Prompted by her Dad Michael, Fairview trainer Montana Turner threw the form book out of the window and decided to run her flagship galloper Narcos in Friday’s R175 000 Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge 1400 Powered By Betway.
Long story short, Narcos duly delivered the performance of his life to win the second leg of the Eastern Cape’s polytrack triple crown at odds of 80-1. It was the knockout blow of the afternoon!
Close! SP Gqeberha photographer Pauline Herman had her hands full with the Fairview feature winning image – the winner Narcos (Denis Schwarz) is in the middle in green and white
In a classic, ‘if you don’t have a ticket, you don’t have a chance’ scenario, Narcos overcame a tough gate and controlled matters up-front under a masterclass ride by Denis Schwarz.
After being briefly overwhelmed in the final stages, the 5yo gelding rallied right back to gain a head verdict in a time of 82,61 secs over first leg winner Prince Of Fire (9-2), who is holding his form well since arriving from Gauteng.
The Sharon Kotzen mare And We Danced (14-1) maintained her gallant consistency with a good effort from a wide gate for third.
Bred by Millstream Farm, the winner has been a beacon of light for the Turner Team and was registering his second win on the trot.
He is a son of retired Tapit stallion Coup de Grace out of the Lizard Island one-time winner, Lady’s Desire.
Now a winner of 6 races with 13 places from 30 starts, Narcos took his stakes tally to R437 743.
Enjoy the replay:
It was a terrific afternoon of emotional racing with tears of joy in the winner’s enclosure – both for the Turner family and the Strydoms a few races earlier.
The third and final leg of the Nelson Mandela Bay Poly Challenge, powered by Betway, will be contested over a mile on Friday, 20 October. Narcos will no doubt be back.
