Learning To Share

Pomodoro and Royal Bencher

A sharing of the spoils was probably the most favourable outcome of the R500 000 Gr1 SA Derby run over 2450m at Turffontein on Saturday. Two top three year olds in Pomodoro and Royal Bencher produced the thrills in a grandstand finish to the final leg of the Sascoc Triple Crown.

High drama followed the running of the SA Derby when the Stipes announced that an objection had been lodged against dead-heater Pomodoro. He had joined the gallant Royal Bencher in the final 25m of the race and given the Alec  Laird horse a nasty bump strides before the two passed the line as one horse. Pomodoro went off at 7-2, while Royal Bencher was more freely available at 11-1.

Tearaway

Trainer Terry Lowe must have decided that his only chance of winning this race was to steal a march and he instructed Fanie Chambers to take The Club King out and make the field gallop. The son of Fan Club’s Mister went clear by many lengths and was tracked by Blaze Of Fire, Ice Trigger, Changing Moon, Royal Bencher, Zambucca. Brooks-Club, Pomodoro , Wagner, E Jet and Perigrine with Silver Flyer bringing up the rear.

The Club King led for home but quickly tired as the Oppenheimer’s Brooks-Club moved forward looking very threatening as Zambucca slipped through down the inside.

Anton Marcus was getting stuck in to Royal Bencher as the four horses came abreast in the stampede for home.  Royal Bencher bounded ahead of Brooks-Club while Pomodoro was taking forever to get going.The penny eventually dropped for Pomodoro and in the drive to the line  he came back strongly  at Royal Bencher and simultaneously drifted across and onto him just before the line. The clash and bump is clearly visible on the head-on film.

The judge declared a dead-heat and following the tight tussle for supremacy, the Stipendiary Stewards lodged an objection on behalf of Royal Bencher on the grounds that Pomodoro had shifted outwards and made slight contact with him about four strides before the finishing line.

Decision Time

After viewing the patrol films of the race and considering all of the evidence, the Objection Board were of the opinion that Pomodoro was finishing faster than Royal Bencher and despite the interference, left the result as given by the Judge. So the dead-heat result stood.

The conclusion reached to overrule the objection will probably satisfy most observers as quite a fair one. But it is puzzling that the Objection Board were looking at a transgression caused against Royal Bencher and which patently involved a bump by Pomodoro. They thought Pomodoro was the stronger finisher and maybe if Pomodoro had run straight, he would have won. But he didn’t. He drifted out onto Royal Bencher and in so doing may have prevented Anton Marcus from utilising his whip hand, which in effect was sandwiched between the two horses.

We have watched a multitude of similar finishes where the faster finishing horse fails to get up and beat the one in front.Without the full transcript of the proceedings we are not in a position to understand how they viewed the ‘victim impact.’ Nothing  is said in the official Stipes Report about Royal Bencher’s inconvenience. Gavin Lerena can consider himself most fortunate not to have picked up a holiday and second place. This was after all, a Gr1 race.

Others

Of the rest, Brooks-Club ran a cracker to stay on just one length off the winning pair.He was close up in both the Gauteng Guineas and the SA Classic  and looks to be a horse with ample scope.

Mike De Kock’s Sliver Flyer and Joey Soma’s Wagner were both disappointing and finished way down the tube. Silver Flyer was 14 lengths off in tenth place, while Wagner never got going and finished eleventh and 21 lengths behind.

Solid Performances

Sean Tarry’s Pomodoro has won five of his nine starts for stakes of R1 346 000. His wins include victories in the Gr3 Tony Ruffel Stakes and the Listed KZN Guineas Trial. He had finished an outstanding second to the top-class Slumdogmillionaire in the SA Classic recently.

Alec Laird’s Royal Bencher has won four of his nine starts for stakes of R815 000. He has a much more humble background having won an MR75 Handicap over 1800m at Turffontein in February.

Pomodoro was bred by his owner Chris Van Niekerk and is by Jet Master out of the Northern Guest  mare Golden Apple. This faithful servant has produced a host of good winners for Chris Van Niekerk and a mating with Jet Master looked inevitable. Pomodoro was a R325 000 buy-back at the National Yearling Sale and with his career earnings outstripping that and a very bright future ahead, there may well be some underbidders who are kicking themselves right now.

Royal Bencher was bred by Varsfontein Stud and is by Zabeel stallion Greys Inn out of the Caesour mare Roman Circus.  He will enjoy the distinction of going down in the record books as Greys Inn’s first Graded race winner. This stallion  had won the SA Classic prior to winning this race in 2004 when beating  Saddlewood. He went on to win the Vodacom Durban July as a three year old.

Royal Bencher was something of a steal at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale in 2011 when sold for just R50 000, although he admittedly was only from an as yet still unproven Greys Inn’s second crop.

The exciting thing about racing is that these two up-and-coming three year olds will clash again and there are outstanding scores to be settled. A return match between Pomodoro and Royal Bencher could be an interesting spectacle.

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