Best sprinter in Mauritius
Gr1 win for Green Keeper, a son of Right Approach – and making him the best sprinter on the island
18th September 2012
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Gr1 win for Green Keeper, a son of Right Approach – and making him the best sprinter on the island
Ricky Maingard’s Ice Axe asserted his supremacy over arch-rival IL Saggiatore to win the Gr1 Phoenix Beverages Maiden Cup run over 2400m at the Champ de Mars in Mauritius on Sunday
The former Charles Laird-trained Solskjaer gelding Ice Axe made a winning debut on the beautiful Indian Ocean Island of Mauritius, when he downed the odds-on favourite IL Saggiatore to win the Gr1 Le Trophee Du Bicentenaire Du MTC on Saturday.
It had all the makings of a fairytale end to our season. The glamorous presence of the Royal, Princess Anne, and other high-profile personalities like English trainer Henri Cecil and the ‘Président de la Fédération International des Autorités Hippiques’, Louis Romanet, as well as Frankie Dettori and some of the world’s leading riders. Nobody could have anticipated the dark cloud looming on the horizon in the form of the doping scandal that broke on the eve of the weekend as well as the dramatic arrest of an assistant trainer and grooms.
Some tremendous performances by Disa Leader and outstanding jockeyship by Irishman Robbie Burke to clinch the jockey title will be the highlights of a wonderful season of exciting horseracing that includes a visit by Frankie Dettori this weekend. These will hopefully overshadow the shocking news that the Fok Stable, who have four Maiden Cups and many other Group winners to their credit, will not be renewing their licence in 2011 after a quarter of a century of sending out winners in Mauritius.
Both Seattle Ice and jockey Glen Hatt have had a relatively quiet time of it by their own very high standards this season, but that all changed on Saturday when they partnered to win our very last Group race of the season. Hatt in fact scored a double on the day to finish on 21 winners for the season and with just one meeting left the Capetonian will be looking for a few more winners.
The withdrawal of the talented Profit Report made Robbie Burke’s task of winning the feature race on Fingal’s Cave last weekend, a lot easier. It was the Maigrot trained charge’s third straight win and he looks to have plenty of stake cheques left in him yet. On the jockey front Johnny Geroudis and Imran Chisty each rode a double while the high-riding Gilbert Rousset yard had three winners on an entertaining afternoon.
Trainer Raj Ramdin and his jockey Roland Boutanive had plenty to celebrate as they scored the first hat-tricks of their professional careers on Saturday. The party spirit was sadly dampened, however, as the good reputation of Mauritian Horseracing has taken a knock with the simmering unhappiness surrounding the ‘Monsieur Dane’ affair. In fact what started off as a routine enquiry about a jockey not riding to instructions, is now threatening to have far wider ranging repercussions.
The Gilbert Rousset-trained Disa Leader crowned himself Horse Of The Year with a facile win in the Duke Of York Cup on Saturday. That was his sixth win from six starts this season, which includes two classics and an amazing three consecutive course records. The son of Parade Leader now holds all of the 1500m, 1600m and 1650m Champ de Mars course records and may well be destined to race abroad.
For the second meeting in succession, the Vincent Allet yard and their stable jockey, Imran Chisty, grabbed the limelight with a hat-trick of winners. Chisty boasts a remarkable winning strike-rate of 35%, from only 26 rides. It could well have been four winners for the red hot partnership if Lord Of The Dance’s saddle didn’t slip in the final stages of his race.
It was sweet justice for log leading jockey Robbie Burke when he bounced back from a suspension for not having ridden Fingal’s Cave to the
Charl Pretorius pokes a bit of fun as we brace ourselves for a rollercoaster ride through the absurd, the outrageous, and the downright unbelievable in South African horse racing
