Off The Record #97

Goofy, Gutsy and Glorious
The Golden Loom story

Above: Golden Loom (Anton Marcus) beats Fov’s Favourite (Jason Jago) in a Handicap at Gosforth Park, May 1999 (image: JC Photos)

Saturday’s Listed Allied Steelrode Golden Loom Handicap over 1000m on Charity Mile Day is named in honour of one of the greatest sprinters ever to blaze across the South African turf.

The big bay gelding, affectionately known as ‘Goofy,’ raced from March 1996 until November 2003 when he was 10 years old. His remarkable track career spanned seven and a half years. Trained by the legendary Kevin “Buddy” Maroun, Golden Loom raced 78 times, won 22, and was placed on 37 occasions, earning over R2,8 million. His glittering résumé included two Grade 1 Computaform Sprints, the Grade 1 Golden Spur (now the Golden Horse Sprint), and the Grade 3 Senor Santa Sprint, which he captured at the grand age of nine. He won the Equus Champion Sprinter Trophy in 1999 and several Highveld racing awards.

Golden Loom was a phenomenon, a crowd favourite with blazing speed, courage and character. His heart was as big as his stride, and his connections and thousands of fans shared the thrill of his explosive finishes. Photographs, replays, and media reports are rare. His reign as South Africa’s champion sprinter came just before the digital age, when not many racing feature stories were archived electronically.

Blessedly, owners and the jockeys who partnered him have kept a trove of treasured memories, and JC Photos managed to dig up a few vintage snaps – recollections we have the pleasure of revisiting in this week’s edition of Off The Record.

Above: A recent photo of Raymond Abrosie and Budwa Abrosie (seated), with friend, Rocky Warby (image: supplied)

We go back to 1975 when the brothers Abrosie – Raymond, Budwa and Michael - stumbled upon the sale of a men’s fashion store called ‘The Executive’, in Bedfordview, Gauteng. They were raised in a family that valued refinement and gentlemanly conduct, and the idea of high-end clothing for professional men appealed to them.

The Abrosie brothers acquired The Executive well below its value from an insolvent estate, added a touch of homely elegance to the store and, by 1978, they started making enough money to indulge in their other passion, horseracing!

One of their first runners was a filly named Lumination, by Silverware, a R6,700 purchase from breeder George Rowles. She was trained by Dennis Fisher and proved to be so speedy that, in February 1981, she made a winning debut in a Juvenile Graduation Plate over 1000m at Scottsville. She won by three lengths and broke the 1000m course record in a time of 57,76s.

Lumination was plagued by persistent niggles and was unable to fulfil her potential, though she won another two starts and was placed second to top colt Smackeroo in the 1981 Grade 1 SA Nursery.

Lumination was retired to stud at four, and sent to Jan de Clercq’s Zevenbergen Stud in Robertson, where she produced a number of quality foals including multiple winners Majestic Light and Senor Smith (Foveros), Barberis (Elevation) and World’s Best (Hard Up).

At this point, Raymond explained, the brothers had raced two cracking sprinters with Michael Azzie. One was the nine-time winner Golden Clime, sired by the Highlands Farms stallion, Golden Thatch. “We reckoned that Lumination, with her speedy record, would be the perfect match for Golden Thatch and we approached Anthony Beck at Highlands.

“Golden Thatch was in big demand at the time, but in 1991 we secured a service for R25,000, which was a massive amount of money in those days. We had her covered, and a beautiful foal was born in 1992. We named him Golden Loom.”

When he turned two, Golden Loom was sent into training with Ormond Ferraris, who reported after a few weeks that the youngster looked fairly promising, but that he didn’t have the best of joints and needed time to mature. “We knew that Mr Ferraris was always conservative in his assessments. He also recommended that Golden Loom be blistered and gelded. We had that done, and we sent Golden Loom to Joy Garth’s spelling facility in Kyalami so that he had time to grow into his frame.”

When Golden Loom was ready to return to training, there was a problem – Ormond Ferraris had taken a sabbatical. He was on his first spell of retirement, and the Abrosies were not sure what to do.

