Champions Cup victor, Futura
Two of the prospective Green Point Stakes runners were seen stretching their legs over the Kenilworth turf on Wednesday, 12 November.
First up was Champions’ Cup winner Futura from the Brett Crawford yard with Bernard Fayd’herbe in the saddle. Brett confirmed that Futura had a month’s rest after the Durban season, but has since resumed work and has been ‘doing great’. Today was his second time on the grass and he was put around the turn and asked to do some work up the straight. Crawford was satisfied with the outing, commenting ‘he worked fine.’
Legislate put up a ‘sensational’ gallop
Also stretching his legs on the Kenilworth grass was 2014 July winner, Legislate. Completely recovered from a hairline fracture to his cannon, our July winner looked a picture of health for today’s outing. It was Legislate’s first grass gallop since returning to work and the Snaiths pronounced the gallop ‘sensational’. Jono Snaith told the Sporting Post, “He’s been putting up some top work at home and today’s gallop was one of the best we’ve ever seen. Usually after a rest he’s a bit sluggish and it takes him a while to get going, but he’s come back better than ever. We’ll obviously check him over thoroughly this afternoon, but we’re very excited and we think he’s going to be a major contender for the summer season. He’s got a three race programme – the Green Point, the Queens’ Plate and J&B Met.”
Legislate’s regular pilot Richard Fourie, also recently back from injury, jumped off smiling and said that Legislate seems to have come back stronger than ever. Jono commented, ‘Richard is riding so well. I thought he’d need a ride or two to get back into the swing of things, but he’s been like Legislate! On his first meeting back, he rode 2 winners for us. They weren’t just wins – he really rode them so well, so from our side, it’s just all good news at the moment. Obviously things can go wrong, and they did go wrong, but we’re very very excited about the season and feel it’s going to be an exciting time.”
The two colts have met once before, in the 2014 Vodacom Durban July, when only 0.6 lengths separated them at the finish. With both colts nominated for the 22 November Gr2 Green Point Stakes, run at WFA over 1600m at Kenilworth, it is shaping up into an exciting clash. Final declarations are on 17 November at 11am.
