Justin Snaith kept his Cape 2yo crown intact with a second consecutive Juvenile Plate winner in a week at Kenilworth on Saturday.
But the former SA champion conditioner probably also opened himself up to potential charges of bringing horseracing into disrepute with his ongoing vilification of the official handicapper – even after Dixie Express had won the second race and proved him wrong.
The Merry Widow (Bernard Fayd’herbe) storms clear to beat Felicity Flyer (Pic- Wayne Marks)
The Snaiths saddled the Var colt Var Ahead to win the baby boys’ opening race a week earlier and on Saturday they had the diminutive Captain Al filly The Merry Widow in great condition to grab the first fillies race.
The Boland Stud-bred The Merry Widow beat her five opponents easily and had Justin saying how spoilt he was to have the Drakenstein Stud-owned horses prepped prior to coming into race training.
Snaith had suggested caution in the pre-race assessment about the filly’s chances.
‘She is very small and if anything has superior pace they will probably beat her,” he said.
But there was little opposition and The Merry Widow won really well under Bernard Fayd’herbe.
“This win came after just one grass gallop. We really are very fortunate to have the babies arrive in such great condition,’ said Justin.
Snaith registered a nice double with the ‘badly handicapped’ Dixie Express winning the second, an MR 76 Handicap over 1000m, and registering her fifth win in 7 starts.
Justin Snaith – no handicapper!
He had threatened to withdraw the Jay Peg filly Dixie Express in an interview done in midweek and screened on the Under Starter’s Orders show on Saturday morning.
“She was bumped up six points for her last win and the second and third horses got nothing,” he said earlier.
And after Dixie Express had scored her fourth win in a row, he was at it again.
“My brother wanted to scratch her today as she is so badly handicapped,” said Justin, implying that the handicapper has no clue – and probably exposing his own lack of grasp of the subject.
The tune had changed somewhat post race, though:”Our gripe was more with the fact that the second and third horses went unpenalised,” he said.
Interestingly, the one-eyed Var filly Tumbles which Dixie Express had beaten last time by 1,5 lengths ran second again – now by 3,5 lengths.
Another runner from that race Emblem Ahoy was 4, 65 lengths behind last time, and 8, 35 lengths behind this time.
So much for Dixie Express being badly handicapped!
Seasoned interviewer Stan Elley suggested that Justin wipe some of the egg from his face at the start of the post-race interview and missed a great opportunity to challenge the situation and obtain a remorseful retraction from his former colleague.
The handicapper will no doubt put up Dixie Express’ rating from an 85 in line with the 3,5 lengths winning margin – but that takes us up another rocky road.
How was the four-time winning 3yo rated the same as the maiden Arctic Blast, who ran a dirty third two races later?
There is a cap on rating 3yo maidens – but the handicapper is allowed in exceptional circumstances to extend that.
What were the circumstances and how did Arctic Blast ever land up an 85?
