For those that were at the Southern Suburbs venue for the 2000 J&B Met, the smoke blanket that hung over Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday would have been a reminder of the day that Bunter Barlow won the big race against the backdrop of a fire that damaged vehicles in the car park.
Callmegetrix (JP van der Merwe) and Goodnessgraciousme (Richard Fourie) in a battle for first (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Twenty five years later, there thankfully wasn’t any similar collateral damage, with the gusting wind blowing smoke from the fairly large fire which was on the other side of Wetton Road this time.
And life went on with a grandstand finish to the day’s feature, the R180 000 non-black type The Clapham Stakes.
While Richard Fourie won the first running of the Clapham for Justin Snaith on Silverlinks on Met day 2023, the combination had to play a narrow second fiddle this time round under the revised all-ages conditions, as JP van der Merwe got the courageous 4yo Callmegetrix (5-2) up on the line to shade Fourie on Goodnessgraciousme (11-10) in a time of 100,29 secs for the mile.
The runner-up ran a cracker of a prep for the Listed Cape Fillies Classic (1800m) on Derby day later this month.
The mare My Flower Fate (10-1) made good ground late for third, a further 1,75 lengths adrift.
Trained by Candice Bass-Robinson and a R450 000 National Yearling Sale purchase, Callmegetrix has now won 4 races with 10 places from her 15 starts and stakes of R524 7989.
Bred by Rathmor Stud and racing for Mario Ferreira, Callmegetrix is a daughter of Vercingetorix (Silvano) out of the twice winning Kabool mare Clarion Call.
