Africa-Press – Mauritius. Garth Puller’s unbeaten Captain Al 4yo Captain Fontane is likely to make his swansong appearance on African soil when he runs at Hollywoodbets Greyville this afternoon.
The poster boy for #exportprotocolfrustration, Captain Fontane has been backed into 8-10 with Hollywoodbets to win the eighth race, an MR 99 Handicap over 1400m.
Described as a ‘proper horse’ by his veteran trainer, the Cheveley Stud-bred gelding, a full brother to champion Snowdance, bounced back from an eleven month rest to maintain his three-from-three unbeaten record at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on 11 July.
Ashton Arries was in the saddle there and rides him again today. Captain Fontane returned to the Puller Summerveld yard in April after having departed six months earlier for Hong Kong.
At the time trainer David Ferraris, who owns Captain Fontane in partnership with David Hui, went on record with the IRC, saying that his handsome gelding’s initial period in quarantine at the Eikenhof facility near Johannesburg was extended due to a stalemate between Mauritius and the UK over African Horse Sickness antibodies that showed up in a sample accidentally sent by the Mauritians to UK authorities.
“It had nothing to do with us or our horses. For several weeks we were not allowed to ship ours to Mauritius and horses already on the island couldn’t fly out either.
A further two-and-a-half months after the delay in Mauritius, Captain Fontane suffered a bout of colic and had to leave the quarantine station to be treated by Dr. Roy Gottschalk, under whose care he thankfully recovered quickly.
But leaving the facility, even just for a day or two, meant that he had to start his period of quarantine all over again!”
After effectively losing out on much of his classic season, and a possible lucrative career in Hong Kong, decision was made to put Captain Fontane back into training with Puller.
Garth Puller confirmed to the Sporting Post that his owner David Ferraris would be going the export route again and that Captain Fontane would be transferring to the Eikenhof Facility in due course.
Ferraris’ talented dual SA Champion apprentice son Luke commences his Hong Kong riding career at Sha Tin on Sunday. “I would love to have taken this very smart horse to the Cape for the summer.
I believe he will get a mile and he is very exciting. But David will get the best out of him in Hong Kong and I will be following his progress with great interest there. It certainly makes sense for them,”concluded Puller.
