After a period where punters generally had the better of things with most heavily supported horses getting the job done, exchanges evened out in the past week with some missed strikes bringing respite to bookies.
Backing horses ridden by claiming apprentices carries a unique risk. Sure, the weight off can help and identifying precocious talents worth far more than their claim is a valuable insight, but mistakes can be made due to inexperience. Apprentice- ridden, Mogok filly Majestica was punted into odds on at Greyville, proving no match for Bequia, then Marshall That succumbed by just half a length to Diamond Noir. They were ridden by youngsters, Luke Ferraris and Khanya Sakayi respectively, and both show early promise.
Piere Strydom is one of our most experienced senior jockeys and he did the business on Whitehaven in a juvenile sprint at Turffontein. Backed in from 3/1 to 15/10, they prevailed over Gunston by a neck. On the same day, Poormanslady (33/10 – 16/10) followed up her Maiden victory by scoring in a MR 64 Handicap. The three year old filly is trained by Mike de Kock whose stable has been on the tear with nine winners from their last 30 runners.
Plaudits are due to Paul Peter for training all four jackpot legs on the 14th June at Turffontein. Hungry Heart, Seven Lives, Rebels Champ and Hideaway completed a 360/1 quad. Rebel’s Champ was ridden by uber-appy Lyle Hewitson, who tops the National Jockey Log, whilst the other three were piloted by a resurgent Piere Strydom.
Sugerpova backed from 25/1 into 10/s was one of the weeks’ shrewdest strikes. The Silvano filly maintained steady improvement at her third start to land an inspired plunge for Joe Ramsden’s stable. She comfortably outran Winter Fire, whilst favourite Without Limits got bogged down in the soft turf and ran like a squashed snail.
Cape Town eventually received much-needed heavy rains to ease the drought somewhat. On the same day that Sugerpova splish-splashed to victory, stalwart eight year-old sprinter Tevez zipped down his preferred “straight six” at Kenilworth to win a Pinnacle Stakes. Stable mate Dutch Philip was the most heavily traded on Interbet, but after being held tight down the inner, came up short to be third at the finish.
Still, it was not a bad prep at level weights with Tevez, for the three year olds intended mission, the Mercury up in Durban. The Bass Robinson runners were separated by Nasty Harry, a talented yet unsound performer who loves it when it comes up mud. He is not worth betting the ranch on, but should pick up a nice race during Winter.
On the 16th, Secret Captain was supported from 7/2 into 18/10 in a MR 88 Handicap over 1600m at Turffontein, but in a rare miss for the de Kock team, he clocked in three lengths off the winner, Infamous Fox.
Other punting miscues were defeats for Legislate and Black Cat Back in the Merchants at Greyville. Despite his classy record, it was expecting too much for Legislate to be ready after a lengthy spell at stud, and he tired badly to finish last. Black Cat Back nearly landed the gamble, though. After making an early dart for glory he was gunned down by stretch-running Sniper Shot, who has performed with distinction for KZN trainer Paul Lafferty, from stiff sprints to a mile.