Gr3 Protea Stakes - Delago Deluxe
A quintet of Gr3 races made up the balance of the Feature action from Classic Day at Turffontein. The Protea Stakes for two-year-olds over 1100m was won impressively by Australian-bred Delago Deluxe, who started as the 22/10 favourite in a field of 12 after making mincemeat of maiden rivals on his sole previous appearance over 1200m at the Vaal in February, writes Matthew Lips.
Delago Deluxe raced about a length off the early pace, which was disputed by his principal market rivals Midnight Serenade and Carlito Brigante, with newcomer Royal Ridge showing up quite prominently over towards the inside. Carlito Brigante faded disappointingly from more than 300m out, and with Midnight Serenade also running out of gas coming to the final 100m Delago Deluxe was able to sprint clear and win by 3.25 lengths from Royal Ridge. The runner-up is a R1.3m National Yearling Sale purchase from the De Kock stable and clearly has loads of ability, but Delago Deluxe handled the soft ground with no problem whatsoever and proved to be much too good on the day. The step up from 1000m, combined with the soft ground, seemed to be too much for Midnight Serenade, who is very quick and who may well improve when he encounters fast going again, but Carlito Brigante had won twice in soft or yielding going earlier in his career and was very disappointing.
Delago Deluxe is trained by Charles Laird for owners Ingrid and Markus Jooste, and will more than likely turn out again for the Gr2 SA Nursery over 1160m on April 30th before heading to the KZN season. A son of Encosta de Lago, he is the second foal of Flying Spur mare Succeeding, who won three races over 1400/1600m. Delago Deluxe was a pricey Aus $550 000 purchase at the 2010 Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling sale, but at this early stage of his career he does look to ooze plenty of class.
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Protea S. (SAf-G3) (3/26)
Turffontein, South Africa, March 26, R200.000, 1100m, turf, soft, 1.04.90 (CR 1.01.65). DELAGO DELUXE (AUS), 56.0, b c 2, Encosta De Lago (AUS) – Succeeding (AUS) by Flying Spur (AUS). Owner Mrs I Jooste & Mr M J Jooste; breeder Mr G Harvey (AUS); trainer C S Laird; jockey A Marcus (R125.000) Royal Ridge (SAF), 53.0, ch c 2, Tiger Ridge – Princess Faberge (SAF) by Jallad Midnight Serenade (SAF), 58.0, b c 2, Malhub – Sapphire Serenade (SAF) by Harry Hotspur (SAF) Margins: 3¼, 1¾, 1 Also ran: Captain Haddock (SAF) 53.0, Star Dance (SAF) 56.0, Fort William (SAF) 53.0, Dawn Light (SAF) 53.0, Marble Drum (SAF) 56.0, Aegis-Fang (SAF) 53.0, Carlito Brigante (SAF) 58.0, Jumbo (SAF) 53.0, Dark Knight (SAF) 53.0
