A three way thriller as Wild One(inside) wins the Lonsdale Stirrup Cup under Anthony Delpech
A heartstopping awkward final few strides failed to stop the impressive late burst of the Scott Bro’s bred Wild One as he made a winning debut for his new trainer Mike De Kock at Greyville on Saturday. His narrow victory over the flying Gothic to win the R250 000 Gr3 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup may have given him a backdoor shout for the Vodacom Durban July.
The former Jeff Freedman trained Wild One scored a shock win on his debut and placed in the 2013 Gr1 SA Derby, but has been a largely frustrating horse to race since those early sunshine days.
He chalked up just his third career win here at his first run for the master trainer and just a week ago we were considering that he had to be an optimistic July entry. He probably still is, but showed that he could still at the least develop into something competitive in other features this season.
Gavin Van Zyl’s Shogunnar led King Neptune and Wavin’ Flag into the straight as they fanned out for the charge to the line.
Wild One had been five lengths off the leaders and in touch for most of the trip and Delpech took him to the inside rail for what looked a winning charge as Shogunnar continued to plug away with Gothic storming down the middle.
At the 200 marker Wild One appeared to start hanging under pressure with Delpech changing whip hands as his mount appeared to momentarily lose his momentum and falter.
Anthony Delpech kept his cool late to grab victory
In a drive to the line Wild One’s hesitation almost cost him victory but he had done enough and won by a nose in a time of 152, 73 secs.
Gothic made a heartening return to better form, while Shogunnar was prominent for a long way and ran a gallant race at the weights.
Alexander flew late from too far back after fighting his rider and came on to share fourth cheque under a length off the winner with Wavin’ Flag, who had every chance but nothing to offer late.
The Scott Bro’s bred Wild One is a son of Mogok out of the twice winning Sapieha mare, Endangered Species.
He cost R95 000 on the 2011 KZN Suncoast Yearling Sale, where his former trainer signed for him.
Wild One has now won 3 races with 6 places from 14 stars and took his stakes earnings to R459 125.
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Gr3 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup (SAf-Gr3) Greyville, South Africa, May 31, R250k, 2400m, turf, good, 2.32.73 1– WILD ONE (SAF), 53.0, b c 4, Mogok (USA) – Endangered Species (SAF) by Sapieha (IRE). Owner Mr S W Phillips; breeder Scott Bros; trainer MF de Kock; jockey A Delpech 2– Gothic (SAF), 54.5, ch g 4, Silvano (GER) – Mysterious Land (SAF) by Badger Land (USA) 3– Shogunnar (SAF), 59.5, b h 5, Solskjaer (IRE) – Surfers Eye (SAF) by Elliodor (FR) Margins: nose, nose, ¾
