Blinkers do it for Hack Green
KZN owner Eric Buhr is one of the quieter men of racing but follows his horses passionately and regretted not being at Greyville on Sunday where he had shares in two winners, Hack Green and Blaze Of Silk.
“It was such a pity, but I had decided to go to the races on Wednesday (tomorrow) instead, where I have two running. It was a bad decision!”
Corinne Bestel is one of Buhr’s chief trainers and three-year-old Twice Over gelding Blaze Of Silk got off the mark at the sixth attempt. The 1 000m maiden event was weak on paper. However, he has tended to over race, as he did on Sunday, and jockey Bernard Fayd’Herbe believed he would go on to win more races once he had learnt to settle, although he confirmed 1000m would likely be his optimum trip.
The Dennis Drier-trained Hack Green was a higher profile winner. This four-year-old Gimmethegreenlight colt was at one stage much touted and then proved it by winning the Grade 3 Umkhomazi Stakes for two-year-olds over 1200m at Greyville by three lengths in just his second career start. He followed it by winning the inaugural running of the Bloodstock SA Million Sprint over 1200m at Scottsville two weeks later.
Buhr
Hack Green arrived in Cape Town last season as an unbeaten winner of three, but disappointment after disappointment followed. Buhr confirmed there had even been discussions to make other arrangements for him, but the connections had decided to give it one more go. Drier said, “We sent him to Jane Trotter for three months, we brought him back and we worked him on this track, we worked him on that track, we did everything we don’t normally do with a horse, and no grass.” It didn’t appear to work as he was beaten five lengths in his comeback run in January and 5,75 lengths in his next start. Drier then decided to slap a pair of blinkers on and after Sunday’s win, of a Pinnacle Stakes race over 1 100m on the turf, he said, “That was the Hack Green I know.”
Buhr said one never knew whether it was as simple as a change of equipment and related, “I once told a trainer, ‘I think that horse needs a tongue tie’, and he came out and won his next race!”
He added, “But it is always nice when a horse whom we believed should have done well comes back and wins.”Hack Green was merit rated as high as 101 at one stage. If Sunday’s race had been a handicap he would have received 15,5kg from the narrow 123 merit-rated runner up Sergeant Hardy, instead of just 8kg, so it was a commendable performance. Drier might now be eyeing the Scottsville Festival Of Speed meeting’s Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint.
Buhr is no stranger to success at that meeting as he part-owned the Drier-trained Potent Power, who won the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion over 1 200m in 2012. Drier has virtually made the Medallion his own having won six of the last eight renewals and seven overall.
At this time of the year pundits are looking out for Drier’s next Medallion winner and Buhr happens to part-own the first one to put up its hand, a Master Of My Fate colt called Goliath Heron. He is an impressive, strongly built sort, who showed speed in his Barrier Trial over 1 000m on the poly, and he then confirmed his promise by winning his debut over 1200m on the Greyville turf by four lengths.
Buhr’s association with racing began as a youngster and he recalled listening to the Durban July every year on the radio with his father. However, he owes his venture into ownership to a Nomad’s Golf colleague of his, bloodstock agent Andy Williams.
He said the love of horses was the most fulfilling part of ownership and elaborated, “It’s an expensive hobby, but if you can meet your commitments you can get lucky and can sell a promising horse for good money, like we sold Potent Power to Hong Kong. That’s the ideal scenario.” However, he confirmed it was “very difficult” to land in such a situation. Potent Power, who is by National Emblem, continues to race in Hong Kong as an eight-year-old under the name Rocket Let Win and has won three races over there.
Master Of My Fate
Buhr also gets much enjoyment out of following stallions. In fact, Master Of My Fate is one of his favourites at present. He leaves the selecting of horses at Sales to the trainers, but has some of his own theories and believes it is important to look carefully at the first crop of any promising new stallion and then to buy them if the signs are good. Master Of My Fate is a case in point and he said, “I have been in Dennis’s yard for a while, so I know how good Master Of My Fate was as a racehorse and we now look lucky to have got one of his first crop at a reasonable price.
Noble Tune is another interesting one. I hope he does well for KZN and I have sent one or two of the mares I have shares in to him.”
One of Eric’s sons Dieter used to be a regular sight in the winner’s enclosure when any of the Buhr horses won.
He has grown in the sport with his father and still follows the family’s runners avidly from his current home in Germany.
The Buhrs look to have good prospects for the forthcoming SA Champions Season as Eric said he also has a share in a promising unraced filly, so the excitement will be building in the Buhr family home.