The Tarry-Khumalo express was in rampant form at Turffontein on Saturday and won the first three races on the Classic Day programme. They completed a feature double when the Toreador gelding Bull Valley came out shunting in his first run for the champion yard after a break.
Bull Valley (S’manga Khumalo) gallops clear to a good win (Pic – JC Photos)
Bull Valley’s former trainer Dominic Zaki, who gave up his licence in December, would have been pleased to see that his belief in the smart 3yo was confirmed in some manner as he spread-eagled a decent field to win the R250 000 Gr3 Man O’War Sprint.
Despite apparently showing little in his work at home, Bull Valley was sent out a 33-10 favourite, ironically after the scratching of his talented Gr winning stablemate Arabian Beat, who races out of the Stan Ferreira yard these days.
The consistent African Ruler (7-2) and Pure Blonde (2-1) were expected to give Bull Valley most to think about, but the latter was the first to falter at the 400m as Khumalo got to work on Bull Valley.
Into the 200m, Bull Valley was clearly going best and ran on strongly to beat African Ruler by 1,50 lengths in a time of 62,59 awca.
Isca ran on best of the rest for third, with Pure Blonde fading out after showing pace.
The Ambiance Stud bred Bull Valley is a son of Toreador out of the twice-winning Saumarez mare, Star Of Liberty.
He looks well bought at R180 000 on the National Yearling Sale and took his earnings to R282 375 with his third win and one place from four starts.
He was also the recipient of the R87 500 BSA Added Value Stakes Bonus cheque.
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Gr3 Man O’ War Sprint (SAf-Gr3)
Turffontein, South Africa, April 2, R250k, 1100m, turf, good, 1.02.59
1 – BULL VALLEY (SAF), 58.0, b g 3, Toreador (IRE) – Star Of Liberty (SAF) by Saumarez (GB). Owner PCS (Pty) Ltd (Nom: Mr P Botha) & Messrs G L Blank, Z L Nassif, G Nichas & J Sarkis; Breeder Ambiance Stud; trainer SG Tarry; jockey S Khumalo
2 – African Ruler (SAF), 60.0, b g 3, Trippi (USA) – Chant De Nuit (SAF) by Caesour (USA)
3 – Isca (SAF), 54.0, gr g 3, Var (USA) – Jolie Bele (BRZ) by Impression
Margins: 1.50, 0.40, d/h
