The progeny of Go Deputy continue to make their mark and it was his daughter Deputy Ryder who underlined her courage and heart with a gutsy display to score a narrow but well deserved victory in the R150 000 Listed East Coast Cup at Greyville on Friday evening.
The 2016 Listed Queen Palm winner had caught the eye with a solid showing from a wide draw in her 2016 SA Champions Season opener when beaten a quarter length by Gallica Rose after doing the donkey work.
Deputy Ryder (Grant van Niekerk) rallies to hold Gathering Fame (obscured) and Ma Choix (Aldo Domeyer)
But a few notches fitter, she was to turn the tables on her conqueror in style.
Only ten fillies went to post for the support feature and it was hardly surprising to see the normally consistent joint topweight and former Gr2 winner Gallica Rose vying for attention with the Sean Tarry 3yo Intergalactic at the top of the betting boards.
Grant van Niekerk always had Deputy Ryder within spitting distance of the leader Cassie O’Malley as Cape filly Tonya played the ham on the sandwich between the two for much of the early part of the race.
Turning into the short straight Van Niekerk made a bold early move and went after Cassie O’Malley, with the two fancied runners languishing under pressure a few lengths off.
Deputy Ryder was staying on but battled to rope in the leader who wasn’t throwing in the towel easily.
At the 200m, Deputy Ryder looked strong but with Ma Choix finishing powerfully down her ouutside and Gathering Fame making up lengths from the middle, she had a race on her hands.
Trainer Neil Bruss – file pic of a Scottsville lead in
Showing extreme courage and raw ability, Deputy Ryder continued to roll and held her fast diminishing advantage to beat the low-flying Gathering Fame by a head in a time of 126,43 secs.
In a blanket finish, Ma Choix was a neck back in third, with longtime pacesetter Cassie O’Malley staying on gallantly for fourth.
The fancied Gallica Rose and Joburg visitor Intergalactic produced no shows and failed to fire – both finished out of the money in something of an exotic bet knockout for punters.
Trainer Neil Bruss confirmed that his charge had made all the running from a wide draw at her previous start in the Scarlet Lady and was not winning out of turn.
“Grant (van Niekerk) rode a top race and while she only just got there, the result is up. Steve Ajax, who lives in Wales and heads up Four Legs Racing, who lease her from Lammerskraal, will be thrilled. I just want to say that I have trained horses in five different countries and if you can’t train winners out of Summerveld, then you never will. It is a fantastic training centre – one of the best,” he suggested.
Grant Van Niekerk – double on evening should cover travel costs
Cape-based Jockey Grant van Niekerk rode a winning double on the evening, and other than highlighting the prohibitive cost of air travel, was pleased as punch.
“I was glad when Mr Bruss told me to bounce and have her wherever she was comfortable. I thought I was gone at the 200m as they were coming from all sides – but she quickened well when I asked her to go again,” he said.
Deputy Ryder has now won 5 races with 4 places from 14 starts and took her stakes tally to R387 100.
She hails from a superb winner producing Lammerskraal family and is by Go Deputy out of the five time winning Red Ryder mare, Miss Ryder – who has produced a host of winners.
Go Deputy has enjoyed a purple patch and has been a revelation this season, with a host of feature winners, most notably the SA Triple Crown sensation, Abashiri.
Go Deputy won the Gr1 Sword Dancer Invitational and won or placed in eight graded races during his illustrious career, which saw the blue blooded bay earn over $1 000 000 in stakes.
He shares his dual champion sire Deputy Minister with leading sires Awesome Again (sire of champion and top sire Ghostzapper), Silver Deputy, Dehere, Salt Lake and Touch Gold, and Deputy Minister is also broodmare sire of hot US sire Curlin.
