Just a fortnight after the Stipes issued a cautionary notice about the tendency to bunch up the outside rail in the home straight, and thus potentially create an environment of uncompetitive racing, a stablemate cost another what looked like victory in the final race at Hollywodbets Kenilworth on Saturday.
Owner Nic Jonsson enjoyed a Cape Derby boost of some proportions a half hour earlier when the exciting Rockpool beat Without Question to win the Gr3 Politician Stakes, the feature on the eight race card.
But despite looking like holding another strong hand in the final race, the Jonsson pair of Mucho Dinero (Richard Fourie) and Cosmic Event (under substitute rider Smanga Khumalo) got in each other’s way at a crucial stage of the race.
To be fair, the field was fairly well spread out up the straight.
But that outside rail is like a magnet, despite the assurances from the Hollywoodbets Kenilworth track manager that the track should be running evenly all over.
The false rail configuration on the day was 3m out from the 1800m mark, with a 5m spur at approximately the 600m mark. Start forward of zero: 1m.
Every face tells a story! Keanen Steyn is all smiles down the inside as Richard Fourie (pink cap) casts a glance at Smanga Khumalo (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Despite the interference and having to check, the favourite Mucho Dinero (9-4) ran a cracker to be upstaged a half length by longshot Sudden Song (16-1), who had been brought through down the middle inside by replacement jockey Keanen Steyn, and picked up the scraps for his delighted connections.
At the line, Fourie can be seen turning to Khumalo – we imagine that he probably wasn’t wishing him a pleasant journey home!
Sudden Song’s victory, which also gave Brett Crawford his third winner (8-1, 16-1, 16-1) of the day, carried a healthy Pick 6 dividend of over R931 000. Who would have thought that kind of payout was in the offing when glancing at that card?
The Stipes reported on the eighth:
Leaving the 200m MUCHO DINERO (R Fourie) was unable to secure a clear run between the outside running rail and COSMIC EVENT (S Khumalo), which rolled out slightly away from MACHETE MAN (S Veale).
Shortly thereafter, MUCHO DINERO (R Fourie) took an awkward stride away from the outside running rail, became unbalanced and then had to be switched inwards to continue its run.
Jockey K Steyn was charged with a contravention of Rule 58.10.2 (read with Guideline M on the use of the crop) in that he misused his crop by striking SUDDEN SONG more than 12 times in the entire race.
Jockey K Steyn signed an admission of guilt and was fined R2500. In determining penalty, the Board took into account the distance over and manner in which Jockey K Steyn used his crop and the number of strikes (15) and SUDDEN SONG’s finishing position.
The next Hollywoodbets Kenilworth racemeeting is the flagship on WSB Cape Town Met day, Saturday 28 January. Let’s hope there aren’t too many hard-luck stories to come out of that.
Watch the replay here:
