The Vercingetorix gelding Gladatorian, a winner of the 2023 Gr2 Post Merchants, ‘stepped out of his comfort zone’ in the words of part owner Michel Nairac, and caught the eye with a fluent victory at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday to take his career stakes earning to a few thousand short of R1 million.
The R120 000 Pinnacle Stakes was run over 1500m and marked a first run as a 5yo for the consistent Gladatorian, who was returning to action after a seven week break, but nevertheless supported into tote favourite at 9-4.
His form in placing in the IOS Gr2 Drill Hall Stakes and a decent effort in the Hollywoodbets Gr1 Gold Challenge made him the class act in the race, and he ran accordingly.
Confidently ridden from off the gallop by Sean Veale, Gladatorian swooped at the 300m marker after Strathclyde had looked dangerous.
Phillipe and Michel Nairac lead Gladatorian (Sean Veale) in after a smooth win (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Inside the 100m, Veale was looking around for threats as Gladatorian asserted his authority to beat The Shepherd (6-1) by 2,20 lengths in a time of 88,82 secs.
Strathclyde (6-1) stayed on gamely to shade the fast-finishing Wiccan Warrior (20-1) into fourth.
Raced by a Mauritian partnership of the Late Agasthamuni Gujadhur, E G Hart de Keating, M L Jean Hardy & Gold Circle CEO Michel J L Nairac, the winner was bred by Erasmus Thoroughbreds and is a versatile son of Vercingetorix (Silvano) out of the six-time winning Dynasty mare Harvard Crimson, who was trained by Justin Snaith.
A R400 000 National Yearling Sale purchase, the Stuart Ferrie-trained Gladatorian has won 7 races with 6 places from 19 starts for stakes of R996 438.
The victory was a happy turnaround for the high-riding Sporting Post-sponsored rider Sean Veale, who did everything right in a position where he could have become a punter’s hero.
This after the dramatic late scratching of the odds-on favourite My One And Only at the start of the opening leg of the Pick 6 threw the cat amongst the pigeons for punters.
The Barend Botes trained filly was reported striding short and Veale found himself carrying the hopes of a lot of exotic players as the Peter Muscutt filly Woza Nawe shorted into 3-10.
Veale did everything right, but was marginally hemmed in by Chakpori late – he and Cole Dicken appeared to exchange words after the finish – and the daughter of Gimmethegreenlight failed narrowly to catch the long-striding West Side Story, under another Sporting post rider in Equus champion Kobeli James Lihaba, who kept going at long odds.
“She was very green on debut and there was a lot of kickback. I didn’t expect this but she pinged the gates today and she’s a long-striding filly. A good ride by James and we will take it with both hands,” said trainer Duncan Howells.
It’s not often that the Pick 6 is paying a minimum of R36 after the first leg!
Punters enjoyed a happy start to the day when national log-leader Muzi Yeni picked up the booking from the indisposed Marco van Rensburg and guided the 5-4 shot Vihaan’s Web to a convincing victory for Hollywoodbets-sponsored trainer Gareth van Zyl.
The lead was contested by the son of Vercingetorix and Darryl Moore’s Potala Palace gelding JP’S Palace, and that’s the way they finished.
The Glen Kotzen coupling of Turn Around and Rainwater completed the quartet, with the grey Rich Folks Hoax running on late after playing ducks and drakes at the start. The son of Danon Platina should not be long in winning over slightly further.
Grant Knowles put the deal together to buy the winner after the owners had apparently missed the Klawervlei bred in the sales ring.
The Ghost comes home well under Smanga Khumalo (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
The World Sports Betting-sponsored Paul Lafferty’s good-looking grey The Ghost was well-backed to 5-10 to win the second after her placed effort in the Gr3 Strelitzia Stakes.
Coming back after a 16 week break which was intended to give her time to mature, she duly obliged under Smanga Khumalo.
Relaxed early on, Khumalo unleashed the daughter of Danon Platina at the 250m marker and she won like a horse with more in the tank. Darryl Moore’s Pathfork first-timer Happy Fortune ran a nice race to pip the well-tried Panthera Uncia for second and she is one who should win soon in similar company.
Smanga Khumalo rode the Ridgemont bred No Filter to victory in the last for a nice double on the day.
There is no local racing on Monday. The next KZN racemeeting is on Wednesday 18 September at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
