Karl Neisius is a riding legend, now retired, but he remains involved in the game. We were chatting a week ago about the pecking order amongst SA’s current crop of three-year-olds and I asked him who is the best in his opinion. “Let’s wait and see till after the Derby.” was his sage response.
As it happened, Dean Kannemeyer trained, Green with Envy duly added to his burgeoning reputation by romping in the G1 just as Neisius intimated. Twice G1 winner, the filly Beach Bomb ran well but was a discouraged second ahead of 100/1 pace setter, Oriental Charm.
The Derby was run at a slow early tempo and the Gimmethegreenlight colt out of Galileo mare, Miss Coco, turned on the turbo after being settled way off the pace, sprinting the final 400m in 22.5 seconds.
Jock, Craig Zackey said Green with Envy just does it so easy, loping along effortlessly without expending any energy in the early stages. Then when asked to run he can shift through the gears and accelerate big time. Green with Envy is an exciting prospect!
Most of the races around the turn, like the Derby, were slow run affairs in drizzly conditions. The one exception was the Prix du Cap where Rascova ensured a true gallop in the 1400m G3 for fillies and mares. This teed things up perfectly for a resurgent, Double Grand Slam (s/s 104 +) who raced full of energy around the bend before Grant van Niekerk unleashed her on the inside rail. She zipped through to win by a wide margin over October Morn (s/s 99) with Rascova holding third place.
Apparently, Double Grand Slam became skittish and naughty earlier this season, but trainer Justin Snaith has, with difficulty, got her behaving right again. Based on this number, which could be pegged even higher @ around 107, she is a very bright prospect for the KZN Champions season.
Heavily backed odds-on favourite, Thunderstruck was a brave winner of the G2 Diadem Stakes. Whilst the Derby and Prix du Cap were won in commanding fashion, Thunderstruck was all heart to ward off the swoopers with a length covering the first five home.
This race was not particularly quick by the standards of these proven G1 speedballs with juvenile winner, Talk to the Master (s/s 96) scoring in a faster final time, and the Cape Nursery won by One Stripe (s/s 88) only .4 second slower than the Diadem.
Nevertheless, it provided an exciting finish with hot three-year-old sprinting prospect Future Variety, defending champ Bereave, a stiff in running Cosmic Highway and soon to retire Rio Querari putting in bold bids.