William Robertson is ‘a beast’

“William Robertson has conquered space-time itself.” That’s the way Spies Racing reflects on the stable star’s victory in the JJ The Jetplane Stakes (Grade 3) at Turffontein on Saturday.

Purple prose it might be, but it does give an idea of the remarkable career of a six-year-old gelding – and the pride and joy of his connections.

The Spies Facebook tale continues: “The whispers were there — ‘He’s not a 1000m horse, the trip might be too sharp, can he really outpace the specialists?’ But William Robertson doesn’t concern himself with doubts. No. He split the fabric of reality, devoured the sprinting elite, and left them crumpled in the dust…”

Stirring stuff. But William Robertson, carrying a steadying 62kg, did give weight and a thrashing to some of the Highveld’s best sprinters.

The winner was allowed to start at the scarcely believable odds of 10-1.

Best to not have won a Grade 1 race?

William Robertson has now won 14 of his 42 starts and placed 16 times. He’s won more than R2-million in prize money, with his top achievement being the Grade 2 Joburg Spring Challenge in 2022.

He is probably the best horse in the country not to have won a Grade 1 race, though he has come close, finishing runner-up to champions Captain’s Ransom and Isivunguvungu in the Mercury Sprint and the Computaform Sprint respectively.

Trainer Corne Spies says the upcoming 2025 Computaform is an immediate target, to be followed by big races in the KwaZulu-Natal winter season.

Spies says of the big fellow: “He’s a soldier; a special horse to train and he’s done us proud so many times. What an amazing journey we’ve had with him. He is still going strong at six years of age and I think he has a good few left in the tank.”

Speaking of journeys, William Robertson knows the N3 highway to KwaZulu-Natal as well as a long-distance truck driver, so often has he trundled from his home on the Highveld eastwards to raid at Greyville and Scottsville.

Spies is never afraid to travel his charges, or to have quick race turnarounds when horses are sound. And soundness is one of William Robertson’s great strengths. Another is his versatility, with wins from 1000m to 1600m – and places over 1800m, and even a crack at the 2000m of the Summer Cup.

‘An absolute beast’

Interestingly, Saturday’s winning jockey Ryan Munger was aboard on the horse’s debut – as a juvenile at the Vaal in May 2021 – and when he won his maiden next time out.

Munger, nowadays based in Canada but currently on a working sabbatical back home, was delighted to team up with an old pal.

“He’s hard as nails … a magnificent specimen … an absolute beast … and he’s just getting better and better …” raved the rider on Saturday.

Horses like this are a dream to own – delivering regular cheques and thrills. The lucky ones here are Rob Macnab, Keegan Govender, Xander Spies, Spies Racing and Jannie de Lange.

Backing talk that William Robertson is getting better with age and in the form of his life, the official handicappers have hiked his merit rating from 125 to 128 – his highest standing ever and putting him into the top 10 ranked horses in the country.

He was bred by Ridgemont, from the stud’s in-form sprint stallion Rafeef out of a Trippi mare.