Remember Sea Cottage as you back Aragosta

A film producer looking for a good story could do a lot worse than put the racehorse Sea Cottage on the silver screen.

The famous South African colt of the 1960s and his mighty deeds are fast fading into a murky past and it is only the memories of old timers and dusty history books that keep an extraordinary racing tale alive.

Those of us lucky enough to have seen Sea Cottage run remember a slight chestnut with a big white blaze who had acceleration like we’d never seen before. And, of course, we recall all the victories he accumulated over the three years of his legend. Oh yes, and him being shot in the rump by gangster Johnny Nel, working for bookie Sonny Chislett, as the chestnut walked to exercise gallops on Durban’s Blue Lagoon beach before the 1966 Durban July.

Sea Cottage was hot favourite for that July and the pencil brigade were cruising for a bruising. The three-year-old looked unbeatable, having strung together several big-race wins. It took a bullet in the bum to slow him down.

Under the care of doting trainer Syd Laird, the colt recovered sufficiently within a month to actually take part in the big race – and finish fourth. The following year, he dead heated with Jollify in the most famous of all Julys.

The racing world remembers the great horse with the Sea Cottage Stakes, a Grade 3 affair at Turffontein, which always seems a less than apt monument to arguably the best galloper we have seen.

Saturday sees the latest renewal of the race for three-year-olds, over 1800m on the Big T’s Inside track.

No runner in the line-up looks remotely in Sea Cottage’s class, though Mike de Kock-trained Aragosta does have promise.

This gelding finished third in the Dingaans, after two impressive wins, and looks set to be a factor in the coming classics. Interestingly, he is by the stallion Rafeef, who is making a name as a sire of sprinters. However, he is out of a mare by the mighty Galileo and clearly has powerful stamina blood in his veins.

Cape Town ace Richard Fourie makes the trip north to partner Aragosta, who could provide a banker for punters scratching their heads over some tricky races on the support card.

SELECTIONS

Turffontein Saturday

1: 8 Full Royalty, 7 Sybaris. 9 Escape Artist, 3 Halloween

2: 1 Val D’Orcia, 6 Supreme Warrior, 4 Whafeef, 3 About To Storm

3: 9 Bon Vivant, 7 Elusive Current, 3 Admire Me, 1 Hawker Typhoon

4: 1 Mike’s Chick, 2 Un Deux Trois, 5 She’s A Cracker, 6 Linganomore

5: 4 Rabia The Rebel, 5 Liverpool Legend, 1 Keepingthepeace, 12 Cap Estel

6: 2 Supreme Dance, 4 Flying Bull, 11 Fire Flower, 7 Phoenix

7: 1 Aragosta, 4 Platinum Sky, 8 Shining Armour, 2 Castletown

8: 6 Grappler, 3 Kayla’s Champ, 1 Captain Hindsight, 2 Theory Of Flight

9: 3 Super Agra, 2 Nordic Rebel, 5 Castle Corner, 11 Midnight Caller

10: 9 Dark Travel, 5 Wine Tasting, 7 Big City Girl, 13 Groundhog Day

Pick 6: 1,2,5,6,8 x 1,2,4,5,6,7,10,12 x 2 x 1 x 6 x 4 (R1920)

PA: 7,9 x 1,2 x 1,4,5,12 x 2 x 1 x 1,3,6 x 2,3 (R96)

Kenilworth Sunday

Best: Race 7 No 2 Dancetildaylight

Value: Race 8 No 5 Blizzard

*** Pic: horse SEA COTTAGE (historic) or horse ARAGOSTA ****