Mike de Kock’s Wolf Power 1600 winner Al Muthana took his next step up the ladder with a sensational late run to win the R400 000 Wilgerbosdrift Gr2 Hawaii Stakes at Turffontein on Saturday.
The 4yo probably finds the 1400m on the sharp side, but has a turn of foot second to none and was given a superb ride by Smanga Khumalo, who has been aboard at 4 of his 6 victories.
With stablemates Freed From Desire and MK’s Pride looking set to fight the race out over the last 150m, Khumalo unleashed the Australian-bred from some lengths off.
Smanga Khumalo times it perfectly as Al Muthana snares the gallant Freed From Desire (Warren Kennedy) in an exciting finish (Pic – JC Photos)
The son of Deep Field mowed them down late to win going away at 3-1 by 0,30 lengths in a time of 84,26 secs.
The Jackson 3yo filly Freed From Desire (5-1) ran a cracker to run a highly meritorious second, with MK’s Pride (4-1) fading late to secure third a further 2,20 lengths away in third.
A Shadwell home-bred half-brother to Gr2 winner Wawail, Al Muthana was foaled and raised at Yarraman Park and is by smart sprinter Deep Field (Northern Meteor) from the Gr2 winning Redoute’s Choice mare, Daana.
This was his second stakes success, and took his stats to 6 wins with 3 places from 12 starts.
The 4yo has won R638 625 in stakes. Trainer Mike de Kock was clearly pleased that his charge had won a feature under weight-for-age conditions, and described it as a ‘big victory’.
De Kock earlier saddled Bonnaroo to win the third race under Richard Fourie.
The Pick 6 pool was boosted by a R1 million carryover. The target was R5 million, with the eventual nett reaching a pleasing R5 625 697.
The Racing240 technical issues continued unabated. The Sporting Post has received numerous calls from frustrated viewers. These have been passed on to 4Racing TV.
