Malawi Magic: The Durban July Favourite, His Loyal Groom And The Extraordinary Gift
Behind top South African three-year-old Eight On Eighteen is Phillip Thengeza and his mother Doreen Steven, who is a fitting beneficiary of the colt’s tremendous success.
WHEN EIGHT ON EIGHTEEN lines up as favourite in Saturday’s G1 Durban July, the most prestigious race in Africa, he will carry the hopes of the nation’s racing fans and the wagers of many further afield.
But for Phillip Thengeza, Eight On Eighteen’s July bid serves as another simple opportunity to demonstrate his immense gratitude to and love for his mother Doreen.
Malawi native Thengeza is the groom of Justin Snaith-trained Eight On Eighteen, the “naughty champion” who became the fourth three-year-old in the last 80 years to win the G1 Cape Town Met at Kenilworth against the older horses in January.
Subsequent victories in the G1 Cape Derby and G1 Daily News 2000, both restricted to three-year-olds, have cemented Eight On Eighteen’s position as the best middle-distance colt of his generation. However, he now has to carry 57kg in the July, a momentous impost; it has been 75 years since a three-year-old has carried more weight to win the famous handicap.
Not that Thengeza is worried.
“He is such a special horse to me,” Thengeza told Idol Horse at Snaith’s temporary Summerveld base, just outside Durban. “He is my first champion, the Met was the first time I’d won such a big race. I didn’t expect him to win like that against the older horses. It was like heaven on earth for me that day. And now he’s won three Grade 1 races! But he is going to make it four on Saturday, I’m sure of it.”
Thengeza’s confidence comes from 14 years working within Snaith Racing, primarily in Cape Town. Now a leader among Snaith’s stable staff, he is a far cry from the scared, timid youngster who first walked into the operation’s Philippi stables back in 2011.
Like many young Malawians, Thengeza departed for South Africa in search of a better future. The average annual wage for a Cape Town stablehand is approximately 70,000 rand (USD$4,000) a year, compared to an average starting salary in Malawi of 1.5 million kwacha (USD$867).
Thengeza, though, was not chasing work in a stable; he’d only ever seen a horse once and racing was not on his radar. But, jobless in a sluggish labour market, he was desperate and willing to take any role available when he met Judy Pickford, Snaith’s foundation assistant trainer.
“After I finished my secondary school, I came straight to Cape Town,” he said. “I was looking for any job at all. I met Miss Judy and I told her, I need a job. She introduced me to Snaith Racing, she introduced me to horses and taught me not to be scared of them.”
Feature race success was the furthest thing from Thengeza’s mind when he started with Snaith’s stables in Cape Town – just learning to approach a horse without fear was a victory.
“Back in Malawi, we had goats and cows,” he said. “I saw a horse once in about 2000 and I was scared because it was so tall. I got close, about a couple of metres away, but I just thought I cannot get closer to such a big animal like this.
“When I started with Snaith Racing, I was very scared, I didn’t know what I was doing. But I started walking them, then putting saddles on them and it wasn’t long before I started riding horses.”
Despite his lack of an equine background, Thengeza has emerged as a natural horseman. He now helps to educate many of Snaith’s young horses, a role he started in 2019; two of his “graduates” will be among Eight On Eighteen’s rivals on Saturday in stablemates Okavango and Native Ruler.
“I didn’t think of that until now but yes, I have been involved with the whole Snaith group for the July,” he said. “I work with a lot of the young horses but yes, some very good three-year-olds this year. My heart is with Eight On Eighteen, though.”
Snaith says that Thengeza has proven a real asset for the team as he has become a more crucial part of their operation.
“He is just a special human being,” the five-time South African champion trainer said. “He’s such a gentleman, he’s so appreciative of every opportunity and it’s very rare to find someone like him.
“Maybe not being raised around horses is actually an advantage for him. The way he is with people is the way he is with animals, he’s very genuine and has a real respect. You don’t often find someone who is like him.”
The bond between Eight On Eighteen and Thengeza is strong. When the groom wanders out of sight, the colt goes hunting; Thengeza returns a handful of grass which the horse ravages with glee, almost yanking the groom’s arm from its socket – not that he minds in the slightest.
Their relationship is so strong that the groom has swapped sunny Cape Town climes for a distant Durban winter for the first time, just so he can oversee the horse he already refers to as “my champion”.
“Wherever he goes, I go – I am there with him,” said Thengeza. “He’s a tough horse and he’s very naughty, you can see how he eats the grass. But every horse has something. He is a lovely horse.”
In Cape Town, Thengeza rides Eight On Eighteen in the mornings. While at Summerveld, though, Thengeza has relinquished riding duties. Instead, he leaves the morning gallops to comeback jockey Andrew Fortune, whose return to the saddle after an eight-year hiatus has been one of the headlines of South African racing this year.
Fortune does not have the raceday ride; that goes to South African champion Richard Fourie, whose partnership with the Lancaster Bomber colt stretches back more than a year.
“Richard is the best jockey I know but he is also my friend, a great friend,” Thengeza said. “As long as Richard is with him, I know that the horse is in the best hands.”
Should Eight On Eighteen win, potentially as the shortest-priced favourite since Dynasty in 2003, the thousands on track at Greyville and the millions watching across South Africa and the continent will roar.
The focus will turn to Snaith, known for his exuberance, and to his owners Johann Rupert – South Africa’s richest man with an estimated net value of over USD$14 billion – and leviathan investor Nick Jonsson.
Thengeza will be going crazy alongside them, but his thoughts will quickly turn from the trackside celebrations to Doreen back in Malawi.
Thengeza’s significant bonuses accrued through his work with Eight On Eighteen have all gone towards building his mother a house in their home town of Blantyre, Malawi’s second biggest city. It is the only way the 35-year-old believes he can repay his mother for all that she contributed to him.
“She was a single mother and she did everything for us,” Thengewa said. “She is my number one role model. There has been no one like her in my life.
“I made the decision when Eight On Eighteen won the Met that I was spending it all on her, whatever happened,” he added. “I am proud that it has worked out as I planned.” ∎
