Glen Kotzen – the thinking man’s trainer! Plan a KZN Champions Season trip. En route to Durban drop in at Fairview. Collect a trophy, some black-type and a cheque of R93 750. Friday saw a sweet plan come together for Mary Slack’s Wilgerbosdrift Stud and the Woodhill Racing Team!
Mauritzfontein stallion Ideal World enjoyed a hat-trick of winners at Greyville on Sunday and maintained his rich vein of form with Woodhill Raciing’s Cape-based daughter Luna Child scoring a first stakes success in the R150 000 Listed Breeders Guineas at Fairview on Friday.
Craig Zackey has Luna Child in front as Greg Cheyne and Queen Forever arrive too late . Charles Ndlovu peeps his head in on What A Player in third (Pic – Pauline Herman Photography)
The son of Kingmambo has 20 lots on offer at the BSA National Yearling Sale on the 24 to 26 April and it is galloping billboards like his smart daughter Luna Child, who will have the buyers keen to get a slice of the action.
Coming off two low-key handicap wins at Kenilworth, Luna Child, one of a pair of Glen Kotzen runners, was easy to back at 5-1 as punters looked to the powerful Snaith-Van Niekerk combination’s Merysagos, who started favourite at 16-10.
Craig Zackey rode a confident race on the Woodhill galloper, who tracked leaders Cloud Atlas and What A Player two lengths off the pace in third.
In the run for home, the challenges were not coming from the expected quarters as Charles Ndlovu grabbed a length as What A Player bounced into the lead at the 300m.
Glen Kotzen – well planned!
Craig Zackey was bluffing as Luna Child appeared to be going out the back door, and he let her grab a gulp of air as she rallied strongly late and came right back to hit the front inside the 100m.
With Queen Forever bursting out of the pack, Zackey had timed things perfectly and Luna Child held the local star to a decisive half length win in a time of 98,95 secs.
Queen Forever came down the inside rail in the run for home, but had to be switched out more than once by jockey Greg Cheyne, as he searched for a gap.
By the time Queen Forever saw daylight, the bird had flown and she may have looked to some like an unlucky loser at her first try at a mile.
Her stablemate What A Player stayed on smartly after showing prominently for a long way and she kept the fancied Merysagos out of the trifecta.
Bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, Luna Child, who has won 4 races with 2 places from 10 starts for stakes of R262 275, is a daughter of Ideal World (Kingmambo) out of the versatile six-time winner, Cast A Spell (Rambo Dancer). The latter has produced a host of winners.
Luna Child looks sure to stay on in time and she could be a nice feature prospect for the Wooodhill Racing Team during the KZN Champions Season.
