Alan Greeff’s fast ascending Flower Alley filly Santa Therese made it six wins on the trot when she stormed to victory in Friday’s R100 000 Listed Jockey Club Stakes at a sunny Fairview.
After days of torrential rain, the meeting was switched from the turf to the all-weather, with plenty of scratchings marginally reducing the appeal of the popular Friday slot.
There was no stopping the flashy chestnut Santa Therese though. A past winner on the polytrack, she showed her class and versatility in impressive fashion in the Eastern Cape’s first stakes feature of the new term.
Santa Therese storms home for her sixth straight victory. Grant van Niekerk is in the saddle (Pic – Pauline Herman)
Going the 2000m for the first time, she was allowed to lope along just forward of midfield in fifth position by Grant van Niekerk. With the whips cracking, Santa Therese (5-8) accelerated past the stampede late in the home straight to beat Woodhill Racing raider Musical Glitch (12-1) by a quarter length in a time of 120,73 secs.
The runner-up’s stablemate Catchafallingstar (12-1) also ran a cracker a length back in third.
Victory here means that Santa Therese was registering her third stakes victory, in the process eclipsing the second and third legs of the East Cape Fillies & Mares Challenge. She surely looks destined for better things in bigger centres!
Winning jock Grant van Niekerk indicated afterwards that he feels that Santa Therese still has some improvement to come.
Santa Therese has won 7 of her 9 starts with 2 places for stakes of R301 250.
Racing in the familiar white and orange silks of KZN breeders Celso and Lee Scribante, in partnership with Steven and Jessica Jell, Santa Therese was a bargain basement R160 000 National Yearling Sale buy.
Bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, Santa Therese is by Flower Alley (Distorted Humor) out of the two-time winning Tiger Ridge mare, Santa Clarita.
Santa Therese was the second winner up to that point for East Cape champion trainer, Alan Greeff.
