The fairer sex are well represented in this weekend’s Champions Day at Turffontein, and one thing is clear, top fillies and mares will be out in full force.
Olivia’s Way takes on the boys in the Derby as she bids for her slice of turf history (Pic – JC Photos)
Whereas both the TAB Gr1 Empress Club Stakes and Wilgerbosdrift Bridget Oppenheimer Gr2 SA Oaks are restricted to the fairer sex, female runners will also be represented in the TAB Gr1 Computaform Sprint and TAB Gr1 SA Derby.
Named in honour of the Jaffee-owned champion of the early nineties, the Gr1 Empress Club Stakes sees the return of the De Kock-trained star filly Spumante Dolce.
The daughter of Vercingetorix is on a retrieval mission following her hugely disappointing outing in the Gr1 SA Classic, where she lost her undefeated record. There were valid excuses for that no-show, as she returned with considerable muchus in her trachea.
That she bypassed the Gr2 Oaks for the Empress Club comes as no surprise, given the latter’s prized Gr1 status, in addition to which she is proven over the mile distance, following a hugely impressive win in the Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas.
A Gr1 success will also look great on her CV, thank you very much. Besides, she will seek redemption for the loss in this race of her own dam Espumanti, who had to settle for joint-third back in 2014.
The Oaks field meanwhile, is headed by Fillies Classic winner, Joe Soma’s Fiery Pegasus. She turned the 1800m race into a procession, bolting up by the best part of five lengths and while she is a daughter of champion sprinter Captain Of All, she handled the heavy underfoot conditions with aplomb.
That suggests she may well see out the energy-sapping Oaks distance, added to which she is an own sister to Shango, who showed his class over ground, finishing second in the Gr1 SA Derby at three, before going on to victory in both the Gr3 Hollywoodbets 2200 and Gr3 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup.
De Kock’s Spumante Dolce – looking to set record straight on Saturday (Pic – JC Photos)
Speaking of the Derby, for the first time in memory, a member of the fairer sex will take on an eclectic field of proven and unproven male contenders.
Roy Magner’s Pathfork filly Olivia’s Way enters the Derby off her second to Fiery Pegasus in the Fillies Classic, prior to which she had reeled off a hat-trick of wins over 1800m capped by a two-length score in the Gr3 Yellowwood Handicap.
History is certainly not on her side, as records show that no filly has won, less taken on the boys in modern times.
In fact, it has been over a century since the last female winner and that was back in 1917, when Noble Lady took the honours under the great Irish jockey Steve Donoghue. Remarkably, she returned three days later to win the Oaks!
An own sister to Nobleman – the only two-year-old ever to claim the Durban July – Noble Lady was in fact the third female Derby winner in the space of seven years, Desert Queen having accounted for the 1910 running and the Alec Robertson-bred Blanche winning the 1915 renewal.
The Gr1 Premier’s Challenge too, has attracted two female runners in Silver Sanctuary and None Other. The former, a high-class daughter of Silvano, was a Gr1 winner of last season’s Woolavington 2000 and will aim to improve on the third of fellow Drakenstein colour bearer Rain In Holland, who had to settle for third two years ago.
Golden Sickle – chasing in the hoofprints of legendary fairer sex speed stars in the Computaform Sprint (Pic – JC Photos)
None Other, a winner of the SA Oaks two years ago, is a Flower Alley grandaughter of the exceptional racemare Ilha Da Vitoria, who had carried Mary Slack’s silks to victory in the 2006 Challenge where she beat another fine mare, the Makins-owned champion Jamaica.
Six years later, Mary again stood in the winner’s enclosure to greet her Irish import Europa Point, who had just added the Challenge to her win in the Empress Club, a rare feat.
Whether either Silver Sanctuary or None Other has the ability to beat male counterparts remains to be seen.
Suffice to say, some exceptional fillies have lost nothing in defeat in recent times, notably Spumante Dolce’s three-part sister Sparkling Water, who was beaten a neck in 2022, while Nother Russia, a dual winner of the Empress Club and the dam of champion Gimme A Nother, finished third in 2017.
Last but not least, members of the fairer sex have built a proud record in the Gr1 Computaform Sprint over the past two decades, with Sabine Plattner’s champion Laisserfaire setting the tone when she headed All Will Be Well in the 2002 dash. Five more exceptional female sprinters have since added their names to an esteemed honour roll.
In 2006, National Colour cruised to a 4.5-length victory and started a dynasty of Computaform Sprint winners, as she became dam of 2017 winner Rafeef, who in turn sired last year’s winner Thunderstruck!
Dennis Bosch-trained grey Noble Heir won the 2010 race in yielding going, while Val De Ra made it a quickfire KZN double when she claimed the scalps of superstars What A Winter and Shea Shea twelve months later.
The 2015 race served up an all-female victory, Alboran Sea defeating class act Carry On Alice, who in turn went one better twelve months later.
This year, Vercingetorix filly Golden Sickle will attempt to take a leaf out of Alice’s book, given that she was nabbed on the line by Thunderstruck in last year’s Sprint. For her, it will also be a coveted first Gr1 success.
