Tripped Up!

Bling Is In! S’manga Khumalo looks for the opposition as For The Lads storms home

Drakenstein Stud stallion Trippi triumphantly registered his first local Gr1 winner at Greyville on Saturday. The bomb dropped in the R600 000 Gr1 Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper, when Sean Tarry’s very smart filly For The Lads flew late to record a stunning  40 to 1 victory.

Trippi’s chestnut flyer had won the Ruffian Stakes at Turffontein way back in March, but her recent form, including a flat effort in the Listed Devon Air Stakes a month ago, had most pundits overlooking her prospects in a star studded field.

Going off at a helter skelter pace, jockey Sean Veale took the fight to his opposition as the favourite Happy Valentine was still clear with 300m to run. But the Allan Robertson winner found it all too much late in the race and she fell into a hole as the challenges came from all around her.

For The Lads finished strongest in a July dress rehearsal for jockey S’manga Khumalo, as the maiden Along Came Polly and the Glen Kotzen trained Masked Lady came on well for place money.

Arcetri Pink looked a million dollars and ran a nice fourth.

For The Lads won by a length in a time of 87,44 secs.

Happy Valentine faded to finish seventh and 3,80 lengths behind. She is too talented to write off, and while the underfoot conditions skew the assessment, it may well be that she is purely a sprinter.She also went very fast.

The well backed Gauteng visitor Winter Star was troublesome at the gates and landed up running second last in a disappointing showing.

The race proved again that this game tames lions and nobody knows everything.

Like the fact that Sean Tarry’s regular rider Piere Strydom, who  has ridden For The Lads in her last five starts, got off her to ride Winter Star for Johan Janse van Vuuren. They backed Winter Star like a good thing.

Then the confidence in Happy Valentine was also marginal with hindsight. She has terrific speed and while by Silvano, is out of a National Assembly mare. It was always going to be tough for her, particularly on the ground and at the speed that her pilot chose to cruise at.

For The Lads was bred by Klawervlei Stud and is by Trippi out of the Winter Romance mare, Skin Tight. The dam was trained by Tarry and won 6 races from 1400m to 2400m.

End Sweep stallion Trippi has taken some time but is now producing the winners. He was the most successful stallion on the afternoon in terms of number of winners. His son Desert Sheik won the eThekwini Sprint for Mike De Kock later in the day.

For The Lads cost R300 000 on the Cape Premier Yearling Sale Book 1. She has earned R531 750 from her 6 starts and has registered 2 wins and 2 places

She now definitely looks like she will stay on over time and could yet turn into a very smart filly as this race produces them year in and year out.

.