Overdue. The Spectrum filly Beloved Betty looks ready to win the Listed Queen Palm Handicap at Clairwood on Saturday
A small field goes to post for the R135 000 Listed Queen Palm Handicap to be run over 2500m at Clairwood on Saturday. Cherry On The Cake’s last run was too bad to be true, and she gets an excellent opportunity to make good on that.
Owned by the first lady of South African Horseracing and a half sister to the Triple Tiara princess Cherry On The Top carries a heavy burden of expectancy on her beautiful shoulders. Her formline also displays a consistent list of good runs. But last time it went uncharacteristically awry.
Good Family
Well related. Cherry On The Cake enjoys Piere Strydom’s patient handling and should go very close
Gavin Van Zyl’s well related mare was a hot order to win the East Coast Handicap at her last outing, but went horribly one paced late in the race to finish an eight length fifth behind the vastly improved Adobe Pink. With a marked turnaround in the weights in her favour, Piere Strydom in the saddle and a serious test that she is surely crying out for, she gets her chance to set the record straight on Saturday.
Cherry On The Cake has won five races and struck gold when partnering with Piere Strydom in March when winning two races on the trot, including the Listed Jacaranda Handicap. Strydom’s genius judge of pace and patience are the factors that contribute to the mare producing her best and she looks likely to also enjoy the increased test of puff here.
In the Pink
Improving. Adobe Pink has few peers when it comes to pure improvement and may surprise again despite a weight turnaround
Adobe Pink beat her easily in the East Coast Handicap but Sally Jourdan’s 4yo will have to absorb a 3,5kg turnaround in the weights with Cherry On The Cake. Adobe Pink achieved the unlikely hat trick with that opening win in KZN and has continued to improve with age, as we have become accustomed with the Go Deputy offspring.
She has improved dramatically since winning the Sun Classique over 2400m at Kenilworth in January, and stays every inch of the trip. This will be her big test to prove exactly how good she really is.
Game
Glen Kotzen’s Beloved Betty is one of the games girls in the game, and she actually finished marginally ahead of Cherry On The Cake in the East Coast Handicap. Beloved Betty is 1,5kgs better off with Cherry On The Cake for that three quarter length beating, and thus has the better of both Adobe Pink and her on that run.
Glen Kotzen stays loyal to Ian Sturgeon who rode Beloved Betty last time , and if ever there was a filly who eventually deserves to go to stud more deserving than a two time winner it is the daughter of Spectrum. She has a smart turn of foot, and with a good pace very likely in this event, she could finally put it all together.
Drier
Dennis Drier now trains the seven time winning mare, Pacific Dynasty. She opened her KZN account with a rather good effort just over four lengths off Jet Explorer in the Greyville 1900, and may improve further with the change in surroundings and the stimulating climate.
Mike Bass sends out a coupling of Shimmering Jet and Daily Flight. Neither was able to spark in the East Coast Handicap and will have to improve on their last few outings to have any say in this race.
Tough Task
Joey Ramsden trains the 3yo one time winner Rachel Leigh. Like Adobe Pink, another Lammerskraal product, she is likely to need the outing and may find this a tough ask against the hard knocking proven campaigners. With a profile much on the lines of the Ramsden runner, Duncan Howells’ Sounds Of Tigers looks hard pressed to assert herself in this company.
Tactical
The race will be an interest test of tactics and pace judgement. With Strydom out front on a solid stayer, one doesn’t want to go backing anything else. Beloved Betty may be the right one at the weights though and the anticipated tussle should provide for an exciting finish.
