Milnerton trainer Joey Ramsden showed his knack of producing the 2yo’s to shine early when the beautifully bred Captain Gambler finished with a flourish to win the R125 000 Listed Irridescence Stakes at a cool but windless Kenilworth on Saturday.
Donovan Dillon gets Captain Gambler up on the line (Pic – Wayne Marks)
After 78mm of desperately needed rain had fallen in the preceding week, the going was posted officially as ‘good to soft’, with high praise from jockeys and trainers for the excellent maintenance and conditioning by Dean Diedericks and his grounds staff.
The pen reading averaged at 25.
Only eight 2yo fillies went to post for the day’s opening feature, with the Bass trained Felicity Flyer starting favourite after a string of quality sprint efforts.
Streaming and Not On My Watch exchanged leads early on with Whose That Girl and Nordic Breeze further back.
Grant van Niekerk looked to have the race in the bag as Whose That Girl grabbed a lead at the 250m marker as she galloped strongly with many battling to get going.
With second favourite Reine Tonnerre battling to find her feet but looking threatening, Donovan Dillon (who rides in the mould of a Bernard Fayd’herbe) produced Captain Gambler with a sustained run from the 350m marker.
Despite Grant van Niekerk’s urgings on Whose That Girl, the Ramsden filly got the verdict in the last stride to win by a nose in a time of 94,25 secs in a thrilling finish.
Donovan Dillon – top ride
She started at 7-1 with Whose That Girl, whose inexperience of the turn probably counted against her, jumping at 12-1, with her more fancied stablemate Felicity Flyer (18-10) staying on well for third.
A filly that caught the eye was Paddy Kruyer’s Foxy Princess, who hit some traffic jams late, but ran on beautifully for a close up fourth. The daughter of Royal Air Force is one to be with over slightly further.
Racing in the Drakenstein silks, Captain Gambler has now notched some early black-type and has won 2 races with 2 places from 4 starts and R143 750 in stakes.
Captain Gambler was bred by Drakenstein Stud and is a daughter of Captain Al out of the US bred half-sister to a Gr1 placed Gr3 winner, Skip Poker (Skip Away).
That makes Captain Gambler a half sister to the Dubai bound 2015 Winter Derby winner, Liquid Mercury (Trippi). He also raced under the Goodhope Racing flag before relocating to Mike de Kock for his overseas campaign.
