The Snaith-Fortune combination is a lethal and entertaining one in anybody’s language, and the duo were amongst the winners on an entertaining Easter Sunday at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
Andrew Fortune and Okavango stretch clear as Vila Vicosa (Mathew Thackeray) runs on for second (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
“I have brought my biggest string to KZN in the forty winters that Snaith Racing has been visiting here. And every year I have had an experienced jockey like Anthony Delpech or Anton Marcus, who knows the tracks, as it’s not easy. This season it’s Andrew Fortune – not that we are giving him all the Grade 1 rides either!” mused the SA Champion trainer after Nic Jonsson’s lightly raced Okavango strolled in to make it 3 wins from 7 starts and signal his claims as a low-key sophomore talent.
“I am just happy to be sitting at the Snaith table. I know I will get some of the caviar – even if not as much as Richard Fourie,” laughed Fortune after he paid tribute to the exciting Michael De Broglio bred son of Master Of My Fate.
“I rode him early on. Okavango is a top division horse – he just needs some time and 400m further,” suggested the Candyman of the R420 000 BSA 2yo November Sale buy out of the top-notch Sportsworld mare, Sabina Park.
While the weight of public money saw Okavango start at 5-10, he didn’t disappoint and is likely to follow the same route as last year’s Hollywoodbets Durban July winner, Oriental Charm. He will likely side-step stablemate Eight On Eighteen in the Daily News and go via the Greyville 1900 and Cup Trial.
Muzi Yeni (black cap) punches Underworld out to hold off Andrew Fortune and Get Impressed (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Earlier in the day, Fortune had to play second fiddle to Muzi Yeni in a Snaith exacta finish to the seventh.
A stakes winner as a 2yo and a dual winner on the Fairview polytrack, Hong Kong-based JP Cuvelier’s Querari gelding Underworld upped his game in good fashion with a well-earned victory in an A Stakes mile.
“I’m more Natalian than half the local trainers,” quipped Snaith as he played to the Hollywoodbets Greyville faithful, a crowd he labelled the best racing fans in South Africa, after saddling a popular exacta in the seventh race.
Provincialism is a tonic in racing, and with the arrival of the various Cape yards over the past few weeks, the local racing has brightened considerably.
Bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, Underworld was a R140 000 National 2yo Sale purchase and took his stakes earnings to R564 169 with his fifth win (7 places) from his 16 starts.
A galloper who loves KZN, Get Impressed was possibly carrying more condition than his stablemate in his trainer’s estimation, and should not be long in following up in similar company.
Earlier in the afternoon, trainer Kumaran Naidoo enjoyed a birthday celebration of note when Muzi Yeni got the Talk Of The Town filly Street Talk home to beat the any-priced Echo, in a third race exacta that paid R1128,40. The quartet, despite being carried over in part, paid just shy of R100 000!
