Lyle Hewitson was a notable absentee from the Gr1 raceday at Kenilworth on Saturday. But the young jockey’s decision to stay at home in Joburg was vindicated
SA Champion trainer Sean Tarry and Hewitson rounded off a treble at Turffontein on when Gimmethegreenlight gelding Paisley Park made it two wins from two starts with an eyecatching score in the R95 000 Listed Secretariat Stakes.
Lyle Hewitson steers Paisley Park to victory as Gavin Lerena arrives on Copper Mountain (Pic – JC Photos)
Stepping up from his sprint debut success at the end of October, Paisley Park (2-1) showed good improvement over the extra, despite clearly being a bit immature.
He took over from pacesetting stablemate Indlamu (7-1) at the 200m and went on to withstand a challenge from the more experienced Copper Mountain (9-2), winning by a half length in a time of 85,74 secs.
“He’s the reason I stayed at home today instead of travelling to the Cape. He is a lovely horse and he will improve from here,” said Hewitson.
The winner is raced in partnership by Sean Tarry Racing and Cliff Simaan – the latter a friend of the top trainer since nursery school.
“Anybody who can stick around with me that long has got to be special,” joked Tarry.
On a day that former SA Champion Breeders Klawervlei bred the Cape Guineas winner, they would have been pleased to also have produced this smart Listed winner as a graduate of their 2019 Farm Sale.
Sean Tarry paid R200 000 for the son of Gimmethegreenlight from the five-time winning Casey Tibbs mare, Eva Tibbs – the latter was also raced by Mr Simaan with our champion trainer.
