Marinaresco (speed score 110 +) nimbly darted through a small gap on the outside to win the Grade 1 Champions Cup, fittingly named in honour of his retiring trainer Mike Bass. The little gelding was an unlucky second in the July (s/s 109) when coming on too late from far back – this time he raced a bit closer to the pace on a soft Greyville track and got the split in a nick of time. Gelding has made all the difference to Marinaresco – earlier in his career he would take too long to get into top gear, now he can accelerate instantaneously which is an attribute of seriously high class thoroughbreds. He was chased home by Judicial (s/s 108) and No Worries (s/s 108) with consistent Saratoga Dancer (s/s 106) securing fourth place.
In earlier juvenile contests, Gunner won a false run Premiers Champion Stakes and Querari Falcon (s/s 96) clinched the Grade 1 fillies version, proving too hot for Dawn Calling (s/s 94) and Sail (s/s 94) to handle. Also on the fantastic program was the Gold Cup over 3200m, which went to Mike de Kock’s stayer. He stormed through on the outside to stave off feisty Helderberg Blue – given that the runner-up conceded 6kg’s to the victor, there was honour in defeat.
Flying Ice (s/s 103) capped a most successful KZN season for crafty trainer Neil Bruss’s small string. The three year old daughter of Go Deputy may not have won for 420 days yet had run some bold races when placing in fillies features. She has a sharp turn of foot and used that characteristic to win in a runaway from her contemporary Nightingale (s/s 99) the second placed finisher is one to follow during the Cape Summer season.
Finally, the performance of sprinter Asstar (s/s 107) in the Umgeni Handicap is worthy of mention. The talented speedball from the Puller stable had previously run figs of 103, 104 and 105 on the turf, and handled the Poly switch with aplomb, smashing rivals for a sixth win from 19 starts.