Promising. Glen Kotzen’s Langerman winner Antonius Du Bois travels to the Eastern Cape to achieve what Variety Club couldn’t
Trainer Glen Kotzen travels into the Port Elizabeth lion’s den with his Gr3 Langerman winner Antonius Du Bois as he bids for glory in Friday’s R200 000 Gr3 Champion Juvenile Cup at Fairview. Piere Strydom and Alan Greeff may provide the major obstacle to yet another away win for the Capetonians.
Achoice of rides by the brilliant Strydom and a very smart son of Sail From Seattle are the major clouding factors over what looked at first glance to be a natural selection.
Premier
The Langerman is after all the Cape’s premier test of early juvenile strength over ground, and has been won by some top horses in years gone by. There is nothing to suggest that Antonius Du Bois is not going somewhere near the same route as his illustrious predecessors. A parallel with a certain recent champion, while far fetched at this point, may put the danger of making simple assumptions about him winning on Friday into perspective.
Variety Club won the Langerman in 2011 and then travelled the same route to Port Elizabeth for this race. He subsequently had his colours lowered by the then East Champion 2yo, In A Rush. Ironically Joey Ramsden was to land up training the son of Windrush later on. But that is academic now.
Bargain Buy
While Antonius Du Bois’ staunch owners Hugo Hattingh and Warren Laird will be wanting to win Friday’s race, they may no doubt be hoping that their story unfolds in the much the same way as Ramsden’s champion did after his rare defeat in PE!
A bargain shrewd purchase by the astute Kotzen at the National Yearling Sale last year, Antonius Du Bois is very promising and has won 2 of his 4 starts, showing heartening excellent improvement at every one of his starts.
He has the beating of Vice Admiral on his penultimate start and then kept on strongly to beat Jungle Skyline in the Langerman. The Langerman form admittedly took something of a knock in the Listed Winter Juvenile Stakes won by Antonius Du Bois’ stablemate, Counts Rocket. But Antonius Du Bois is progressive and jockey Grant Van Niekerk knows him well. He will just have to overcome his wide draw and the novelty of a right handed track.
Companion
His travelling companion Eye Of The Panther is a one time winning filly who ran a distant fourth behind Pure Power in the Listed Irridescence Stakes. She races in the same silks as Antonius Du Bois and has the benefit of a 1 draw and a nice weight claim to put her in with a reasonable shout of burgling place money.
Piere Strydom has opted to ride the East Cape Nursery winner Seattle Storm ahead of Justin Snaith’s recent maiden winner Vice Admiral. Strydom actually won on both horses at their last starts.
Opportunity
Outstanding. Piere Strydom rides the top class East Cape Nursery winner Seattle Storm
A close look at Seattle Storm’s form will explain why the soon to be SA Champion jockey opted to take a rare riding opportunity from Greeff. Seattle Storm has won 3 of his 5 starts and Strydom was on his back when a course and distance winner by over 7 lengths at his last start. He has all of Briar King, Be The Best and Master Of Fate held on that sterling effort. Seattle Storm also had New Spring and Zobens well back on his East Cape Nursery win.
But it is probably fair to conclude that Horse Chestnut’s son Zobens has improved dramatically since then. A winner of 2 of his last 3 starts by a combined seven lengths, Zobens appears eminently course and distance suited and only needs to overcome a wide draw to have a serious chance of winning.
Snaith Factor
Justin Snaith is always a factor in Port Elizabeth, but we have already touched on Strydom’s ‘desertion’ and that should be enough to illustrate that Vice Admiral is unlikely to beat Seattle Storm. He is also well held by Antonius Du Bois, although the fact that one has to travel and the other doesn’t, may well be a slight levelling factor in favour of the Snaith runner.
Special Effort
Taipai Tigress is a maiden filly, who ran a serious cracker on a sparkling debut. She literally flew when failing by a half length to catch Darling Moon in the Listed Lady’s Slipper in mid June. There are many reasons to get excited about that effort. She was going around the turn at her first run. She was racing against winners in listed company. And to cap it all, she jumped from the worst of the draw.
While it is difficult to imagine a Gr3 Langerman or an East Cape Nursery winning male being beaten by an inexperienced maiden juvenile filly, stranger things have happened. Her stablemate Diesel Engine is well drawn and has Wayne Agrella up. But his form is poor and he has shown nothing to date.
Trio
Yvette Bremner sends out a three way coupling made up of Briar King, Master Of Fate ad Its Freezing. While this powerhouse local outfit always warrant consideration, it is difficult seeing why any of the trio should get the better of Antonius Du Bois or Seattle Storm. Jacques Strydom’s Luv U Babes faded badly in the Lady’s Slipper and will need to improve many lengths to have a chance of upsetting the odds here.
Boat Race
It looks like a race in two between the Cape challenger and Seattle Storm. The latter naturally has plenty in his favour, including homeground advantage and familiarity with the track.
All told, Glen Kotzen will be expecting to put the local star in his place though and dare we say show that the Cape form is a few notches stronger than the local product. Strydom will not go down without a cat and mouse fight though, and he is riding a serious talent in Seattle Storm.
We are going with Antonius Du Bois to hold Seattle Storm, while that remarkable maiden filly Taipai Tigress could be just about anything special judging on her opening show.
