In front of a crowd suggested by some observers to be possibly larger than Sun Met day, the R150 000 Listed Kenilworth Cup jumped in front of the stands and got the Cape Summer Season feature finale jackpot out of the gates under glorious summer skies.
Aldo Domeyer keeps Pacific Chestnut at his task to beat Keagan de Melo on the gallant Cedar Man (Pic – Chase Liebenberg Photography)
The Prawn Festival day has proven a great crowd puller and the seventh renewal boasted its largest attendance yet as the increased marketing efforts paid dividends – even though the science and mathematics of the lure of the prawn versus the place accumulator may require more analysis in time to come.
Run at a muddling crawl and sprint, the seven strong field was led for much of the 3200m trip by the tough Pomodoro 3yo Cedar Man, who did everything but withstand a strong late rally by the year older Pacific Chestnut.
In the run for home, the sprint produced a range of possible winners, but it was Pacific Chestnut who came back strongly under Aldo Domeyer to hold off the gallant Cedar Man by 0,30 in a time of 215,37 secs.
Ballad Of The Sea was always thereabouts and stayed on for third.
This was a first stakes success for Pacific Chestnut who took his stakes tally to R253 100 with two wins and six places from 17 starts.
Saturday’s crowd (Pic – Chase Liebenberg Photography)
Trained by Candice Bass-Robinson, the winner was bred by Daytona Stud and is a son of the great Horse Chestnut (Fort Wood) out of the five time winner Pacific Charm (Sportsworld), who also won up to 3200m.
The form probably needs to be taken with a pinch of salt – but it’s the way they race down here.
