Extra Zero - 3/3 course & distance
Extra Zero has a real affinity for the straight 1160m at Turffontein and on Saturday recorded her third success from as many course-and-distance attempts when she won the Sycamore Sprint (handicap) for fillies and mares, writes MATTHEW LIPS.
This marked a first Feature race win for the three-year-old, whose previous efforts this season included a second place in the Gr3 Three Troikas Stakes and a very lucrative second place in the valuable Ready To Run Cup.
Extra Zero didn’t lack for supporters on Saturday and went off as the 75/20 second favourite behind stable companion Give Me Five, who found herself heading the market at 7/2 after original favourite Mary’s Pride got loose on the way to the start, bolted riderless around Turffontein for some time, and was scratched. Pacific Dynasty went off as a joint second favourite with Extra Zero in a field reduced to ten starters, with Mystical Jet and Simply Blue both finding their backers at bigger prices.
Fair Rosalind was well away and led the way early just ahead of Kinematic Countess and Mystical Jet, with Larussa and Extra Zero well in touch as Give Me Five adopted her customary waiting tactics towards the rear. Fair Rosalind continued to lead coming to the last 200m and was holding off challenges from all directions, but she was unable to peg back Extra Zero. Running on strongly under Tshwaro Appie, Extra Zero got the better of the long time leader in the closing stages and went on to beat Fair Rosalind by one length, with the latter’s stable companion Larussa only a neck further away in third. Give Me Five stayed on to finish a neck behind Larussa in fourth, with Mystical Jet beaten a total of 2.5 lengths into fifth after looking to have every chance. Pacific Dynasty and Simply Blue were never dangerous and finished seventh and ninth, respectively.
Extra Zero is trained by Sean Tarry and seems to be very much at her best over distances around 1200m. The Gr2 Camelia Stakes over the Turffontein 1160m later this month looks an obvious target before a possible bid for the Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint over 1200m at Scottsville in May. Extra Zero is a daughter of the Danehill stallion Way West. She is the sixth foal, third winner, and first Stakes winner produced from unraced Irish-bred Doyoun mare Haifaa. Extra Zero’s third dam Dish Dash was a Gr2 winner and Gr1 placed in the UK and is the dam of European champion older horse Maroof as well as the second dam of European champion three-year-old colt Desert King. Bred at Summerhill Stud, Extra Zero was a R240 000 purchase from the 2010 Ready To Run Sale and has won three times from 13 starts for R711 339 in stakes.
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Sycamore Sprint (SAf-G3) (4/7)
Turffontein, South Africa, April 7, R300.000, 1160m, turf, good, 1.07.69 (CR 1.05.12).
EXTRA ZERO (SAF), 55.0, b f 3, Way West (AUS) – Haifaa (IRE) by Doyoun (IRE). Owner L M Nestadt, G L Blank, A W Bott and S M Nathan; breeder Summerhill Stud (SAF); trainer S G Tarry; jockey T Appie (R103.125)
Fair Rosalind (SAF), 56.0, ch f 4, Count Dubois (GB) – For Rosalind by Thunder Gulch
Larussa (SAF), 54.0, b f 3, Doowaley (IRE) – Magic Girl (SAF) by Model Man (SAF)
Margins: 1, ¼, ¼
Also ran: Give Me Five (SAF) 60.0, Mystical Jet (SAF) 52.0, Kinematic Countess (SAF) 52.0, Pacific Dynasty (SAF) 54.5, Kalaam (SAF) 55.0, Simply Blue (SAF) 53.5, Scarlet Sheila (AUS) 52.0
