Dean Kannemeyer probably defied the textbook standard operating procedures when he saddled the 6yo Gimme A Prince to a second sensational victory in the R1,5 million HKJC World Pool Gr1 Cape Flying Championship at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Cape Town Met day.
“If one has the horse, they can often make the trainer look good and good horses tend to overcome the odds. Gimme A Prince is all class. But he is an older horse and one wouldn’t be surprised if he had lost a bit of his speed. After a year break, he ran a Gr3 1400m and two tough miles, including the King’s Plate, then reverted back to a Gr1 1000m clash and blew them clean away,” mused the quietly spoken classic trainer as he proudly reflected on a ‘brilliant racehorse’ who needs ‘lots of love, attention and patience’.
Craig Zackey and Gimme A Prince own the HKJC World Pool Gr1 Cape Flying Championship! (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Gimme A Prince won the 2023 Cape Flying Championship as a 4yo in 2023, clocking 58,04 secs, and then two seasons later went the 1000m as a 6yo ten days back, clocking an unextended 56,76 secs.
Dean’s immediate plans for his charge, once labelled by SA champion jockey Keagan de Melo as the best horse in the country, include the Khaya Stables Gr2 Diadem Stakes run over 1200m at home on SplashOut Cape Derby day in just over a fortnight from now, and then a possible raid on Turffontein for the R1 million Jonsson Workwear Gr1 Computaform Sprint on 29 March.
The Khaya Stables and Varsfontein Stud team enjoy the Gr1 podium on Cape Town Met day (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
“The plans are fluid. Gimme A Prince is not the kind of horse one can travel up and down the country. So we will take it one race at a time. He’s a machine when on song.”
As to alternatives if Johannesburg doesn’t pan out, Dean suggests a possible second bid at the Drill Hall Stakes – Gimme A Prince was beaten just three quarters of length from a 12 draw by Trip Of Fortune in 2023 – and then even the Hollywoodbets Gr1 Gold Challenge.
“I had big plans for this wonderful athlete. But he fractured his knee in the 2023 Matchem Stakes when chasing Charles Dickens home and that was it for a year. I’m fortunate to have a loyal owner like Lady Christine Laidlaw who understands the game and loves her horses – there is no pressure. And that’s why we didn’t bring him out in KZN during the Champions Season in 2024. The Vet recommended he’d benefit from a few more months – Lady Laidlaw gave us the green light, excuse the pun. The rest is history, crowned by his Cape Flying Championship performance.”
Lady Christine, Khaya, Kannemeyer! The happy owner greets her elated trainer (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Dean brought Gimme A Prince back for his 6yo term debut in the Matchem Stakes at Hollywoodbets Durbanville four months ago.
“He was fat and round. But ran a great race behind Questioning. We then gave him six weeks and he stormed through late for a 0,35 third in the Gr3 Cape Mile. He is a horse who is programmed from run to run. So then the L’Ormarins King’s Plate was just seven weeks away – not enough to get a run in but also not the most ideal of preps, forced by the circumstances. But what a performance he turned in there – getting to within just over 2 lengths of champion 3yo One Stripe. Craig (Zackey) said he couldn’t hold him anymore and let him go – he only emptied out over the final 100m. I believe only his brilliance makes him competitive at Gr1 level in a mile. That’s why the Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge at Hollywoodbets Greyville could even be a serious option.”
The Gimme A Prince story dates back some twelve years to the 2013 Cape Premier Yearling Sale.
Form Bloodstock’s Jehan Malherbe bought the beautiful chestnut Trippi daughter Real Princess on behalf of Lady Christine Laidlaw’s Khaya Stables. It was to be a Grade 1 gamechanger of some proportions for the passionate international owner – and there are chapters still to be written.
The Klawervlei Stud-bred Real Princess won six races in Dean’s care, including a scintillating Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint victory, which followed a win in the Gr 3 Poinsettia Stakes.
She is bred in the purple and is a half-sister to Captain Al’s Gr 1 Cape Guineas winner and sire William Longsword, and to two other stakes winners. She is the daughter of one of Klawervlei’s best ever broodmares, Pagan Princess (Fort Wood), who was a half-sister to the great Victory Moon (Al Mufti) among others.
That’s the young gun Gimme A Prince on left with Mum Real Princess – Lady Christine Laidlaw and her sister Patricia Woollett are alongside Dean Kannemeyer, with Khaya Racing Manager Jehan Malherbe at the rear (Pic – Supplied)
Dean recalled the glowing praise from two of South Africa’s most experienced breeding men when Gimme A Prince first saw the light of day on the hallowed champion environs of Varsfontein Stud in Paarl.
“Carl de Vos and Jaco Erasmus, who foaled him down, were both taken with Gimme A Prince. He had the x-factor.”
Real Princess has proven to be an outstanding broodmare and her liaison with champion sire Gimmethegreenlight has been ‘a winning one’.
“Gimme A Prince is a three-time Gr1 winner. Lightly raced 4yo The Real Prince is a different type – he is not a speed horse, but has a touch of class and I believe he is going to win his way through the divisions. The 3yo Gimmie’s Countess won the Gr3 Diana Stakes. I thought she may stay a mile but she showed sprinting could be her game when staying on for third in the Cartier Gr2 Sceptre Stakes recently. She will be on the SA Champions Season bus. Then we have an unraced 2yo full brother named Gimme Rules. He’s a lovely sort – rangy and with a beautiful head and powerful shoulder. We will take him to Durban.”
Dean Kannemeyer and Craig Zackey – flying (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Kannemeyer won the Diadem with Cosmic Highway (also for Khaya Stables) in 2022, and prior to that with the Zim-bred Honour The Guest in 2004.
Sponsor of the Diadem, and a benefactor of the sport via the Star Grooms initiative, Lady Christine Laidlaw has enjoyed her racing in South Africa since 2008 when purchasing the subsequent dual Guineas winner and sire, Noordhoek Flyer.
She has since celebrated a number of Grade 1 successes, including a memorable Durban July victory with Power King in 2015.
- Entries for the R600 000 Khaya Stables Gr2 Diadem Stakes, which is run at weight-for-age plus penalties, are due by 11h00 on Monday 10 February, with supplementary entries open until 11h00 on Friday 14 February.
- Declarations are due by 11h00 on Monday 17 February.
Dean Kannemeyer – thumbs up for the rest of a good season (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
