‘Bomb’ and ‘Storm’ ready to hit Del Mar racecourse in California

As isiZulu racehorse names go, Isivunguvungu is one of the easier for foreign tongues to get around. But prominent US racing writer Steve Andersen still reckons it’s a “tongue twister”.

In Thoroughbred Daily News (TDN), ahead of this weekend’s momentous Breeders’ Cup race meeting at Del Mar, Andersen says: “For bettors, there is an easy way to remember Isivunguvungu’s name. He is horse No 10 in Saturday’s fifth race.”

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Imagine if Isivunguvungu’s owners, Hollywood Syndicate, had exported one of their other horses to the US for a tilt at the “World Championships” – like Imilenzeyokududuma, Qondanekukhhayeni or Iqembulabesifazana.

The Hollywood crew take delight in getting associates and friends to name their horses, sometimes stirring panic in race callers’ hearts. Former Springbok winger Odwa Ndungane did the job on Isivunguvungu, which means “big storm” in his home language.

There will indeed be thunder and lightning in the US media if the six-year-old gelding pulls off a win against some of the best sprinters in the world in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint over 1000m in San Diego, California, on Saturday night (SA time). He is quoted at anything from 12-1 to 28-1, depending on where you look.

Those with a sneaky feeling Isivunguvungu could surprise point to the fact that the 2023 winner of the BC Turf Sprint, Nobals, used victory in the Da Hoss Stakes as a springboard to the big one – just as the South African has.

Race favourite Cogburn (13-8) comes off a turf sprint hat-trick, while British challengers Bradsell, Believing and Big Evs all have impressive credentials.

Beach Bomb

South Africa’s other representative at the meeting, Beach Bomb in the BC Fillies & Mares Turf over 2200m, is not getting quite as much media attention, possibly due to her relatively tame name. Who’d have thought?

But the tiny filly with a big heart is a favourite back home, with her mother Beach Beauty having been one of the most popular racehorses in her day. The Yanks haven’t seemed to notice yet that her father, the late Lancaster Bomber, once competed in the Breeders’ Cup under the American flag.

Both South Africans are trained in the US by Graham Motion, who has prattled on about how “tough” they are and how he feels “privileged” to be entrusted with them.

Motion said this week Isivunguvungu was so eager to train he had resorted to working him on open spaces at the Fair Hill training centre in Maryland.

“We train him in the fields because he’s very tough,” Motion said. “He’s very fast. He wants to get on with it. In the morning, it’s all or nothing.”

As TDN reported this week, any “score” for the duo would be greeted with much celebration in their homeland – not only for reasons of pride but because the publicity would, hopefully, open the country’s thoroughbred breeding industry to a surge of overseas investment interest.