SA Horse Of The Year Princess Calla made her Cape Summer Season debut at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on Saturday in an R185 000 Cape A Stakes over 1250m.
The 6yo daughter of Flower Alley was beaten, but not disgraced.
While many Pick 6 players would have bankered the champion in the hands of Winning Form-sponsored Richard Fourie, trainer Sean Tarry did caution the public during the week that his charge had done her work, but was overweight and could need it.
Philasande Mxoli keeps King Regent going to beat the odds-on Princess Calla and Richard Fourie (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
The assessment proved spot-on and Princess Calla, who had not seen action in 14 weeks since beating See It Again in the HKJC Gr1 Champions Cup in KZN at the end of last season, was held by the gutsy Kotzen 4yo King Regent, who held on stoutly under Philasande Mxoli.
Mxoli, who like Yuzae Ramzan a week earlier, was riding at his first ever meeting in the Cape, produced a strong ride on the 16-1 King Regent, who thwarted the 5-10 Princess Calla down his outside by 0,30 lengths in a time of 73,89 secs.
Snaith speed champion Rio Querari (25-2) was back in third, with the winner’s stablemate Countdown (20-1) rounding off the quartet. Who would have thought there was a R 2 338-20 quartet dividend in this race?
King Regent, rated some 18 pounds inferior to our Horse Of The Year, certainly ran above his 109 rating, but we will leave the penalties and assessments to the handicappers.
King Regent and has now won 4 races with 6 places from 12 starts for stakes of R949 738.
Enjoy the replay:
A R225 000 Cape Yearling Sale graduate, he was bred by Ridgemont Highlands and is a son of Dynasty (Fort Wood) out of the three-time winning Mogok mare, Cup Of Rubies.
Longstanding owners Gisela Burg and Martin Wickens have enjoyed a good run recently. They also race (and bred) recent Algoa Cup Festival feature winner Flower Of Saigon.
