How the trainers are faring this racing season
Tarry four-timer inches him closer to pacemaker Snaith.
When trainer Sean Tarry cooly collected four feature winners on Saturday, racing fans weren't particularly surprised.
The man from Randjesfontein always targets major meetings, with their lucrative races, and The Championships Finale at Turffontein – the climax of the Highveld autumn season in his backyard – was just the ticket.
As he collected trophy after trophy at the Big T, Tarry confirmed his big-day love affair: 'We always give it a go. We aim for the stars … if it comes off that's great … but we are never greedy.'
It took just over 30 minutes for the Tarry team to reach some of those stars, with both the TAB Pretty Polly Stakes and the TAB Protea Stakes in the bag (both Grade 3 races for juveniles). A couple of hours later, two Grade 2s had been added – the Camellia Stakes and the Colorado King Stakes – courtesy of fillies Mia Moo and Let's Go Now.
This is also the time of year when Tarry shifts gears, revving up the KwaZulu-Natal winter term, which climaxes South Africa's official season.
Indeed, in recent seasons the former champion trainer has put in flying finishes during May, June and July to almost overhaul prevailing top dog Justin Snaith on the prizemoney log that decides the championship.
This year we are unlikely to see another Tarry-Snaith cliffhanger as the latter already has a very commanding lead and carries awesome firepower in his KZN raiding party.
This week's arrival of the East Coast's three-month festival is a good time to reflect on the state of play among the country's top trainers.
Stakes money won
Cape Town-based Snaith, who dominated his hometown summer, already has R21.4-million in stakes money won.
Tarry's Saturday haul pushed his total up to R11.3-million – level with Eastern Cape supremo Alan Greeff, who annually runs up an impressive number early on before being swamped by the 'big guns' as the season rushes to its end.
In nominal fourth spot is the newly formed father-son combo of Brett and James Crawford, with their tally of R9.7-million being made up of Brett's winnings from when horses raced under his name alone, added to the aggregate they've achieved as an official unit.
Joburg's Tony Peter and Alec Laird are level-pegging on R8.9-million, just ahead of Cape Town's Candice Bass-Robinson on R8.5-million.
Another father-son team has a joint tally of R8.5-million: Mike and Mathew de Kock.
KZN has a pile of money waiting to be won in dozens of elite races, and upsets are always a factor as the great puzzle works itself out.
No one race will decide the final numbers, but it's interesting to glance at the list of trainers of the top 10 horses in the betting for the showpiece, the Hollywoodbets Durban July.
In order of favouritism, they are: Snaith, the Crawfords, Tarry, Laird, Joe Soma, Natie Kotzen, Snaith, the De Kocks, Michael Roberts and Lucky Houdalakis.
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The earliest memory or story I've heard from my mother is that there was a show that we did. I was like five, six. We did the Down in the Jungle song and I got to play the mama. 'And I remember my mom saying that my teacher at the time went up to her after the performance and said, 'I don't know if you know this, but Nox is really good at this thing, you know. She seems to really enjoy it too.' And my mom was like, 'Oh, okay. Well that's really nice.' 'And so my mom always reminds me of that story and I think that's when she first realised. 'But, for me, I used to love playing in the mirror. I used to dance, sing and act in front of the mirror. It's just something I really liked. I just enjoyed it. I got to primary school and that's all I did.' During her time at Craighall Primary School in Johannesburg, Dlamini had a drama teacher, Mrs Martel, who would later on put in a word to convince her mom to allow her to pursue her love of acting. 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'I need to inject myself with that love and that creativity and just give all of that again, to get back to going, 'Okay, okay, okay, fine, I'm okay.' I just needed a dose of that. 'But, yeah, I think I shouldn't leave it for too long, actually. 'I miss the adrenaline. I love the rehearsal space. I love rehearsal time. I love finding the character. 'I love getting to do the same show five times, six times in the week where you can literally have a different show every night because things happen differently. I just miss that.' Some might call it fate that the actress has been cast as Sarafina three times. After all, Dlamini's love for the character began when she watched the 1992 film adaptation of the musical starring South African actress Leleti Khumalo and American actress Whoopi Goldberg. The movie is what finally inspired her to become an actress. 'The earliest I can remember, because I'm thinking of the cassettes we used to watch, we used to have Sarafina. I loved Sarafina. I loved it because it incorporated everything I enjoy. It had the acting, the dancing, the singing and I was just like, 'Yoh!' 'You know what it feels like to me, it feels like … I don't know how to explain it. I think musical theatre people, people who do theatre, will understand the feeling of, like, after doing a huge number on stage and it's at the end. Just that feeling, that exhilarating feeling. That's how it makes me feel. 'And that makes me feel alive. And it makes me feel like I just did everything in the world, you know?' Noxolo Dlamini. (Photo supplied) Sarafina showcases a pivotal moment in South Africa's history when students led protests during the 1976 Soweto Uprising. The characters depict the violent trauma that many students experienced under the apartheid regime. It is for this reason it is crucial for actors to be able to step back from a role. 'We use ourselves. We are the vessel that the character is coming alive through. And some people use their own past experiences to reach certain things. To be a human being and to put yourself through something that isn't actually happening, you know it, but your body and your mind don't really,' Dlamini says. 'That's why they're always talking about de-roling. And it's because your body actually goes through it. The trauma of the character, your body goes through it too.' She says an actor's mind does it too: 'Oh, by the way, just so you know, this is not real, you know, because you're using your actual emotions and you're using your actual self. 'It's really important to understand how you get in and out of that. How to get to a point where you go, 'Okay, the character's done. Now we have Nox. How do we get back to Nox? What does Nox like?' 'It's really important to have that relationship with yourself so that you're able to kind of lend yourself out to your characters.' The actress says she has reached a milestone in her career — and has no plans to slow down. 'My career has been so blessed. I've just reached the 10-year point. I was starting to kind of feel like it's slowing down and I'm just like, 'Ah, do I still want to do this?' ''Of course I want to do this, but what do I want to do? There's something else. There's something else that's meant to happen.' 'I don't know what it is right now. And I love that feeling because it's brought me closer to God again. Because, initially, the reason I wanted to do it was because I believe it is what God gave me. He put that dream in my heart. I can't give up on myself because I feel like giving up on myself is giving up on God.' Dlamini's focus at the moment is on returning to the stage and making her mark once again. 'I think, more than anything, I love what I do because I get to express myself. It's that one feeling of being on stage and going, 'Huh!' And, 'I gave everything that I could.' 'And also, the energy! There's so much energy in what you get from the audience, what you give to the audience. And it's just … it's beautiful to be in the space where we're all telling a story. 'The energies are so different because every show feels so different. 'I get to go home and sleep. And then the next morning, I get to wake up and do it again.'
