Gr3 Joburg Spring Challenge – Gibraltar Blue
Gibraltar Blue returned from an absence of more than four months with all guns blazing when she made all the running to see off nine male rivals
10th October 2011
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Gibraltar Blue returned from an absence of more than four months with all guns blazing when she made all the running to see off nine male rivals
Welwitschia returned from a six month absence to thump six rivals in the Joburg Spring Challenge for fillies and mares over 1450m on the inner course.
A full field of fourteen went to post for Africa’s richest race on sand, the Gr2 Emerald Cup on Saturday, and in a race never to be forgotten for young up and coming apprentice jockey Nooresh Juglall, the 4yo The Mouseketeer kept his unbeaten record on the surface intact
Sean Tarry is making a habit of saddling Graded Stakes “exactas.” Less than a month after he sent out Aslan and Kolkata to occupy the first two places in the Gr 1 Canon Gold Cup, the Randjesfontein-based trainer was at it again when The Mouseketeer held off stable companion Across The Ice to win the August Stakes over 1200m on the Vaal sand last Saturday.
For Sean Tarry, the last day of the 2010/2011 racing season will go down as one of his most memorable in a career which is already replete with big moments. He saddled the first two finishers to the Canon Gold Cup, at odds of 45/1 and 35/1 respectively, emulating the 2009 feat of Stephen Page, who saddled the winner Mokaro and runner-up Noblewood in that particular renewal of South Africa’s premier long distance race.
Potala Palace caused a stir amongst even the most phlegmatic spectators when he was knocked down for R3.6 million at the 2010 National Yearling Sale, but he’s already starting to look every inch like a serious racehorse.
Same-stable “Exactas” were the order of the afternoon at Greyville on Sunday. Little more than half-an-hour after Sean Tarry sent out the first two finishers to the Canon Gold Cup, Gavin van Zyl pulled off the same trick when The Apache and Bulsara occupied the first two places in the Champions Cup.
Amanee stepped up to 1600m for the first time and showed considerable improvement on her previous form when she won the Thekwini Stakes for two-year-old fillies at Greyville on Sunday.
Beach Beauty stepped beyond 1600m for the first time and it took to it like the proverbial duck to water when easily landing the Gold Bracelet over 2000m at Greyville on Sunday.
Very few horses get the chance to win the same Graded race twice in one season, but a slight reshuffling of the Western Cape programme allowed A Daughters Legacy to do exactly that when she captured her second successive .
It is eerie to think that there would have been no Siren’s Call, Sound Of Warning, or for that matter Call To Unite, had fate not decreed that Enchanted Cove follow her dam to South Africa, and that Peter de Beyer had the foresight to return Elusive Fort back home from the States as well!
There’s lots more to play for!
