At last! One of the most celebrated Gr1 performers in the country last season, the Flower Alley filly Feather Boa finally cracked a long overdue and well-deserved stakes success when she started her 4yo term in style with a victory in the R550 000 Betway Gr2 Joburg Spring Challenge (F&M) at Turffontein on Saturday.
Raced by staunch owners Wayne Jackson, Mark Campbell, Anton Marx and Clint Valjalo, Feather Boa started a popular first choice and made it a Stuart Pettigrew 1-2 when she beat stablemate Captain Peg (6-1) by a length in a time of 87,92 secs.
Gavin Lerena rides a confident finish on Feather Boa (Pic – JC Photos)
Just Be Lekker (16-1) produced the run of the race, after hitting the rail early on. She stayed on well for third, a further 0,30 lengths back.
The gutsy winner, who became a celebrated bridesmaid last season, was bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein and is a daughter of Flower Alley (Distorted Humor) out of the the three-time winning Silvano mare Osprey by Silvano.
A R200 000 BSA August 2yo Sale purchase, she has won 4 races with a swashbuckling 10 places from 15 starts for stakes of R1 526 250.
Enjoy the replay:
An emotional Hollywoodbets-sponsored trainer Stuart Pettigrew said that he would sit down and consider the options for his charge.
“We can’t chase all the seasons everywhere,” he added.
It will be interesting to see whether Feather Boa can go on from here and shed her bridesmaid tag.
