Glen Kotzen said he expected a good performance by Gold Standard in Saturday’s Rising Sun Gold Challenge over 1600m at Greyville, although he felt he might still need the run.
.Gold Standard – don’t underestimate him
He said about the four-year-old Trippi colt, “He has been syndicated to go to stud and my instructions from the partners was to not run him unless he was really moving well. The good news is he has never moved better his season. He has had three gallops at Greyville and the Trippi’s enjoy running fresh although I’m not sure whether he might just need it running against the best who will all be tuned up.”
However, Kotzen expected the race to bring Gold Standard to his peak for a tilt at the Vodacom Durban July. He said if Gold Standard did win the Gold Challenge he would probably skip the July and go for the Grade 1 Champions Cup.
He said, “It is important to land a Grade 1 for the stud syndicate, although all 50 of the shares have already been bought.”
Gold Standard will stand at Drakenstein Stud together with his father Trippi.
The big bay proved himself a top horse as a three-year-old. He finished a narrow second in the Grade 1 Cape Guineas with the rest of the field well beaten and followed that with an unlucky fourth in a vintage Sun Met field.
However, he did not race again that season due to a chip in the fetlock and has been a touch disappointing this season.
He finished fourth in the Grade 3 Matchem Stakes and eighth and ninth respectively in the L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate and Sun Met.
Meanwhile, Kotzen said Pack Leader was still on course for the July.
Pack Leader – on course still for July
On Saturday the Philanthropist colt finished sixth in the Grade 1 Daily News 2000 but was only beaten 3,5 lengths. However, Kotzen said he had suffered a rough race and might just have needed it. He said he had been knocked around “like a ping pong ball” at the top of the straight and had then moved up to win the race but then looked like he needed it as he found no extra late. He surmised the reason must have been the combined effect of the colic incident which had caused him to be scratched from the WSB 1900 and the fact he had missed that race, because he had felt before Saturday’s race he had him ready.
However, he now expected him to be “spot on” for the July and as he escapes a merit rating raise his July weight will be “bang on” the one they had wanted for him.
