Captain Al’s son, One World (speed figure 108) staved off Rainbow Bridge to win the G1 SunMet in dramatic fashion at Kenilworth on Saturday. Pacemaker Head Honcho fell away badly leaving these two, who had raced handy, to fight it out. 300m from the wire it appeared as if Rainbow Bridge would go on to score but One World is very brave and he fought back for a sterling victory.

Race outcomes on the turf are often decided by what American handicappers call “trips’ – the way in which a particular race unfolds and the passage that each horse experiences. The Met is quite tricky to review from a pace/trips perspective.

Visually, it seemed as if Head Honcho was going fairly fast and the rest of the field was strung out. But the adjusted final time was only reasonable for a G1. Nothing made any impact from off the pace as proven, ace-miler One World relished a perfect stalking trip, coming home in 35.84 seconds from 600m out. Credit must go to jockey MJ Byleveld for executing a super -efficient ride.

Russet Air, by What a Winter (speed figure 105) produced a 22.8 second 400m – finish sectional to just deny Bold Respect in the G1 1000m Cape Flying Champs. He hurtled through down the inside rail to sneak home in a nip and tuck finish. Keep an eye on Kasimir – he stayed on really well for third and looks teed up to win a big sprint soon over slightly further.

Defending champion in the G1 Majorca Stakes, Clouds Unfold, also sired by What a Winter (s/s 108) was simply sensational, coming from near the back of the field to nab Celtic Sea (s/s 108) after weaving her way past rivals. She is now fully recovered after an injury sustained last year, taking a tick over 35 seconds to rush through the final 600m in a powerful stretch run.

Well handicapped and heavily backed Oratorio filly, Snapscan won the G2 Western Cape Stayers in a blanket finish. She raced handy and slogged away up the straight to eventually get past Kampala Campari and still have enough to resist the late charging cavalry, including Tap o Noth, Crome Yellow and Stathdon.

The G3 Politician Stakes threw up a huge and somewhat mystifying speed figure. Future results will show if it is legit or not but after crunching the variants, Silver Host attained 110, which seems a bit out of whack given what he and others in the field had achieved before. Even if he doesn’t turn out quite so special, it was still a very good performance by this young son of Silvano who fought past Super Silvano (bred by the same admirable stallion, s/s 106) Parterre (s/s 102) and Sir Michael (s/s 102).

There were two CTS incentive races worth R5 million each in gross stakes earlier on the card. The 1200 sprint fell to Fortune Racing’s Invidia (s/s 101) who outdueled Cartel Captain (s/s 99) and Vaseem (s/s 98).

Then, brilliantly ridden Count Jack (s/s 99) clinched the 1600m contest where full credit must go to Brett Crawford’s stable jockey, Corne Orffer for somehow getting over from a 13 draw into the box seat and timing his early race-winning move perfectly. Sachdev (s/s 98) got closest of the others with Snaith trained stablemate Sovereign Secret (s/s 95) much improved for third. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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