Precedent and Anton Marcus (blue cap) win Gr3 Flamboyant S.
Precedent bounced right back to her best form with a hard-fought success in the Flamboyant Stakes for fillies and mares over 1600m, which this year was staged on the inner course at Scottsville on Sunday. The race was scheduled for its traditional home at Greyville on Saturday night, but heavy rain through the week left the central Durban track unfit for racing. Gold Circle mercifully put its “no postponements” policy on the shelf for this rare off-season Feature meeting and gave the go ahead to both the change of venue and the change of date. This avoided any possibility of a repeat of the events of 2009, when the Flamboyant had to be scheduled three times before the weather allowed it to finally take place in February, writes Matthew Lips.
Only Jo Piper was withdrawn from the carded field, leaving 13 runners to take their chances. Lightly raced three-year-old Enchanted Kingdom was well supported to start as the 7/2 favourite in an open market, with Autumn Gold the 4/1 second favourite and Precedent the third choice of punters at 5/1. Fans of Enchanted Kingdom and Precedent might have taken heart from the fact that the jockeys engaged on both horses also took part in Saturday’s daytime proceedings at Turffontein and their willingness to then jet off to Durban to compete at Greyville the same evening (had things gone according to schedule) suggested they weren’t merely looking for riding practice.
Fisani cut out the running in the good-to-soft going and set a reasonable pace from Silent Call and Enchanted Kingdom, with Dance To The Stars passing runners to move into third place exiting the back straight. I’ll Be Back was next in line as Precedent was held up in the pack and Autumn Gold raced amongst the backmarkers. Enchanted Kingdom soon came forward down the inside to dispute the lead as Fisani began to weaken in the straight, with Silent Call and Dance To The Stars still right in the mix wider out, but Precedent made rapid headway under Anton Marcus to hit the front well inside the last furlong. In the end it turned into a two-horse race as Lady Magpie set off in pursuit of Prcedent and tried to squeeze her way past hard up against the inside fence, but Prcedent always just had her measure and was driven out by Marcus to beat Lady Magpie by a neck.
These two pulled well ahead of the rest in the closing stages and it was a further three lengths back to third placed Secret Babe, who stayed on steadily to beat Dance To The Stars by three-quarters of a length into fourth, but Autumn Gold disappointed and was never in the race at all. Enchanted Kingdom, who was racing away from Greyville for the first time, weakened to finish 5.60 lengths behind the winner in sixth and simply didn’t appear to see out the mile in this company.
Five-year-old Precedent had won a Listed event over the same distance at Turffontein last May, but she has been successful up to 2600m and is clearly very versatile. She is bound to continue trying her luck in various Stakes events for her sex in both KZN and Gauteng before she retires to stud, but given its spot in the middle of KZN’s off-season the Flamboyant is seldom a top flight contest and Precedent was hard pressed to concede 2 kgs to a runner-up who was rated 16 pounds her inferior by the handicappers. On the other hand, 1600m may really be Precedent’s minimum distance and another decent win over further may yet be on the cards for the Paul Matchett-trained mare.
Precedent is a daughter of deceased Model Man and is out of the Wardlaw mare Legal Find, whose six wins up to 2000m included the Gr 2 Gerald Rosenberg Stakes – a contest which Precedent herself seems quite likely to contest later this year. Legal Find is dam also of Legality, a full sister to Precedent who won the Gr 1 Empress Club Stakes, which again is a race that the Flamboyant winner could very easily find herself contesting before long. Precedent was bred by Varsfontein Stud and was bought for R420 000 at the 2007 National Yearling Sale. She has won seven times from 20 starts for owner Rupert Plersch, earning R574 950 in stakes.
Flamboyant S. (SAf-G3) (1/2)
Scottsville, South Africa, January 2, R138.000, 1600m, turf, good, 1.39.43 (CR 1.32.77).
PRECEDENT (SAF), 58.0, b m 5, Model Man (SAF) – Legal Find (SAF) by Wardlaw. Owner R Plersch; breeder Varsfontein Stud (SAF); trainer P F Matchett; jockey A Marcus (R91.500)
Lady Magpie (SAF), 56.0, ch f 4, Dupont (GB) – Golden National (SAF) by National Emblem (SAF)
Secret Babe (SAF), 58.0, b f 4, Labeeb (GB) – Kefaah’s Secret (SAF) by Kefaah
Margins: nk, 3, ¾
Also ran: Dance To The Stars (AUS) 58.0, Silent Call (SAF) 50.0, Enchanted Kingdom (SAF) 52.0, Fisani (SAF) 58.0, Case Stated (SAF) 58.0, Clarkies Promise (SAF) 58.0, Touch The Moon (AUS) 58.0, Autumn Gold (SAF) 58.0, Laverna (SAF) 56.0, I’ll Be Back (ARG) 54.0
