Classify might contest more races in Joburg

PORT Elizabeth-based Classify ran a cracker in Saturday’s R750 000 WSB Grand Heritage when finishing second, beaten just 0.40 lengths by Forest Fox.

As a result, trainer Dorrie Sham says he is likely to stay on the Highveld for the season and could hopefully pull off a feature or two.

“When they try that hard you can’t fault them,” Sham said after the race. “He’s gutsy and I couldn’t be prouder.

“I was thinking of taking my baby back home, but after a performance like this I might keep him here a little longer. He could contest a couple more features in Gauteng.”

Classify looks to be an absolute bargain as he was picked up for just R5 000 at the Adriaan van Vuuren sale of horses last year. He had already won five of his 10 starts and earned R284 425. His second place in Saturday, when he was ridden by Francois Herholdt, earned a further R130 000.

Forest Fox, trained by Paul Peter, won the Non-Black Type race under a brilliant ride from Gavin Lerena. Ironically it was Peter who Mark Sham called to have a look at Classify when he appeared on that sale. “I am good friends with the Shams. If they had won I would have been happy for them. They are good people,” said Peter. Forest Fox (16-1) was brought on the scene quite late by Lerena to inch out Classify (20-1). Starrett City (44-1) ran third with Morpheus (45-1) in fourth. This always looked like a Quartet worth catching, especially in a 28-horse field, and that proved to be the case. The pool reached R620 501,50 and R439 916,15 was carried over.

“Gavin insisted he wanted to ride this horse even though he had other options,” said Peter. “Forest Fox has issues and does not have the biggest of hearts. He often turns it up when the chips were down. I even told Gavin he should rather ride Maximizer but he said ‘I’ve got a plan in store for him’.

“I never had all that much confidence because he has disappointed us in the past. But I must say he did look very well.

“All I can say is that no other jockey would have won on him.”

That ensured Lerena retained his 100% win record in this race as he won it last year on Irish Pride, the first running of the race.