Vaughan Marshall, trainer of King’s Plate victor, One Stripe describes him as “phenomenal.” The trainer, who can now add this historic WFA mile race to his storied resume, confirmed that One Stripe’s key attributes are the gears of increasing speed he can work through to win important races.
Those qualities were evident on Saturday as he came from midfield to sweep past the valiant Montien (such a bold try from a wide draw) and the physically fickle, Gimme a Prince, whose condition gave out the last 200m.
One Stripe earned a speed figure of 107 + which can be upgraded after taking sectionals into account (22.9 final two furlongs) to 113. That is a high- class performance by the 3YO son of One World.
Double Grand Slam was mighty impressive in the day’s other G1, the Paddock Stakes over 1800m. She recorded about the same time as Rascallion (worthy winner of the G2 Premier Trophy with a speed fig of 109) yet finished much the swifter. This suggests Justin Snaith’s filly could rate around 112. Her brilliance was already proven up to a mile, but it now seems she can sustain that level over a true- run, nine panels.
As alluded to earlier, the stalwart warrior, Rascallion battled his way to a wafer -thin margin victory over Magic Verse (s/s 109) in the Premier Trophy. Second at long odds in the Cape Met last year, he will be having another crack at it in three weeks’ time.
He will be a contender by virtue of his consistency (he constantly cranks out figs of 108/109) and tenacity. But he requires a proper test of stamina that only hard run middle distance contests provide and is vulnerable to rivals that can quicken up the last part.
Talking of raw speed – Candy Town (s/s 101) showed her rivals a clean pair of heels in the Winchester Sprint Cup. The daughter of Querari blitzed through super-quick early fractions and was not for the catching on a sprint track that was playing fast.
Aphiwe Phambili (s/s 104) accomplished what the market expected of her when easily winning the Sceptre Stakes. The What a Winter mare pounced at the right moment, though Roccapina (s/s 103 +) made a bold bid to close her down. The runner up, who was making only her fifth start, is definitely one to follow as a truly talented 3YO sprinting filly.