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, Thanksgiving scored 102 in defeat, proving no match for Hawwaam, but running gamely nevertheless. Green Haze (s/s 98) secured third ahead of National Park who did not see out a hard run mile at altitude. Horses are not machines and in fact only repeat their last start performances about 30% of the time. Previously, National Park scored 109 in the Graham Beck over 1400m when getting a perfect set-up, but was well below that level this time. 

Ghaalla (s/s 98 has run 102) got the verdict over I Like It in the Fillies Mile. Ronnies Candy, so slick a few weeks ago when finishing powerfully, clunked up belatedly to be only third, ¾ length back. 

To put Hawwaam’s performance in context, One World (s/s 107) kept his unbeaten record when outdueling Chimichuri Run (s/s 106) with Twist of Fate (s/s 103) third in the Concorde Cup. There is little separating these top three year- olds on speed figures to date, though they have different ways of winning their races.  

One World can sustain a strong gallop, trying to dominate that way, and is exceptionally game, whilst Hawwaam possesses a powerful turn of foot, impressively making such an eye- catching rails run at only his second career start. 

With the Kenilworth track running fast, it was an advantage to race handy. Anton Marcus provided a master-class on poorly drawn Cirillo (s/s 94+) to win a false run CTS RTR Stakes from the lead. Kasimir used optimal stalk and pounce tactic to win the Merchants and fans also saw an excellent performance by two emerging talents in a Progress Plate – Silvano’s Pride (s/s 102) and Santa Clara (s/s 101). The former went all the way to hold off Santa Clara’s stretch run and both should feature in Graded races during Summer.