Kiss Me Hardy gets the better of Captain Haddock in good style (JC Photos)
Have horse, will travel. That’s the Corne Spies roadshow motto and the enthusiastic trainer hit the long road when raiding Flamingo Park on Monday with the smart grey Captain Al 3yo Kiss Me Hardy. The Varsfontein-bred gelding showed his elders no respect with a smooth victory in the R100 000 Kimberley 1400.
The only 3yo in the eleven horse field, that included a Vodacom Durban July near miss and some decent seasoned campaigners, Kiss Me Hardy proved that he loves the Diamond City as he won his second feature there in just six weeks of 2015 – punctuated with an earning third behind the classy De Kock speedster Tiger Territory on the Vaal sand less than a fortnight ago.
The Spies horses don’t spend their lives in the box eating the profits. If they are fit and able to race they do – and Kiss Me Hardy was having his eighth start in 14 weeks when lumping 61kgs to victory in the Monday non black-type feature.
And buoyed no doubt by a whisper of confidence from his trainer, part owner Braam van Huyssteen made the simlarly long trip from the Southern Cape to shout his horse home in the hands of Fransie Naude.
And Naude deserves plenty of credit for the win.
Corne Spies – saddled Kiss Me Hardy to a good win
Outpaced early on, the grey was under a pushing ride to stay in touch – and Naude’s eagle eye was on Gunter Wrogemann and Captain Haddock the whole way round.
Drawn against the paint, Kingofmountain led Captain Haddock until the 300m where the in-form Wrogemann saw his chance and slipped through down the inside rail.
But Fransie Naude was wide awake and he had Kiss Me Hardy finishing in full flight and making up good ground as the sea of traffic parted in front of him.
In the drive to the wire the winning margin of a quarter length flattered the Ormond Ferraris-trained Captain Haddock, who was receiving 4,5kgs from the younger winner.
Kiss Me Hardy jumped a popular 2 to 1 favourite and clocked 84,53 secs for the 1400m.
Tribal Code was a further 4,75 lengths behind in third, with Jaguar in fourth.
The gallant 8yo former turf group performer Smanjemanje, who was having his first run in the Northern Cape for Tienie Prinsloo, enjoyed no betting support and ran accordingly, finishing 16,25 lengths behind the winner.
Braam Van Huyssteen – thrilled
Winning co-owner Braam van Huyssteen was over the moon
“We had respect for the Ferraris horse –and it is a pity there has to be a loser. Congratulations to my partners and trainer Corne Spies and his Dad, as well as our jockey.”
Jockey Fransie Naude said that he wanted to be ‘right there’.
“Kiss Me Hardy doesn’t enjoy the kickback, so he needs to be up there at this track. By the time I got my clear run Gunter (Wrogemann) was already on his bike.But my horse won a good race in the end,” he said.
Unbeaten in his two Kimberley starts, Kiss Me Hardy has now won 4 races with 5 places from 13 starts for stakes of R369 125.
The Varsfontein Stud-bred is a 3yo gelded son of Captain Al out of the three-time winning Jet Master mare, Kiss And Fly.
He was a R500 000 National Yearling Sale purchase and the win here, as a 3yo at these weights, augurs well for the future and his prospects of going on to provide his owners with plenty of good memories!
