A professional and perfectly polished ride by Snaith anchor man Richard Fourie gave Ridgemont Highlands’ deceased champion Dynasty a hat-trick of winners in the R85 000 Listed Settlers Trophy at a sunny Durbanville on Saturday.
The beautifully played end-to-end victory by the progressive 4yo One Way Traffic was a text-book lesson for any young jockey looking to dictate a race on the right horse. Taking advantage of his handy 52,5kgs, One Way Traffic (3-1) had his ears pricked out front in the seven-horse contest.
Richard Fourie (pink cap) keeps One Way Traffic going to hold off the late challenge of Bayberry (Keagan de Melo) in the drive to the wire (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
And despite coming under extreme pressure in the run for home, Fourie kept his mount balanced – almost flippantly – to steer the son of Dynasty to his maiden stakes success, beating stablemate Bayberry (16-1) by half a length in a time of 123,04 secs.
Lucinda Woodruff’s 6yo Retro Effect (12-1) flashed through late to grab third, a further 0,75 lengths back.
Defending champion Black Knap (2-1) was never in the hunt and ran last and 5 lengths off the winner in the small field.
The winner, an R800 000 Cape Premier Yearling Sale purchase was bred by Ridgemont Highlands and is out of the thrice winning Spectrum mare, Careful Hiker. The latter is a daughter of Champion Broodmare, Our Table Mountain.
Clearly a fellow on the up, One Way Traffic has won 4 races with 2 places from his 9 starts and stakes of R182 725. Since winning his maiden, he has won 4 of 5 starts for Messrs Nic Jonsson and Bjorn Nielsen.
Brett Crawford was the leading trainer, saddling three winners on the afternoon, with the jockey accolade shared by Keagan de Melo and Luyolo Mxothwa, who rode two winners each.
