Lyle Hewitson rode a powerful and beautifully judged finish on the Drakenstein bred and raced Legislate filly Swazi Queen to upstage the favourite Colorado Springs by a short head in the R85 000 Listed East Cape Oaks at Fairview on Friday.
A third stakes winner for the Cheveley Stud bred and based champion Legislate, Swazi Queen scored a thrilling win.
Lyle Hewitson gets Swazi Queen up in the shadow of the post to pip Greg Cheyne on the fancied Colorado Springs (Pic – Pauline Herman)
The race, moved to the polytrack from the turf, proved a rough affair, with a number of runners suffering interference in running.
Hewitson bought his progressive mount with a strong challenge towards the inside, which saw the Candice Bass-Robinson trained Swazi Queen get up in the shadow of the post and score by a short-head.
Swazi Queen claimed the 2021 East Cape Oaks in a time of 121,82 secs.
Now a winner of two of her ten starts, Swazi Queen is the third black type winner, and fifth black type horse overall, to have emerged from Legislate’s small first crop -which numbers just 20 runners, of which 16 have won.
Swazi Queen joins the likes of Sophomore Sprint hero Speed Machine and Swallow Stakes queen Zimbaba as stakes winners from the 2014 SA Horse Of The Year’s first crop -which also includes the likes of Hoedspruit, So Flawless and Veronica Mars.