“We were friendly with the Maroun racing family and especially with Buddy Maroun, who had picked out our six-time winner Brainteaser (Swift Call) at a sale a few years prior to becoming a trainer himself. We asked Buddy to visit Golden Loom and he came back glowing with excitement, saying, ‘He is nice. Please, I want him!’,” Raymond recalled.

Above: Buddy Maroun, legendary trainer.

By this time Buddy had taken out his trainer’s licence and was based at Randjesfontein. He’d enjoyed some early success, especially with sprinters, so the decision was made to give him a chance. Golden Loom, despite having been gelded, was full of beans in his exercise gallops, so much so that only Buddy himself, and stable jockey Sherman Brown, were able to ride him. This is something Brown is proud of to this day. He said: “Golden Loom ran away with his work riders, they could not hold one side of him. But he took a liking to my handling. When I took him out for morning workouts, he’d tuck his head into his chest and canter along steadily.”

When his saddle was taken off, Golden Loom became so laid back and relaxed it looked as if he was dreaming, and earned himself a nickname. Raymond said: “We visited Buddy’s yard one morning and we asked, ‘where is our horse, let’s see him?’ and Buddy said, ‘Oh, Goofy, he is over there,’ and pointed to his stable. We said, ‘Huh, Goofy?’ and he explained that the nickname was given due to Golden Loom’s easy, loving demeanour. The name stuck, and racing fans would also start using it in affectionate reference when Golden Loom later became a star.”

Maroun pencilled in a Maiden Plate for Golden Loom on 5 March 1996 over the fast 1000m at Gosforth Park and Sherman Brown recalled: “We already knew that we had a champion in the stable before he went to the racetrack, but Buddy wanted to give him a gentle introduction. Anton Marcus was booked for the ride, he was going to be Golden Loom’s regular jockey. We always joked with Anton that I was the one getting the gelding ready for him to ride and he only had to do the easy work. But before Golden Loom’s first run there was no pressure. Anton just introduced him to the track to give him a good experience.”

Golden Loom finished eighth on his debut, beaten five lengths by a horse called Twilight Flight, who would never win again in 27 further starts. That’s how ‘underdone’ the Maroun runner was for his warm-up.

But after this run, Buddy stepped up Golden Loom’s work, put his finishing touches on the gelding and the owners were told to get ready for a good punt on 19 March 1996, when Golden Loom would contest his second career start over 1000m at Newmarket.

“We had the cash ready when we got the track that day,” Raymond said, “but Anton had gotten wind that Weichong Marwing’s mount, Divine Force (Divine King), was very fast and was considered unbeatable. So we held back. We put our money on Divine Force. He went off favourite at 7-10 favourite and beat Golden Loom (7-1) into second. We were happy with what we saw. Golden Loom had improved nicely, and it looked to us as if could’ve won it if he had a bit more racing experience.”

In the next four months, Golden Loom won his Maiden on 6 April 1996, and bagged another three wins from five starts before the end of the 1995/6 season.

He made rapid progress through the divisions and his four-year-old career yielded five wins from 11 runs. In this season (1996/7), he beat the lightning fast champion sprinter Tommy Hotspur in a handicap over 1000m at Gosforth Park, and got his revenge on Divine Force in a 1200m sprint at Turffontein in December 1996.

One of Golden Loom’s finest wins came in the hands of jockey Rhys van Wyk in January 1997, when he lowered the silks of star filly Harry’s Charm in the Listed Syd Laird Memorial at Newmarket. He was unlucky not to win the 1997 Grade 1 Golden Spur, beaten a quarter of a length by July Day.

Above: Golden Loom (Rhys van Wyk), winning the 1998 Syd Laird Memorial (image: JC Photos)

Golden Loom was coming into his own at five, and he won a further five races in the 1997/8 season, including a follow-up success in the Syd Laird Memorial (beating Tommy Hotspur) and a spectacular three-length win for Anton Marcus in the Grade 1 1998 Computaform Sprint at Gosforth Park.

At six, during the 1998/9 season, Golden Loom was in the form of his life, and almost unstoppable. He won six of 10 races, including his second Computaform Sprint by four lengths under Marcus.

At seven, it was almost as if Golden Loom purposefully took a back seat while his useful stablemates All Will Be Well (Badger Land) and Fov’s Favourite (Foveros) took turns to wipe out the opposition. This was the era in which Buddy Maroun was hailed as one of the greatest trainers of sprinters ever seen in South Africa. All Will Be Well won 17 times, Fov’s Favourite won 14.

