On a fairytale afternoon for the nationally competitive Hollywood Syndicate, the thrilled team celebrated a maiden Gr1 success alongside an elated jockey Louis Mxothwa, when the lightly raced Ridgemont Highlands-bred Dynasty filly Make It Snappy went all the way to win the R1 million World Sports Betting Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas at a sunny Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday.
Saturday 3 December 2022 in the Mother City is a long road from Durban on 3 March 2002, when the purple and yellow team marked their first winner as Splendid Night won a Maiden Plate at what is now Hollywoodbets Greyville.
A delighted Louis Mxothwa salutes as Make It Snappy runs out an easy winner of the Gr1 feature (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Over twenty years down the line, the Hollywood name has grown to become a leading player on the South African horseracing landscape, and who could have scripted that the first Gr1 of the inaugural Hollywoodbets Kenilworth Summer Festival of Racing would be won by them?
In a typically high quality renewal of a race steeped in excellence and tradition, Varsfontein flyer Ciao Bella, a recent winner of the Gr2 Western Cape Fillies Championship, maintained her position at the top of the boards, with interest in a handful of other contestants, including the Hollywood Syndicate duo from the Brett Crawford yard.
With Louis Mxothwa opting to ride recent Summer Bowl winner Make It Snappy, the daughter of Dynasty had her supporters and did it the hard way as she was taken to the lead from the break.
Kicking again in the final stages as the inevitable challenge came from the accomplished favourite Ciao Bella (9-4), Make It Snappy (6-1) showed no signs of stopping as she ran all the way to the wire to hold the grey Snaith filly to 1,50 lengths in a time of 99,71 secs.
Glen Kotzen and his patrons Drakenstein Stud would have been thrilled by the run of the poorly drawn 50-1 shot Hold My Hand, one of two representatives of Gold Standard, who charged out of the pack to run third, ahead of fellow Gold Standard daughter Golden Hostess (5-1) in fourth.
Stablemate to the winner, and fellow Hollywood Syndicate flagbearer Happy Chance (14-1) was not disgraced in fifth.
A broadly smiling Louis Mxothwa said that he committed to lead: “She pricked her ears into the final stages and I saw Ciao Bella and Richard (Fourie) out of the corner of my eye. I can’t believe winning a Gr1 is this easy – when you have the horse! Well done to Brett Crawford and his team, the Ridgemont Highlands team and the Hollywood Syndicate!” he enthused.
Brett Crawford, who was saddling his third Cape Fillies Guineas winner after Bad Girl Runs (2005 for Plattner Racing) and Front And Centre (2018 for Ridgemont Highlands), labelled it ‘a text book ride’ by Mxothwa.
Antony Delpech is over the moon as he heads to the winner’s enclosure (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Hollywood Syndicate Racing Manager Anthony Delpech, who actually found himself screaming the winner home, said that the syndicate’s milestone success was in large part thanks to the Kieswetter family, and Clinton Binda, who had brought the teams to the table, originally.
Watch the replay here:
Bred by Ridgemont Highlands, from whom she is leased for racing, the winner is by late champion Dynasty (Fort Wood) out of the beautifully-bred Western Winter mare, Icy Winter Air. This was Dynasty’s third Cape Fillies Guineas victory after Just Sensual (2016) and Front And Centre (2018). The latter was bred by and raced in the Ridgemont Highlands silks.
Make It Snappy, who raced off a rating of 100 despite running to a 114 at her last start, is a winner of 3 races with 1 place from her 4 starts for stakes of R764 475.
