Brazillian Bomber. Cliffie Miller’s smart Zezinho Belo looks the part in the Flamingo Park Sprint
Racing returns to the uncompromising dusty plains of Kimberley, where the R100 000 Flamingo Park Sprint heads a well patronised nine-race programme on Monday. The feature highlights a fascinating clash between a rugged talented mare and a Brazillian gelding who loves the course and distance.
The non back-type feature has attracted a small field of seven and sets the stage for an exciting duel.
The Kahal mare Pisces Star has fast risen to the status of a star performer in the Northern Cape, where she has campaigned since March 2012.
Life-changer
She won three races during her early career with Mike Bass in the Western Cape, before heading North – a decision that has turned her career around.
Pisces Star has worked hard. Her eighteen outings on the sand have produced seven victories, with the last six registered in succession. It takes a fit and sound talented horse to achieve those kind of statistics and the label ‘form of her life’ is no cliché in this instance.
Pisces Star’s stablemate is the former Mike De Kock-trained Kentucky Express who carries topweight on his Kimberley debut.
The son of Muhtafal is a versatile campaigner who has an even spilt of victories on turf and sand, with three wins apiece.
While his most recent win was on the grass in Port Elizabeth, his last sand victory (admittedly a year and a half ago) was achieved under topweight where Kentucky Express gave weight away and accounted for the likes of Worood and Benbow.
Brazillian
The single biggest danger to Pisces Star’s aspirations of making it a super seven streak of wins, is Cliffie Miller’s Zezinho Belo.
The Brazillian-bred son of Blade Prospector has won 4 of his 12 starts and gave Pisces Star a kilo when running third and 2,75 lengths behind her over 1000m at his last outing.
Zezinho Belo now receives 4,5kgs from Pisces Star and over 200m further strikes us as the likely winner.
One nagging doubt is his fitness. A lightly raced horse whose career has been punctuated by short breaks, he runs here off a three month holiday and may just need the run.
Pacy
Clinton Binda travels down with the pacy 7yo National Assembly gelding El Cielo, who won his penultimate start in November.
El Cielo stayed on smartly to beat Nice Stride in an MR 77 Handicap run in very soft conditions on the Vaal turf, and then followed up in a similar level race when going third when giving away 9kgs to Memeza.
At his last Flamingo Park outing, El Cielo ran a 1,25 length second in the Flamingo Sprint in August behind the capable Ruby King. Although he has recorded 3 of his 5 wins over 1200m, iIt is probably fair to assume that he would have been a bigger threat over 1000m at this course, but he cannot be discounted.
On The Rugg
Vernon Rugg’s coupling of The Phantom and Boston Legal are both better off at the weights with Pisces Star on their last clash.
In that Pinnacle Stakes run over 1000m at the final Kimberley meeting of 2012, Pisces Star received a kilo from each and beat Boston Legal by 3,75 lengths and The Phantom by six lengths.
Pisces Star now has to give Boston Legal 3,5kgs and The Phantom 2 kgs. The 4,5kg turnaround surely brings Boston Legal into the calculations, and while the Right Approach gelding has only won up to 1000m, he has shown the ability to run at the leaders late and is drawn right alongside Pisces Star.
Coerie Lensley’s seven time winner Gangsta Fury comes in with a paperweight of 48kgs. The son of Mogok registered his last win over the course and distance ober a year ago, and has lost his form with one place cheque in his subsequent eleven runs.
Gangsta Fury was beaten 14 lengths in receipt of 2,5kgs by Pisces Star at his penultimate start over the Flamingo 1200, and now gets 9kgs from the consistent mare. That will bring them a lot closer, but may not be enough to turn the tables.
Sift The Sand
We are faced with a small field but a very competitive little contest with little margin for error.
Pisces Star is riding the crest of a wave and goes for her seventh straight win. She is an obvious first choice, but Cliffie Miller’s Zezinho Belo has the benefit of a material weight turnaround over a distance that will suit him.
Assuming match fitness, we are big on the Brazillian, and suggest that he will be good enough to win this. El Cielo and Boston Legal could fight over the minor places.
