On a plate for Princess

BERNARD Fayd’Herbe will ride Princess Victoria for the first time when the four-time Grade 1 winner has a confidencebooster in the 1 400m fillies and mares conditions plate at Kenilworth on Saturday.

Glen Kotzen said: “Her mission is the Klawervlei Majorca three weeks later when Bernard will again have the mount.”

The four-year-old has finished unplaced on her two runs since winning last season’s Garden Province Stakes but is expected to start a warm favourite despite giving away lumps of weight.

Muscatt out lame

MUSCATT, who smashed Kenilworth’s 1 000m course record when winning last month’s Var Need-For-Speed Sprint, has been ruled out of the Betting World Cape Flying Championship there on January 26.

Gavin Smith said: “He pulled up a little bit lame and we have sent him to vets Baker & McVeigh to check out his knees.

“We are taking care of him and he is going to have a break before we take him to Natal for the Durban season.”

The three-year-old has only been beaten once, in the third of his four starts when he was a half-length second to November Rain.

Guyon to ride in SA

FRENCH star Maxime Guyon will ride in South Africa for the first time at the end of the month. His visit is intended to stimulate French interest in South African racing and is being organised by Phumelela racing executive Patrick Davis.

Davis said: “The French PMU has significantly expanded its usage of South African and will take the first four races on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays during the European winter as well as selected major races on Saturdays throughout the year.”

Guyon will be in action at Fairview in Port Elizabeth on January 30 and February 1, Clairwood in Durban on January 31 and at Kenilworth in Cape Town on February 2 when he ride at the famous J & B Met Meeting.

Guyon, 23, runner-up in the French jockeys championship for the past three seasons, won the 2010 Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey-Club on Lope De Vega as well as that year’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes on Byword.

Hindley dies

JEREMY Hindley, a highly successful trainer in England, has died in Hermanus after a long battle with motor neurone disease. His funeral takes place there on Friday.

Hindley, 69, rode as an amateur rider and took part in the 1969 Grand National. He started training the following year and his big races wins included the Irish St Leger, the Doncaster Cup (twice), the Dewhurst and the Ribblesdale. He trained nearly 700 winners and also owned a few winners in South Africa.