Daniel reaches the summit at Greyville

Jack Milner

It is always a delight when a small trainer finally gets a really good horse and can finally celebrate a Grade 1 victory after many years as a trainer.

That is exactly what happened to David Nieuwenhuizen at Hollywoodbets Greyville on 30 July when two-year-old Sandringham Summit won the Grade 1 Champion Stakes.

It is even more thrilling when the hard-working groom benefits significantly from that success.

For groom Daniel Cuiane, Sandringham Summit’s victory was a life-changing moment.

World Pool, the globe’s largest commingled horseracing pools created and powered by the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), sponsored the World Pool Gold Cup raceday and that particular event was named The World Pool Moment of the Day.

This is an initiative introduced to all 25 World Pool events in 2023, which lands the selected winning groom on the day a massive R100,000 in prize money.

All 25 winners are eligible to win the World Pool Moment of the Year Award which includes a VIP trip for four to Hong Kong for either the Hong Kong Derby or 2024 FWD Champions Day.

The panel was challenged with selecting one moment from several memorable highlights throughout the day, but it was the eye-catching performance of Sandringham Summit from the widest of draws in the Grade 1 World Pool Moment of the Day Champion Stakes that landed the R100,000 prize for his groom, and entry into the World Pool Moment of the Year.

When interviewed on his return to Johannesburg, Cuiane said: “This is life-changing for me, because I have worked with horses for a long time.

“But this is the first time I have won this amount of money.

“I will use half of the money to finish building my house and the other half I will share with my mother and father because my father is out of work.”

He not only made his charge look great, but he was correspondingly superbly groomed. To use the old Hollywood expression, “he looked a million dollars”.

In the past Daniel has looked after Mill Queen who ran second in a Grade 1, Flying First Class who is a nine-time-winner, and Factory Fifty who won six races, but he rates Sandringham Summit as the best of them all.

He will be presented with the World Pool Moment of the Day prize at the KZN Racing Awards on Friday 18 August.

Nieuwenhuizen is currently in the UK visiting his daughter and was delighted for Cuiane. “I think he will need to set up some sort of business plan with the money. But he does a great job, and he certainly looked the part as well.”

Sandringham Summit, who is a half-brother to Eden Roc, was certainly no cheapie and he cost owner Rakesh Singh R1.7 million at the 2022 National Yearling Sale.

On debut he was just touched off by Lucky Lad in a race that did not go well for him but he certainly caught the attention of racing public when winning the Grade 2 Golden Horseshoe on Hollywoodbets Durban July day.

Everything that could go wrong did, and he still managed to barge his way through and get up to win.

“He actually gives more than expected,” said Nieuwenhuizen. “I don’t expect him to run the way he does.

“He’s a serious horse and I think he will go as far as I can ask him, if he can switch off.”

We are unlikely to see him in action for the next few months but the son of Gimmethegreenlight’s next run is expected to come in the Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m at Turffontein.

“Then we’ll probably go for the Dingaans and then look at the Triple Crown races next year.”

Nieuwenhuizen says they will probably not go to the Cape for the Grade 1 Guineas in December. “I’m not sure the Cape is the best way to go for a Joburg horse, but obviously we are looking at every option. It’s important we make the right call and keep him safe and sound.”

The Durban July is definitely one of his goals next year, but Nieuwenhuizen wants to keep a close watch on eye his merit rating. “Ideally, we have to look at getting him in at around 54kg. We saw this year that 56kg is a big weight for a three-year-old.

“Limiting him to his age group looks the right thing for him. Everything is in his favour and we must keep it like that.”

He particularly complimented Calvin Habib on two great rides aboard Sandringham Summit. “Both of those Greyville rides were outstanding, firstly getting him to win from an impossible position in the first race and then managing to overcome a very wide draw in the second.”