While the powerful Alan Greeff yard enjoyed a red-letter day at Fairview on Friday with four winners, it was a big day for the smaller man too with former ‘Kimberley King’ Cliffie Miller grabbing top honours with a feature exacta and ending the afternoon with a double.
Miller horses filled the top two positions in the R175 000 Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge Leg 1.
It’s no secret that Cliffie Miller has yearned for the re-opening of his much conquered hunting ground of Flamingo Park. A great horseman and competitor, the Hollywoodbets-sponsored veteran hasn’t saddled as many winners as he would have targetted, when making Gqeberha his hew home-from home some time ago.
Muzi Yeni (pink/blue cap) and Naval Guest hold off stablemate Greenlighttoheaven (Wayne Agrella) in a thriller (Pic- Pauline Herrman)
But he started the new term in swashbuckling style when the former KZN-based Naval Secret (12-1, looking to have it all to do at the weights, found his best finish under Muzi Yeni to surge forward late and pip stablemate Greenlighttoheaven(6-1) by a nose in a time of 69,17 secs.
The winner was a first for the Miller-Viljoen combination and put the cherry on top of a terrific week for the Schwezer Reyneke-based SA Horse Of The Year owners, Suzette and Basie Viljoen.
The R175 000 Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge leg 1 was the opener in the local all-weather triple Crown.
Bred by the BBP Syndicate, the beautifully bred Naval Secret is a son of deceased champion Captain Al (Al Mufti) out of the six-time winning champion producer Secret Of Victoria (Goldkeeper).
A winner of 4 races with 12 places from 22 starts, Naval Secret has now earned stakes of over R320 000. A handsome athletic sort, he cost R1 million at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale.
Friday’s outcome was a positive one in many respects for the Miller team. With both of their top duo looking to be more effective over 1400m and a mile, there could be prospects of a R250 000 series prize.
The second leg will be run over 1400m on Friday 30 September 2022.
The third leg is run over a mile on Friday 21 October 2022.
