First Shades Of Grey

Power King draws off under Karl Neisius in the gloomy conditions to win easily (Equine Edge)

Veteran Cape jockey Karl Neisius may well have had visions of his ride aboard Capetown Noir in the Drill Hall Stakes at Greyville 24 hours earlier when looking for a run on Power King in the Winter Guineas at Kenilworth on Sunday. His mount looked to have a wall to climb late in the race but showed class and character when it counted.

Champion miler Capetown Noir also runs in the yellow and black of leading Kannemeyer patron Khaya Stables and there was much better luck for the yard in the eight horse field in the Cape.

At the same time Dean Kannemeyer’s smart Silvano colt stamped himself as a serious candidate for the Cape Winter Series Triple Crown honours as he ran out an easy winner of the R250 000 Gr3 Winter Guineas run over a mile in the typical early winter conditions. Champion Pocket Power is the only horse ever to win the series.

With a steady drizzle prevalent over the Southern Suburbs venue for most of the afternoon, there was a decent give in the ground and a few runners showed the expected improvement.

Assistant trainer David Lilley and Karl Neisius at the lead in (Bay Media)

The field was despatched promptly as Global Destiny  led Vice Admiral and Reim with Dynastic Power and Power King settled some six lengths off the gallop.

Into the home run Global Destiny continued to lead  as the field spread out with Neisius trying to find a split to get a run as Reim came back on to him with Dynastic Power making things very tight.

At the 250m marker Neisius found daylight and Power King cut clear of longshot Reim  to draw away and win by 1,5 lengths in a time of 103,65 secs.

It was a smart effort considering that he  finished his race on the ground that was regarded as ‘dead’ by senior jockey Bernard Fayd’herbe later in the day.

Karl Neisius said afterwards that he had been very concerned to be falling further and further behind in the race but that his mount responded well when called upon for an effort.

Power King has now won 3 races with 2 places from 8 starts for stakes of R281 825. He has always been highly rated by his connections and ran a nice race in the Cape Guineas when under two lengths off Elusive Gold and was then very unlucky in the Derby when badly hampered in the straight.

Whether he will be a candidate to stay the 2400m of the Cape Winter Derby is a moot point. He raced in blinkers today but relaxes nicely and the depth of strength in the 3yo ranks has been depleted by Champions Season absentees.

Bred by Maine Chance Farms, Power King is by Silvano out of the Northern Guest mare, Northern Gale.

He looks full value for his R380 000 National Yearling Sale price tag and can only get better.

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