There are just three races left in the “Stars” series of competitions run by Gold Circle and Phumelela where a total of R700 000 is to be won by the successful horses, jockeys and media tipsters.

 

The Turfstar competition is for the horses with R500 000 in prize money. R400 000 will be paid to the owner or owners of the horse earning the most points in the season with the trainer of the horse receiving a cheque for R100 000.

 

The Topstar and Tipstar competitions offer prizes totaling R100 000. In each competition the prize will be split between the three contestants earning the most points in the season with R60 000 for first, R30 000 for second and R10 000 for third.

 

The qualifying races remaining are the R400 000 Grade 1 Mercury Sprint this coming weekend and the two Grade 1 races on All Stars Day at Clairwood Racecourse on July 30. These are the R500 000 Grade 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes and the R350 000 Grade 1 Thekwini Fillies Stakes.

 

After Vodacom Durban July day it was Joey Ramsden who held a strong position in the Turfstar competition with his two runners, Shadow Dancing and Winter Solstice, joint leaders on 24 points. Jamaica had 22 points with Cataloochee, Irridescence and Rock Opera on 20 points.

 

The Topstar competition is for the jockeys and although he never managed to earn any points on Vodacom Durban July Day, Weichong Marwing’s 68 points earned before that still allowed him to maintain a lead of 10 points over second-placed rider, Glen Hatt.

 

Anton Marcus’ wins in the Schweppes Golden Horseshoe and the Vodacom Durban July gave him a 20-point boost and moved him into third position on 42 points.

 

The competition in the Tipstar section has been fierce, but Johan Stassen of The Herald in the Eastern Cape has a good lead of 16 points with a total of 162.

 

Damian Patterson of the Pretoria News managed to earn 14 points on Vodacom Durban July Day and Harold Sterley of The Star managed 10 points which boosted them into joint second place on 146 points along with Chad Cooke of The Daily News and Lionel Derbyshire of the Sowetan.

 

In the KZN Bookmakers’ Get-out Stakes competition, the race in both the trainer and jockey sections is extremely close. In these competitions points are earned by the trainers and riders for their finishing positions in the last race of the day at meetings where no feature events are run.

 

Among the jockeys, Robbie Hill and Sean Cormack are neck-and-neck on 48 and 47 points respectively with Kevin Shea on 43 and MJ Byleveld on 31.

 

The trainer position is just as close with Dennis Drier on 40 points, leading Alistair Gordon by two points. Mike de Kock is in third place on 33 points with Des Egdes next best on 31, just one point ahead of Selvan Moodley and Neil Bruss.  

 

The winners of the competitions will be announced at the Canon Gold Cup meeting at Greyville on August 7 where they will receive their prizes.

 

The full listings are as follows:

 

TIPSTAR COMPETITION AS AT 2 JULY 2005

@ 2 July	Name	Publication	TOTAL
1	Johan Stassen	The Herald	162
2	Damian Patterson	Pretoria News	146
	Chad Cooke	Daily News	146
	Lionel Derbyshire	Sowetan	146
	Harold Sterley	The Star	146
6	Etienne Louw	Beeld	138
	Henk Steenkamp	Die Burger	138
8	Matthew Lips (Magic Lips)	Winning Form	134
		Gold Circle Racecard	134
10	Viv Greybe	Weekend Post	126
11	Richard McMillan	The Mercury	122
12	Rod Bechus	Computaform	120
	Chris Ntuli	Ilanga	120
14	Mel Kaplan	Racing Express	114
	Andrew Harrison	The Witness	114
16	Eric Beyleveld (Clocker Riley)	Super Form	96
17	Dave Cohen	Top Turf	88
18	Ronald Madikane	Daily Sun	76

 

TOPSTAR COMPETITION AS AT 2 JULY 2005

Jockey	TOTAL
Weichong Marwing	68
Glen Hatt	58
Anton Marcus	42
Mark Khan	34
Jason Jago	32
Piere Strydom	30
Bernard Fayd'Herbe	28
Francois Naude	26
Gerrit Schlechter	20
Karl Neisius	18
Jeff Lloyd	16
MJ Odendaal	16
Anton Delpech	14
Marthinus Mienie	14
Kevin Shea	12
Garth Puller	10
Piet Botha	10
G Wrogeman	6
Nick Shearer	6
R Simons	6
Sean Veale	6
Chad Little	4
Gavin Van Zyl	4
Jonny Geroudis	4
Nicky Roebuck	4
R Bonham	4
Robbie Hill	4
Tryone Langdon	4

 

TURFSTAR COMPETITION AS AT 2 JULY 2005

Horse	TOTAL
Shadow Dancing	24
Winter Solstice	24
Jamaica	22
Cataloochee	20
Irridescence	20
Rock Opera	20
Overarching	18
Ndabeni	16
Nhlavini	16
Carnadore	14
Tyson	14
Silverpoint	12
Alarm Call	10
Alastor	10
Alexandra Rose	10
Dunford	10
Jam Alley	10
Joshua's Princess	10
Lyrical Linda	10
Tiza	10
Toreador (Ire)	10
Vega	10
Ball Sider	8
Celestial Mist	6
Chardin	6
Fair Maiden	6
Fine Fathing	6
Fork Lightening	6
Gang Related	6
Icy Air	6
Invincible	6
Monsieur Dominque	6
Royal Aproval	6
Royal Mariner	6
Secret Of Victoria	6
Sevllano	6
Tornado King	6
Veiled Essence	6
Zebra Crossing	6
Angelina	4
Arabian Glow	4
Bold Ellinore	4
Careful Landing	4
Eventuail	4
First Flag	4
Firstnightbliss	4
Ilha Da Vitoria	4
Mocha Java	4
Night Watch	4
Pavlovich	4
Pegasus Emblem	4
Safe Structure	4
Tiger Shark	4

 

KZN BOOKMAKERS GET OUT STAKES AS AT 10 JULY 2005

		Current	Jockey
		Points
1		48	R Hill
2		47	S Cormack
3		43	K Shea
4		31	M Beyleveld
5		30	C Orffer
6		28	G. Van Zyl
7		23	F Naude
8		22	S Randolph
9		22	R. Fourie
10		21	D Daniels
11		20	I Sturgeon

 

		Current	Trainer
		Points
1		40	D. Drier
2		38	A Gordon
3		33	M De Kock
4		31	D. Egdes
5		30	S Moodley
6		30	N. Bruss
7		26	S Tarry
8		23	A J Rivalland
9		20	P G Denysschen
10		20	W Whitehead
11		18	H J Brown