CHAMPION trainer, Alan Greeff, has a simple recipe to win horse races – the horse must be fit to win.
Well, the five-year-old gelding, Barak, proved he is the fittest horse in the Eastern Cape, when he won the Gold Cup over the challenging distance of 3 200m last Friday at the Fairview track in Greenbushes.
Barak only recently relocated from Gauteng to Gqeberha and the Greeff magic quickly got to work to get Barak ready for the big race.
He won the Gold Cup in only his second start at Fairview.
His first race at Fairview was on the Polytrack, so his victory was in fact his first appearance on the Fairview turf.
With this victory, Barak must have a very good chance of being crowned the Champion Stayer, the award for the best performing horse over long distances, at the end of the season.
Greeff was not the only Fairview trainer who caught the eye in the Gold Cup.
Gavin Smith showed once again why he and Greeff are among the top trainers in South Africa.
Smith has done a great job with Ancient Times and Find Me Unafraid, who took the second and third places, respectively.
These two horses have been performing consistently throughout the season, a stunning season for the Smith stable.
In the Gold Cup, the Greeff and Smith horses beat the Cape Town visitor and favourite to win the race, Flower of Saigon, to confirm that the Fairview stables don’t have to stand back for anyone in the country.
Smith might have had to settle for second place in the main event but yet again dominated last Friday’s meeting.
He won four of the nine races to take his tally to 130 winners for the season.
There are two meetings left before the Eastern Cape season ends and Smith will be crowned as the champion trainer for the first time since 2013.
It will be his ninth title, taking over from Greeff, who dominated proceedings for a long time and has a record 15 titles behind his name.
Greg Cheyne will be crowned the Eastern Cape champion jockey for a record 10th time and Kyle Strydom will take the apprentice title.
Suzette Viljoen is the champion owner again but the winner of the most prestigious award at the end of the season is certainly still up for discussion.
Which horse will be named as the EC Horse of the Year?
Glacier Gold, Franca and Global Drummer were the top money earners at Fairview this season but the winner might not come from this trio as many other horses also produced great performances since August last year.
The awards for the various categories will no doubt be dominated by the Smith and Greeff stables but the best two-year-olds get one last chance to clinch an award at the last meeting on the 29th.
The Champion Juvenile Cup will then be the feature – it should be a brilliant race.
