There was a slight lull in South African racing this weekend before the important season ending card at Greyville next Saturday where some of SA’s divisional champions get a final chance to confirm their status.
Thus, the meeting at Turffontein, Kenilworth and Scottsville featured only bread-and-butter type racing. Punters with an international focus were treated to marquee meets at Saratoga (an historic racing “shrine” and one of America’s most venerable tracks) and a stellar performance by Epsom Derby winner, Adayar in the King George V1 Stakes at Ascot.
This column recently provided a tribute to late, great sire Galileo. Adayar repeated the feat last achieved twenty years ago by Galileo in managing a Derby & King George double – something that has only be done 14 times in history.
This what winning jock, William Buick said, “Horses like him don’t come around too often and it’s not often the Derby winner follows up in the King George so it feels amazing. He jumped better than I expected and was in a lovely rhythm. He then had that kick in the straight and stayed on all the way to the line.
“We all saw him at Epsom and we all thought he was a good Derby winner – he’s just confirmed that by taking on the older horses. He’s a consummate professional who possesses a fantastic will to win. It was a brilliant field, which is what the King George is all about.”
Domestically, Bowie (speed figure 94) and Eskimo Pie (s/s 92) came out tops at Turffontein. Bowie was breaking a string of five seconds, but he was life and death to prevail over Tuscan Winter in a photo finish with Chief of State under a length back in third. He is trained by Sean Tarry who also won with Eskimo Pie, a steady mid-level handicapper paying his way.
Danilo Danilovitch (s/s 90, has run 95) is a swift juvenile who ran the biggest figure on the Cape Town program. He went practically from gun to tape in the opener at Kenilworth for a third win from eight starts. Justin Snaith trained stable mate, Intrepid was backed to win here after a troubled trip last time behind Danilo Danilovitch but failed to pick us his feet and finished way back.
The best performers at Scottsville ran in a similar low- to- mid 90’s speed figure range. Willows Wish sidled (s/s 94) in for a convincing victory and can do even better as he matures so is worth following, with Time Taker (s/s 91) and Light That Loose (s/s 90) also scoring well enough in their respective races.