Only one filly has achieved the fillies-colts’ Cape Guineas double in 60 years and the task facing Silver Mountain on Saturday is an enormous one. How do we possibly begin to compare the 21st century hopes and dreams of the connections of the daughter of Silvano with the likes of the high-class Star Effort, who achieved the remarkable feat 24 years ago?
Andrew Fortune salutes as Little Ballerina dances away from the boys
We could commence by getting technical and suggesting that even though Silver Mountain won the fillies’ version on her coconut, there is only a fortnight break between the two demanding races.
Looking back at Geoff Woodruff’s Star Effort – she had 3 days short of a month sandwiched between her two victories – in the days when the programme looked very different to what it does today.
Manna as a young man – brings Little Ballerina back to the unsaddling enclosure
The Tollie Novick owned and bred Star Effort also came in having won 7 of her 8 starts, 5 of which were features – and notably having downed subsequent Queen’s Plate winner, Flaming Rock, en route to her historic achievement.
She was described by her then overseas-based jockey Michael Roberts as one of the best fillies he had ever ridden.
Aldo Domeyer may feel the same about Silver Mountain – but is he as qualified to give an opinion as Muis was then?
1965 Gr1 Cape Guineas
It is remarkable that after Renounce’s triumph in the 1965 Cape Guineas 26 years were to elapse before another filly won the classic. And this makes it even more remarkable that fillies then won it in two consecutive years and three times in the next four years.
The Cape Guineas dates back in various forms to as far back as 1924, when it was run over 2400m and won by Wild Cat. The name changed from the WP Derby to the Western Province Guineas in 1945 and the distance reduced to a mile. That year it was won by Feltos.
In 1954, the Western Province Guineas was discontinued and it was replaced in 1955 by the Cape Of Good Hope Guineas, when it was won by Marion Island.
A magnificent daughter of Esplendor, from the Flower Power mare, Pilgrim’s Rest, the Geoff Woodruff-trained Star Effort was the first filly to break the barren years, doing so in 1991.
Empress Club won the next – both of them quite exceptional racehorses.
1965 Gr1 Cape Guineas
In 1993 the classic seemed destined to fall to the males in spite of the strong claims of Fair Model, winner of the Bloodline Fillies Championship and narrowly beaten in the Fillies Guineas.
The reality of the Gr1 Argus Bloodline Guineas proved to be different.
David Payne-trained Little Ballerina, a 20-1 outsider, made her rivals look ordinary over the sharp near-bend 1600m. She skipped to the front from the break and there she stayed, her easy action – she seemed almost to float over the turf – carrying her clear on the bend.
Little Ballerina turned for home just over a length clear of Jewel Of Asia and Storm Champ who chased her up the straight without being able to make any impression.
It was left to Fair Model, who had come from way back, to put in the final challenge, but she was still 2 ¼ lengths back as Little Ballerina went through the post. It was a superb ride by the then much younger jockey Andrew Fortune and it says much for his judgment that he could ride her with his hands over the final 100m.
Jewel Of Asia hung on to fill third place, 4 lengths back, with Command Control, who had been unsettled early on and then cast a shoe, at his girths in fourth place.
Triumph
The Guineas was a triumph for Johannesburg owner Jaap van de Vendel and trainer David Payne who had charge of the filly for the Cape season. In spite of her promising performances in the Bloodline Fillies Championship and the Fillies Guineas, Little Ballerina’s chances were not rated highly it seems; she raced in club colours and Mr Van de Vendel was not present to see her triumph.
Little Ballerina charges home
Bred by Normandy Stud, she is by Truly Nureyev (USA) out of the True Swallow (GB) mare Helenita, a winner of six races up to 1600m, including the Gr1 Stuttafords Cup.
Fillies thus filled the first two places in the Guineas for the first time in the 38-year history of the classic. This of course immediately had the critics rounding on the crop of three-year-old colts, many vociferously branding it as the weakest in years.
22 years later we have the phenomenon of a rather slightly built daughter of Silvano called Silver Mountain. Her win would certainly prove a major tonic for the sport and all of those associated with her.
The Filly Facts
1965 – Renounce becomes the first filly to win the Guineas.
1991 – Star Effort becomes the only filly to ever win the Guineas double
1992 – Empress Club wins the Guineas
1993 – Little Ballerina beats Fair Model to make it a fairer sex exacta. She is the last filly to win the colts’ race.
