It is one of racing’s many truisms that the best 2yo’s very often don’t make the best 3yo’s. However, the signs are at least highly promising that last season’s champion juvenile filly Princess Victoria has gone the right way.
Pierre Jourdan thrilled his legion of fans when he defied a hefty 6kgs to run out a convincing winner of the Emperors Palace Charity Mile over 1600m on the Turffontein standside course on Saturday.
Astro News proved to be a more than capable stand-in for his late stable companion, Fighting Warrior, when he won the Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m at Turffontein (standside) on Saturday.
Mike de Kock sends out nearly one third of the 16 runner field for Saturday’s Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile on the standside track at Turffontein and it may be Welwitschia who represents the champion trainer’s best chance of landing the spoils in this valuable handicap.
Some top class young females have won the Fillies Championship in recent years, most notably Mother Russia and Ebony Flyer….
For Sean Tarry, the last day of the 2010/2011 racing season will go down as one of his most memorable in a career which is already replete with big moments. He saddled the first two finishers to the Canon Gold Cup, at odds of 45/1 and 35/1 respectively, emulating the 2009 feat of Stephen Page, who saddled the winner Mokaro and runner-up Noblewood in that particular renewal of South Africa’s premier long distance race.
Amanee stepped up to 1600m for the first time and showed considerable improvement on her previous form when she won the Thekwini Stakes for two-year-old fillies at Greyville on Sunday.
Beach Beauty stepped beyond 1600m for the first time and it took to it like the proverbial duck to water when easily landing the Gold Bracelet over 2000m at Greyville on Sunday.
Will the Golden Slipper form stand up? Ratings for the Gr1 race for 2yo fillies on July day were difficult to arrive at, with Princess Victoria a very easy winner and few of those close up with much previous excellence to speak of.
Three of the four of the highest MR-rated runners in the Champion Stakes are Australian imports, and only two of the top-eight are locally bred. Chances are that, as in the Gr1 Golden Horseshoe on July day, the spoils will fall their way.
With four Gr1 events taking place on Canon Gold Cup Day as well as our two top jockeys battling for supremacy, a thrilling climax to the season looks sure to be had this weekend….
A man we are privileged to have known as a loyal friend of this great game and of the Sporting Post, a personal mate, and one of South African horseracing’s great characters, Shaheen Shaw, a husband, loving Dad and Grandad, passed away suddenly at the age of 55
The sad reality is that no matter who did what wrong, the Peter saga has been a scar on the SA horseracing landscape for far too long and besides the old favourite of justice delayed, it has lingered lengths ahead of KZN star Royal Victory’s big win in the 2023 renewal of the Highveld showpiece
Time has flown by and it’s been thirty years since the first issue of the Sporting Post hit the shelves in October 1994
