Treble Gr1 winning jockey Diego de Gouveia has formed a winning partnership with the Flower Alley filly Bold Fortune and the duo made it three wins from their last three starts together with an impressive finish to win the R250 000 World Sports Betting Gr2 Ipi Tombe Challenge at Turffontein on Tuesday.
Hollywoodbets-sponsored trainer Stuart Pettigrew summed the victory up quite simply, by saying ‘ít was a bloody good win – she had to give weight to some good 3yo’s.’
Bold Fortune (Diego de Gouveia) gets the measure of Perfect Witness (Warren Kennedy) and Rain In Holland (Grant van Niekerk) in a cracking finish (Pic – JC Photos)
While it looked a confident ride visually, a relieved Diego de Gouveia admitted that he was a bit further back than he had anticipated, after the astute Warren Kennedy looked to have pulled a rabbit out of the hat on the front-running Perfect Witness.
“But she won well and I’m thrilled to get a Gr2 on the board for the owners, Willem Ackerman, Anton Marx and Mark Campbell, as well as Mr Pettigrew and his team,”added the jockey who has done well since returning from a stint in Mauritius.
Flying up the outside under a balanced ride, Bold Fortune (6-1) followed her Gr3 Yellowwood Handicap success as she stayed on to beat the gallant front-runner Perfect Witness (7-2) by aa quarter length in a time of 100,38 secs.
Rain In Holland (2-1) was never going smoothly, and plodded on to run third a further half length back.
Bred by Narrow Creek Stud, the winner is by former Gr1 Travers Stakes winner Flower Alley (Distorted Humor) out of the three-time winning Rich Man’s Gold mare Plata Parana.
An R80 000 buy from the 2019 Ready To Run Sale, Bold Fortune has won 5 races with 4 places from 12 starts for stakes of R439 875.
OFFICIAL RESULT:
| TRAINER | JOCKEY | DISTANCE | BETTING | ||||
| 1ST | 3 | BOLD FORTUNE | S T Pettigrew | D De Gouveia | —– | 6/1 | |
| 2ND | 9 | PERFECT WITNESS | C Dawson | W Kennedy | 0,25 | 0,25 | 9/4 |
| 3RD | 8 | RAIN IN HOLLAND | S G Tarry | G van Niekerk | 0,50 | 0,75 | 17/10 |
| 4TH | 10 | CLAFOUTIS | M F de Kock | M Yeni | 3,50 | 4,25 | 9/2 |
| 5TH | 2 | MOUNT LAUREL | W Whitehead | D Schwarz | 1,75 | 6,00 | 33/1 |
| TIME OF RACE: 100.38 s | |||||||
| Tote Fav | 9 | PERFECT WITNESS | C Dawson | W Kennedy | 0,25 | 9/4 | |
