Legal Eagle’s flawless record over 1600m was maintained, albeit in a desperate finish to the G2 Green Point Stakes where just a head separated the first four at the wire. This was the third year in succession that the son of Grey’s Inn has prevailed in this particular race, over his favorite distance. The
Carrying 52kg’s, Tilbury Fort (s/s 105) swept through to win the 2018 G1 Summer Cup at Turffontein over big outsider Dawn Assault and favoured Cascapedia with the top weight Coral Fever in fourth spot. Tilbury Fort was expertly prepared by trainer Sean Tarry, coming in fresh to produce a career best under Lyall Hewitson,
Rebels Champ scored 102 to win a competitive Pinnacle Stakes Sprint @ Scottsville. The chestnut has now won six of 18 races after having been well bought for just R10 000 at the CTS two year- old sale. Credit to Paul Peter for getting the best out of this unfashionable son of Rebel King, who
Hawwaam got a mention in this column after a remarkable speed figure of 103 on debut. He made the expected improvement to land the Dingaans at Turffontein with an excellent number of 108. He is reportedly Mike de Kock’s best three year- old and now clearly a principal contender for further honours. KZN raider,
After a few postponements due to dodgy tracks and stormy weather the Grand Series finally took place at Turffontein on Saturday. Legs 1 and 2, together with the Consolation, were all hotly contested races, going down to photo finish verdicts. Soldier On (speed score 93) Tsitsikamma Dance (s/s 97) and Big Mistake (s/s 99)
Domestic racing was limited this weekend to Greyville as there was nothing scheduled for Cape Town and the bulk of the Turffontein meeting got washed out by a dramatic Saturday afternoon thunderstorm. Usually only notable speed figures are highlighted in this newsletter – but the KZN card did not yield anything out of the
Spring is a fun time for racing fans as this is when the better thoroughbreds start coming to the fore. Only a tiny percentage of the horse population will ever be good enough to contest Stakes races and identifying those youngsters improving sharply to be capable of competing at the peak level is part
Classy filly, Rose in Bloom (s/s 93 + has run 104 @ best) made a fluent start to her Highveld Spring campaign when zipping past Rings and Things (s/s 92) in an Assessment Plate at Turffontein. The Gimmethegreenlight filly has only won twice, yet has placed behind quality opposition like Magical Wonderland and Snowdance
Africa Rising is very smart on his day and he duly won a tight Pinnacle Stakes contest (speed score 100 +) over consistent, Arctica (99) before the Turffontein meeting ended prematurely due to a burst water pipe. In the preceding handicap race, Full Of Attitude (s/s 95) romped and looks worth following at the
The most remarkable story this weekend is the winning sequence sustained by Winx. Since May 2015 she has been perfect with 26 Stakes wins in succession, including 19 Group 1’s. I found this quote in Wikipedia most revealing. “Unlike many elite racehorses, Winx does not have a particularly long stride – her stride was