Career best season for Brett Crawford
Mark van Deventer
When Beshayir Girl rebounded from a lacklustre debut to win a humble Maiden Plate on 2 August 2016 at Durbanville, she launched Philippi-based trainer, Brett Crawford’s best ever season.
With the racing year just done, the hard-working horseman is perched third on the National Log with 112 winners from 747 starters at a winning rate of 14%, with 57% of his entries making it into the places. In total, they raked in around R19 million in stakes.
A month after Beshayir Girl’s success, Edict Of Nantes won a low grade MR 71 handicap at Durbanville.
Few would have anticipated at that early stage the son of Count Dubois would go on to win the Cape Derby, Daily News and run an admirable third from a wide draw in the Durban July.
But such is Crawford’s style – he is a patient competitor not prone to rushing young horses, but unafraid of campaigning them aggressively when they show they’ve got what it takes.
Such adept horsemanship is characterised by confirmed stable star Captain America proving stronger than ever aged six, as he kick-started his seasonal campaign with an expected win in the Grade 3 Matchem Stakes.
The handsome, Black Minnaloushe gelding, Black Cat Back exited the Maidens at that same meeting. He would use forceful pace-pressing tactics and go on to win five of 11 starts, including a hat-trick just before season closing time.
Crawford unveiled another budding hero in October – Whisky Baron. He beat off three overmatched rivals under retained rider Greg Cheyne to set in motion a perfect five-race sequence culminating in Peninsula Handicap and Grade 1 Met triumphs.
Whisky Baron is currently at Abington Place, Newmarket being readied for big races in the Far East come early 2018.
Search Party is another to do the stable proud. He caused a 25-1 upset in a Pinnacle Stakes with Sihle Cele aboard. An unheralded, yet reliable jockey who usually has second, sometimes only third choice of mounts, he remains an integral part of Crawford Racing.
Cele works diligently, provides helpful feedback and takes advantage of rare opportunities that come his way. Crawford saying simply, “He’s never let me down.”
Indeed, Search Party, who was mistakenly campaigned over 1600m when younger, has been a revelation since Crawford corrected that initial misdirection.
He would win both Cape and Post Merchants, and twice running second in Grade 1s to champion speedball, Bull Valley.
Search Party was one of the key members of Crawford’s successful travelling group in Durban. Using Summerveld as the base, the raiders from Cape Town lifted prizes throughout the winter.
Lady Of The House received a world class ride from Piere Strydom to last home in the Grade 1 Woolavington,; Captain America out-galloped Trip To Heaven and Bela-Bela in another Grade 1, the Gold Challenge, with stable-mate Sail South again placing over 1600m at the highest level.
Crawford’s professionalism and dedication is paying off. Since 2010-11 after leaving Sabine Plattner’s employ, where he ended up 57th on the National Log, he has finished 21st, 8th, 10th and 12th, culminating in this season’s best return. The number of stable winners has escalated too – climbing each year from 24 in 2010, then 34, 54, 61, up to 81 last year, and now the triple-figure breakthrough with 112 winners.