In one of the best finishes of the afternoon at Turffontein on Saturday, the never-say-die Philasande Mxoli kept Stuart Pettigrew’s Good Council going to win the R300 000 Betway Summer Cup Consolation and put the lid on a tricky R273 130 Pick 6 dividend.
These big days tend to dish up the punting curved balls and the Place Accumalator paid all of R13 408, with Dave The King and The Specialist going west in the opening leg.
Philasande Mxoli delivers Good Council as the obscured Antarime (Rachel Venniker) tries hard to get on terms (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
But cowboys don’t cry and the day looked like a great success, although attendance figures and tote turnovers – standard information in years gone by – would have been nice numbers to have seen published to get a perspective of the success beyond the obvious good vibe and proliferation of happy people.
Consolation races are always second prizes but after running third in the Betway Summer Cup with longshot Rule By Force’s part-owner Dayalan Chinsammy together with the River Palace Racing Syndicate & Waste Glass Recovery (Pty) Ltd (Nom: J H de Lange), will be over the moon that the former Ashley Fortune-trained 5yo gelding found himself back in the winner’s box after an absence of twenty months.
Getting involved in a scrap with the determined Rachel Venniker on Antarime (11-2) is not what the young rider was looking for, but he emerged unscathed and was 0,20 lengths to the good as the Oratorio gelding dug deep to clock 126,24 secs for the 2000m.
In a throwback moment, the very talented Safe Passage (11-2) was in the mix, and he looked to have a say, but faded late to finish 1,30 lengths back in third.
A R150 000 CTS Ready To Run graduate, Good Council was bred by the famous home of fine wines and fast horses on the foothills of the majestic Helderberg, Avontuur.
A son of the their former internationally proven Danehill stallion Oratorio, he is out of past SA Horse Of The Year Legislate’s full sister Madame Justice (Dynasty).
A winner of 5 races with 9 places into the bargain for stakes of R693 500, Good Council could pay to follow now that he has found his winning tune.
Owner Dayalan Chinsammy rounded off the day on a high when Captainofthegreen, in whom he is a shareholder, won the last amid great celebrations.
