners was announced.
Closer to the race things started to go wrong quickly though. Denis Schwarz, who rode Firealley in his last four starts, committed to ride one of the Cape Town horses, Blackberry Malt.
Gareth Wright was engaged to ride Firealley but had to opt out on race day and Strydom had to find a replacement.
Earlier in the week there was another hiccup. After two days of heavy rainfall the decision was made to move the meeting from the turf to the poly surface. The track manager, Charles Newcombe, felt the turf would not be safe for racing after the rain.
Strydom wasn’t happy. It was a huge setback as Firealley showed a dislike for the poly in his two runs on the surface.
National champion trainer, Justin Snaith, took out his two Western Cape horses straight away due to the change of surface, one of them being Rockpool who had a big winning chance and was to be ridden by Craig Zackey.
Zackey jumped quickly to ensure the ride on Firealley and take on the five remaining Cape Town horses and the eight local challengers.
Strydom just hoped that the poly would not be too much of a drawback. Well, it wasn’t.
Firealley was prepared to perfection, and nothing would have stopped him from winning. Zackey rode the perfect race and the celebrations started.
It took some time for Strydom to get to the winners’ enclosure where he could join Firealley and Zackey. He was mobbed by the cheering crowd which included his fellow trainers, congratulating him on a great training feat.
Strydom had an extremely tough year with many setbacks. He is still struggling with his eyesight after eye operations but showed tremendous resilience, and what a classy horseman he is, by winning the province’s biggest race.
Now please Jacques, don’t make us wait 15 years again.
