The 2023/24 season has not been a memorable one for jockey Smanga Khumalo. Yes, he’s ridden over 100 winners but has spent the campaign very much in the shadow of record-breaker, Richard Fourie.
David Mollett writes that this was perfectly demonstrated in Sunday’s fourth race at Turffontein in which Fourie conjured up a tremendous finish on his mount, Golden Moment, to snare Khumalo on the line.
S’manga ‘Bling’ Khumalo (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Worse was to come when 9-4 favourite Purple Pitcher – a horse Khumalo was riding for the first time – finished out of the money behind Meridius in the Gr3 Jubilee Stakes.
The one crumb of comfort for the popular Highveld rider was his second place on Cousin Casey in the Hollywoodbets Gr1 Gold Challenge where he’ll get his jockey cut of the R400 000 second purse.
Dave The King (Muzi Yeni) is well clear as Smanga Khumalo (blue cap) chases on Cousin Casey (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Purple Pitcher, who went into the race boasting seven wins from his last eight starts, has an entry in the Hollywoodbets Durban July, but on this performance (beaten over four lengths) has no more chance than this writer completing two miles in the Comrades Marathon!
Prior to the 1800m race, Hollywoodbets had Purple Pitcher at 25-1 for the July with World Sports Betting offering 30-1. The Derby winner will now be double those odds.
Meridius, a son of Canford Cliffs, was never sighted in the Gr1 Champions Challenge won by Royal Victory, but Tony Peter had the four year-old back to his best and he responded well to the urgings of Muzi Yeni.
Meridius – nice return to form on Sunday (Pic – JC Photos)
In the post-race interview, Peter said he didn’t feel third-placed Son Of Raj had enjoyed the best of luck in running but he’s hoping the son of Duke Of Marmalade will make the July field.
Alec Laird – a guy who never rates his geese as swans – has always said Atticus Finch is a talented horse and he put his poor run in the WSB Gr2 1900 behind him to fill second place, finishing just three parts of a length behind the winner.
A look back at Saturday’s Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge and here’s an interesting question – what price could you have got about both Main Defender and Sandringham Summit finishing out of the first three?
My good friend, Dave Scott of ABC, was in the corner of Lucky Lad, but my advice to the small group of people I tip to at weekends was to take the boxed exacta of Dave The King and Sandringham Summit.
Halfway down the home straight it was clear Dave The King wasn’t stopping and now I looked for Sandringham Summit to produce the impressive turn of foot he had shown at the Hollywoodbets Greyville track in last season’s Premiers Champion Stakes.
To the surprise of most punters and pundits, it was Cousin Casey who found the best finish and went a long way to redeeming his reputation. Still, the fact remains that the Vercingetorix colt hasn’t won in his last 14 outings.
Sandringham Summit finished almost the same distance in front of Main Defender as when they clashed here in the Premiers, but those investors who rushed in to take shares in the Gimmethegreenlight colt can only hope he comes up trumps in the Champions Cup at the end of July.
The worry here is that the Gr1 race will surely also be in the thinking of Mike De Kock for Dave The King. Another possible option is to target one of the rich feature races in Hong Kong. I’m sure Gary Player would be up for that.