Buddy had mastered the art of peaking his runners for specific races, and with short intervals between their runs. One would win on a Tuesday, the other on the next Thursday, and it would be a case of musical chairs on the Saturday. This period saw a barrage of brilliant performances which left Buddy’s training peers scratching their heads.

Golden Loom completed the 1999/2000 season without a win from 10 starts, and jockey Brown noted, “He was fine, taking it easy, running on the heels of his stablemates and earning most of the time. Buddy kept all of his sprinters ticking over with slow canters between races. They were taking all the available sprint prizes between them and he kept them sound and well. He’d literally sleep in his office next to the stables when a horse was sick or sore. He was totally devoted to them.”

With 20 wins to his name and rising nine, Golden Loom was considered past his best, but Buddy had a few tricks up his sleeve. He’d earmarked the Grade 1 Golden Spur at Scottsville and gave ‘Goofy’ a few warm-up runs in 2001, including another tilt at the Computaform Sprint, in which he almost stole the race from Geoff Woodruff’s grey, Rodoille, going down a neck.

Above: Golden Loom (Sherman Brown) wins the Grade 1 Golden Spur in 2001, aged 8 (image: supplied)

With Marcus indisposed, Brown was given the ride on Golden Loom in the Golden Spur on 26 May, 2001. The jockey told, “Buddy, Lisa Prestwood and I left early that Saturday morning for Pietermaritzburg. I’d fractured a finger when a horse hit the starting gates a few days before, but I didn’t tell anybody. Buddy asked me to drive, and I did.

“When we arrived at Scottsville, I still hadn’t said a word about my injury. But one of the other jocks came walking by and said, ‘Hey, Sherman, how’s your finger?’. Buddy’s eyes widened, and Lisa shook her head. I said, ‘Buddy, there is no way you are taking me off Golden Loom, I will ride him. I’m not getting off!’ We strapped the broken finger, I put my gloves on, rode Golden Loom and he helped me all the way through. He knew me so well, he must have sensed something. He gave his all, he was his old, magnificent self and he stormed home by 2.5-lengths at 12-1!”

Amazingly, Golden Loom set a new course record for 1200m that day – 67.84s – a tribute to his own dam, who’d broken the 1000m record at the same track 20 years before.

Nearing the end of his career, and having turned nine, Golden Loom was given a lengthy break but his five starts during the 2001/2 season yielded only a single place. Still, he was loving his work and enjoyed going to the track, finishing third in the 2002 Grade 1 Mercury Sprint to Hinterland, and only two lengths off National Currency in the 2003 Computaform Sprint.

On 5 April 2003, Brown booted Golden Loom to his 22^nd and last win in the Grade 3 Senor Santa Sprint, defeating stablemate Al Nitak, the new star on the block. They travelled together to Scottsville for the 2003 Golden Spur, where Al Nitak won and Golden Loom got third, a simply terrific run at his age.

Golden Loom ran three times at 10 – earning a place cheque in September 2003, but signalled that he’d come to the end of the road in November 2003. ‘Goofy’ was retired to a farm in Kyalami, where he lived happily until his death at 18 years of age, in 2010.

Raymond Abrosie said: “I have an old DVD at home with all Golden Loom’s wins on it. Every few years I pull it out and we watch it, and we get goosebumps every time. Goofy gave us the most exciting and wonderful years of our lives, for which we are eternally grateful. He was truly something special. He won some of his best races carrying 62, 63, 64 and even 65 kg. He competed in seven Computaform Sprints, winning twice and placing in three others. Name another sprinter who achieved that!”

Anton Marcus, who partnered Golden Loom to 12 wins, said earlier this week: “Golden Loom was a push-button horse. He was a good size, and strong. The faster they went, the better he got. He enjoyed racing from off the pace and running at them. I’ve ridden some great sprinters including Jet Master, Nhlavini, Fov’s Favourite, All Will Be Well, Tommy Hotspur and Byblos, but Golden Loom, Goofy, he was the best of them all!”

Above: A well deserved Equus Award, 1999 (image: supplied)