Gr3 Caradoc Gold Cup winner - Atyeb
The Caradoc Gold Cup over 2850m produced the day’s second 1-2 finish for the Mike de Kock yard when Atyeb held off stable companion Ilsanpietro to land the honours after a dour struggle, MATTHEW LIPS
Atyeb had easily won a Listed handicap over 2450m five weeks earlier, but was allowed to start at 33/10 from an ante-post price of 2/1 as Ilsanpietro attracted the market support, going off as 13/10 favourite after opening at 5/2. Soul Master had run very well on unfavourable terms in a set weights event over 2450m earlier in March and had plenty of backers at 28/10, with Magical (15/2) the most favoured of the rest in a field of eight.
Membrado set a reasonable tempo and opened up a fair sized lead early on, with Magical and Atyeb closest to him. Power Lord and Radiant Rock were next in line as Ilsanpietro was held up with only Soul Master behind him. Membrado fell away not long after turning for home and was virtually pulled up soon thereafter. Atyeb quickly came forward to pick it up, with Ilsanpietro starting to make good progress wider out as Soul Master also began working his way past beaten rivals. Soul Master was unable to make any further headway from at least 200m out, though, and that left the two De Kock runners to completely dominate proceedings.
Atyeb is nothing if not game, and he refused to surrender his advantage. Try as Ilsanpietro might to bridge the gap, he was always just being held at bay by his stable companion and was a neck behind at the line as Anthony Delpech drove the market drifter for all he was worth to grab the first prize. Soul Master was 3.25 lengths further away in third, with Magical a long way back in fourth and still looking nothing like the horse who finished an unlucky second in the Gr1 Summer Cup of 2009.
Atyeb is clearly progressive, for he met Ilsanpietro on 5.5 kgs worse terms than would have been the case in a handicap, and the two did eventually leave the balance of the field strung out a long way behind them. The Gr2 Gold Bowl over 3200m on April 28th is probably next on the agenda for both of these five-year-olds. Australian-bred Atyeb is by Rock Of Gibraltar out of the unraced American-bred Mr Prospector mare Atyab. Owned by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa al Maktoum, Atyeb has won four of his 11 races and earned R378 400 in stakes.
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