Link Man took to a step up in trip like the proverbial duck to water when he ran out a very comfortable winner of the Tony Ruffel Stakes for three-year-olds over 1450m on the Turffontein inner course on Saturday. Link Man had failed narrowly twice in sprints against older rivals this season and was posting his first success since winning the Gr 1 Gold Medallion at Scottsville in May, writes Matthew Lips.
For whatever reason, most punters seemed wary of Link Man’s chances even though he was weighted to win easily if judged solely on merit ratings. He went off as a 33/10 shot after being priced up as the 11/10 ante-post favourite, in the face of strong support for both Shea Shea (who eventually headed the market at 16/10) and 2/1 second favourite Captain’s Key. The other six runners included Gr 1 winning two-year-old Gold Onyx, but you could have got almost any price about them.
Valor quickly worked his way to the head of affairs and set a solid pace from Bermuda Winter and Captain’s Key, with Link Man and Shea Shea next in line. All of the “big three” in the market had every chance to win the race in the straight, where it appeared for a while that Shea Shea was travelling particularly well behind the leaders. Captain’s Key was the first to attack the frontrunning Valor, with Link Man moving into contention wider out, but in the end it proved to be something of a one-horse contest. Link Man swept the others aside with a decisive turn of foot and had the race won 100m from home as he romped clear under Anthony Delpech to beat Shea Shea by 2.25 lengths. The runner-up had every chance and was not disgraced, but when push came to shove he simply had no answer to the turn of foot of a winner who was rated five pounds his superior by the handicappers and who was meeting the strongly supported market leader at level weights.
Captain’s Key finished three-quarters of a length behind Shea Shea in third and the same margin ahead of his stable companion Valor in fourth, but Gold Onyx never got going at all and finished last, 10.75 lengths behind the winner. Gold Onyx has now disappointed three times from as many starts this season and looked a very far cry from the horse who came from the clouds to win the Gr 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes at Greyville in July.
Link Man, on the other hand, has most assuredly carried on with the excellent work he showed as a juvenile, when trained by Dennis Drier. The Tony Ruffel marked his first win from three attempts since he joined Mike de Kock, and the way he finished the race off must give him a lively chance of staying the 1600m of the Gr 2 Gauteng Guineas on February 26th. Link Man is from the second crop of Danehill horse Toreador, who won up to 1600m and came within inches of capsizing champion Winter Solstice in the Gr 1 Gold Challenge over that distance, so there is every reason to think that De Kock’s talented colt will also cope with a mile. Link Man is the second foal and first winner of Among Men mare Western Smoke, who was placed twice from only four starts. Owned by members of the Tawny Syndicate who bred him, Link Man has won four times from seven starts and earned R651 875.
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Tony Ruffel S. (SAf-G3) (2/5)
Turffontein, South Africa, February 5, R200.000, 1450m, turf, good, 1.27.29 (CR 1.25.80).
LINK MAN (SAF), 58.0, b c 3, Toreador (IRE) – Western Smoke (SAF) by Among Men. Owner L M Nestadt, G L Blank and G Z Burg; breeder Tawny Syndicate (SAF); trainer M F de Kock; jockey A Delpech (R125.000)
Shea Shea (SAF), 58.0, b c 3, National Emblem (SAF) – Yankee Clipper (SAF) by Jallad
Captain’s Key (SAF), 55.5, b g 3, Captain Al (SAF) – Qui’s Charm (SAF) by Qui Danzig
Margins: 2¼, ¾, ¾
Also ran: Valor (SAF) 55.5, Money Grubber (SAF) 53.5, Super Trouper (SAF) 55.5, Bermuda Winter (SAF) 53.5, Read My Heart (SAF) 53.5, Gold Onyx (NZ) 57.0
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