While he is bred on staying lines but has never won beyond 1250m, Glen Kotzen’s Ridgemont-bred 5yo King Regent stamped himself a serious candidate for the R250 000 bonus and top honours in the 2024 Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge Triple Crown, when a facile winner of the first leg at Fairview on Friday.
A full-brother to a Gold Bowl and Consolation Durban July winner in 7yo Crimson King, King Regent has been a general model of consistency without setting the world alight, but does boast a victory over last season’s SA Horse Of The Year Princess Calla on his cv – that was achieved during her reign on his home track of Hollywoodbets Durbanville.
Denis Schwarz guides King Regent to a facile victory (Pic -Pauline Herman)
Having only his second run on the all-weather, after finishing third as a 14-10 favourite behind Perfection and Port Louis in the 2023 Listed East Cape Guineas, King Regent (14-10) was given a confident ride by Denis Schwarz from the box seat, before lengthening away at the 300m to win unchallenged in a time of 67,81 secs.
The Gavin Smith duo of Ledell’s Echo (8-1) and Slim Jannie (16-1) completed the trifecta, with defending champion Prince Of Fire (40-1) rounding the quartet.
Now a winner of R1 074 813 with 5 wins and 7 places from his 15 starts, King Regent is raced by longstanding former UK and now Cape residents Martin Wickens and Gisela Burg, and cost R225 000 at the Cape Yearling sale of his year.
Bred by Ridgemont, the winner is a son of the farm’s late iconic sire Dynasty (Fort Wood) out of the three-time winning Mogok mare, Cup Of Rubies.
A bonus of R250 000 will be paid to the connections of the horse that manages to win all three legs of the Poly Triple Crown.
If no horse manages to win all three legs, a R50 000 bonus is payable to the horse that runs in all three legs and accumulates the most points.P oints are allocated up to sixth place of every leg.
The second leg of the challenge is the R175 000 Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge 1400 to be run at Fairview on Friday 27 September 2024.
The third and final leg is the R175 000 Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge 1600 to be run on 18 October. King Regent has the potential to go all the way!
