Patience is a virtue and it can pay dividends. The 6yo African Skyline endorsed that maxim in no uncertain terms when bouncing back from a 721 day absence from the number 1 box to win the R200 000 Fever Tree Stakes at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday.
Veteran horseman Garth Puller wouldn’t have stuck it out this long if he didn’t believe that there was something in the pipeline, and it’s worth noting that the Bruce Le Roux-bred son of Mogok has earned at 73% of his 30 starts over 5 seasons – that long before the days of the luxury of generous appearance monies and the like!
Winning Form 1-2! Serino Moodley times it right on African Skyline to beat Kabelo Matsunyane and Field Marshal (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Back up to 1500m on Sunday, Winning Form-sponsored jockey Serino Moodley did all the right things and counted to ten late in the race to produce African Skyline (13-2) with a sustained finish to hold off Field Marshal (17-2) by 0,30 lengths in a time of 89,52 secs.
The consistent Narina Trogon bailed out PA punters, running third a further length back with Formagear (4-1) crowning the quartet and shading the running-on tote favourite Imilenzeyokududuma (5-2) in fifth.
African Skyline is raced in partnership by Cathy Steele, Gerald Kalil, trainer Garth Puller and Tony Tombe, and has won 5 races with 17 places from 30 starts for stakes of R584 000 .
Bred by Bruce Le Roux, African Skyline is a son of the multiple Grade 1 winner producing Storm Cat sire Mogok, who retired in July 2019. The winner is out of the once winning Trippi mare, Sunrise In Africa.
