The outstanding, Desert Miracle’s defeat of tremendous three-year-old filly Feather Boa in the G1 Empress Club Stakes at Turffontein was the clear highlight of this weekend’s SA racing action.
The high-class duo ran big numbers of 114 and 112 respectively. Desert Miracle was uber- impressive as a juvenile, then became somewhat constrained by breathing issues but, testimony to Mike de Kock’s training expertise, has been revived sufficiently to win the G1 Majorca Stakes at Kenilworth and now the Empress Club @ four, both over 1600m.
Desert Miracle (by Dynasty ex Welwitchia) drifted from 2’s out to 3/1 on heavy support for Feather Boa. Though the youngster got beat, the market was “correct” to anticipate a huge effort from Stuart Pettigrew’s Flower Alley filly and she emerged with honor in defeat. A figure of 112 will make her very tough to topple back against her own age group.
Lord William (s/s 100, sired by William Longswword) and Dawnofanewday (s/s 96) took the honors at Scottsville on Sunday. Glen Kotzen trains the former who won the Sledgehammer Stakes under Ashton Arries, to continue a productive ‘23; Dean Kannemeyer and Keagan de Melo were successful with Dawnofanewday (by Futura) in the listed Scarlet Lady.
Well handicapped 8/1 favourite, Corach Rambler won the Grand National at Aintree – an historic, yet controversial jump race due to its arduous nature. The 30 obstacles and drop offs have been made somewhat easier in recent times to reduce the number of faller’s/injuries/fatalities in what can be a brutal 7200m slog for horse and rider, but some animal rights activists are still not appeased.
Their protests delayed the start of this year’s race, where, out of 39 starters, 17 finished – with one fatality, Hill Sixteen who fell at the first fence.
The winner is trained by Lucinda Russell, and her lengthy post-race quote is worth repeating: We kind of knew it (protest) was going to happen and I think the racecourse did a great job to prevent them from doing too much damage,” Russell said.
“I just say to all the protestors, come and see how the horses are kept. I came from a non-racing background, and I can assure you that welfare in other horse sports is not as high as it is in racing.
“Racing is a fantastic sport and is very highly regulated. I understand they (protestors) get very excited about it, but for the welfare of horses they should be looking at a wider picture. Those guys that went out to protest on the course, they think it’s about horse welfare, but that horse (of ours) loves the sport. He loves everything that he does. He’s kept in the best condition and I’m just so delighted that he can run in a race like that and perform like that.
“He has got greatness and it’s what he deserves. Corach Rambler, in our hearts, is just the best horse. Now in the public hearts he is as well. To win the National, I know how important it is, I know how it changed my life with (One For) Arthur – for Corach to achieve that too is just fantastic.
“It’s all about the horse, for me it’s not about the betting – though I did back him and quite a lot actually!
“I hope those guys who were protesting will look at our website and our Facebook posts and see how they are looked after. It is so important they understand how we care for them every inch of the way.
“It is about Corach, he is just amazing. He took to those fences brilliantly, he understood them, he worked them out – he loved it.”