‘He’s your WSB Cape Town Met horse’. So suggested co-owner Marsh Shirtliff after his relatively low mileage 7yo Rascallion had the crowd on their feet to pip the 4yo Magic Verse in a thrilling Vercingetorix 1-2.
A battle to the line between Rascallion (Sean Veale) and Magic Verse under JP v’d Merwe in the blue cap (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
With a third and second Met credit to his name and now a winner of 3 features in his last 4 starts, Vaughan Marshall’s popular warrior Rascallion dug deep in typically cavalier style to grab the top honours in the R500 000 Anthonij Rupert Wyne Gr2 Premier Trophy at a festive Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday.
Sporting Post-sponsored jockey Sean Veale, who declared he would go to war with the gelding, is enjoying a terrific season, and with his family on course, he wasn’t letting JP van der Merwe steal the thunder on Magic Verse after the pacesetting Litigation had tired late in a race of fluctuating pace and fortunes.
In a drive to the wire, Veale somehow got Rascallion’s (3-1) head down on the line to pop Magic Verse (9-2) to win and register 109,69 secs for the 1800m.
Sean Tarry’s Gauteng raider Litigation (25-2) showed courage down the long summer straight, and was 0,40 lengths further back in third, with Future Swing (8-1) rounding off the quartet.
Bred by Dr Veronique Kritzinger, who was on the winner’s podium, Rascallion was sold on the Cape Premier Book 1 Sale for R350 000, and is a son of Vercingetorix (Silvano) out of the Jet Master mare, Sofala.
Rascallion has won 7 races with 14 places from 28 starts for stakes of R2 170 714.
Final supplementary entries for the WSB Gr1 Cape Town Met close at 11h00 on Monday 6 January 2025.
Weights will be published later on Monday 6 January 2025.
Declarations due by 10h00 on Wednesday 15 January 2025.
Final field and barrier draws announced on Wednesday 15 January 2025.
