Last year’s Vodacom Durban July runner-up Marinaresco is likely to have his odds cut for the 2017 running after getting up in the final stride to grab a dramatic victory in the R500 000 Gr2 Drill Hall Stakes on Greyville on Sunday.
This pic tells a story! The winner Marinaresco is unsighted one off the rail – with second placed Victorious Jay (Byleveld in green and white) an unlucky loser. New Predator (Gavin Lerena in red sleeves) ran fourth
A popular first step prep race for many of the SA Champions Season big guns, the Drill Hall Stakes is a competitive 1400m contest and the 2017 renewal will go down as one of the hardest fought in recent memory.
At the 250m marker, any one of six horses looked to have winning chances and it was to be two Cape raiders who took the exacta honours.
Sail South and recent Senor Santa winner Champagne Haze ensured a healthy pace early with Marinaresco in midfield and switched to the inside as they came for home.
With the leaders tiring at the 400m, MJ Byleveld cheekily sent Victorious Jay for home as New Predator loomed large down the outside.
At the 200m Byleveld smelt victory and drove the son of Jay Peg hard, with Saratoga Dancer and Marinaresco looking for place cheques.
Class counted inside the 100m though with Marinaresco’s momentum carrying him into the fray.
Sandwiched between Saratoga Dancer on the rail and Victorious Jay on the outside, Marinaresco put his head down at just the right moment to win in a time of 82,55 secs.
Victorious Jay has always been lurking on the fringes and the in-form Marshall-Byleveld combination must have felt that they had been denied by the luck gods of a chance of repeating their feature feats of Sunday a week earlier.
Another 25-1 shot in Saratoga Dancer ran a cracker and was a nose away in third, with last year’s winner New Predator 0,35 lengths back in fourth.
With 1,20 lengths covering the first seven horses in, there are some that may question the form but Candice Bass-Robinson and her connections could not have wished for a better start to the 2017 campaign for last term’s Champions Cup winner – who earned a ‘disappointing’ tag from the punting public when he lost his fizzle at the end of the Cape Summer.
Bernard Fayd’herbe – won tight call
Winning jockey Bernard Fayd’herbe rode a finely judged race.
“It’s great to ride a good horse. And once again when it comes to the tight finishes the good ones seem to get their heads down when it counts,” he said modestly.
Bass-Robinson KZN Assistant Robert Fayd’herbe said that Marinaresco had arrived early to allow him time to acclimatize.
“This win was a bonus as it was a prep run in the greater scheme of things,” he added.
Bred by Mauritzfontein Stud, Marinaresco was yet another weekend feature winner sired by Silvano and is out of the two-time winning Fort Wood mare, Gay Fortuna.
Marinaresco is a 2014 BSA National Yearling Sale graduate. He was purchased by Mike Bass Racing for R1,3 million.
He has won 5 races with 9 places from 16 starts and stakes of R2 585 425.
The Drill Hall victory rounded off a great weekend for the Bass-Robinson team, who saddled the Kenilworth feature double on Saturday.
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Gr2 Drill Hall Stakes (SAf-Gr2)
Greyville, South Africa, May 7, R500k, 1400m, turf, good, 1.22.55
1 – MARINARESCO (SAF), 60.0, b g 4, Silvano (GER) – Gay Fortuna (SAF) by Fort Wood (USA). Owner Messrs M W Bass, F Green, Bryn Ressell & N M Shirtliff; Breeder Mauritzfontein Stud; trainer C Bass-Robinson; jockey B Fayd’herbe
2 – Victorious Jay (SAF), 58.0, b g 4, Jay Peg (SAF) – Rub A Dub Dub (SAF) by Jallad (USA)
3 – Saratoga Dancer (SAF), 58.0, b g 5, Mambo In Seattle (USA) – Super Elle (SAF) by Model Man (SAF)
Margins: 0.05, 0.05, 0.25
