Mambo Mime (speed score 103) eked out a slim victory in the Grade 3 Byerley Turk over 1400m on the turf at Greyville. Aided by an inside gate and with blinkers doing the trick, he remained focussed throughout, just staving off the late rally of Baritone (s/s 103) who ran a tremendous race from a wide draw. Lanzerac winner Budapest (s/s 102)put his Guineas fail behind him, running a solid third just ahead of Ernie (s/s 101)who also did nicely going handy from a bad barrier and is actually best when held up for a late dart.
Fromafar (s/s 89 +) used a swift turn of foot to win the Grade 3 Umzimkhulu Stakes. Flying Ice has been plunged on from 16/1 into 4’s but she could not quite match the acceleration of the upset winner and clocked in second. Both feature winners on the night were trained by Dean Kannemeyer – he has been deadly in KZN over the past months with a procession of well-backed winners, though Fromafar was largely ignored in the market having not won for nearly a year.
Bulleting Home (s/s 97) maintained the strong winning trend for Joburg trainer Sean Tarry. Coming out of the same Sylvester the Cat form-line in March as Mambo Mime, the son of Western Winter proved too strong for MR 93 rivals. Tarry also won with Elusive Spirit later on the Turffontein card. She was ridden by Lyle Hewitson who is making a big splash at the start of his professional riding career. He has won seven times and finished second on three occasions from his last thirty mounts – outstanding stats for a claiming 4kg apprentice.
Paladin was labelled on the Interbet podcast as worth an each way touch. He had run boldly in the Derby and previously finished upsides of EC Guineas winner Brilliant Crimson so his current official mark of 77 seemed way too low. Available at 6/1 he scrambled home to land the wager, but was hard-pressed to beat off Rahvar (99) and Whisky Baron (98) in a tight finish. This field was much stronger than normal for a MR 82 contest. Even the fourth horse, Tin Soldier (s/s 96 +) who was prejudiced by a tough passage up the straight is also worth following, looking capable of multiple wins as he matures.