After the race fell victim to the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Hollywoodbets-sponsored trainer Gavin Smith, who saddled 50% of the winners on the programme, made it a double in the R85 000 Listed East Cape Guineas at Fairview on Friday.
Smith won the local classic with The Highway Man in 2019, and the veteran conditioner, on a dream day at the office, was back in the winner’s enclosure after Marco van Rensburg produced a peach of a thinking ride to make it six wins on the trot for Frank and Joyce Burggraaf’s powerful galloper, Jaeger Moon.
An obscured Jaeger Moon is stretched all the way to the line by Northern Song (Luke Ferraris) in a thriller (Pic – Pauline Herman)
“I think they expected me to go hard. But I had the lead for free. He was lobbing along. I didn’t want to go as hard as we do on the poly, but I had to find a balance. This horse loves a scrap. He hates losing!” enthused Van Rensburg, who has been aboard at all six victories on the good-looking son of Capetown Noir.
After winning his maiden on the Fairview polytrack over a mile in September last year at his fourth start, Jaeger Moon has not been beaten since – this was his first score on the turf – and overcoming a dramatic up in class took his tally to 6 wins with 2 places from 9 starts for stakes of R194 250.
In the face of some stiff opposition from down South, Jaeger Moon was allowed to start at 9-1 and came right back at Glen Kotzen’s Northern Song (13-2) in the final stride.
The Smith galloper got his head down to win in a time of 98,1 secs – and made it four winners for the yard on the day.
Snaith’s Salvator Mundi (33-10) was a further 1,75 lengths back in third, with the odds-on favourite Adios Amigos a weak fourth.
A R140 000 2019 BSA Ready To Run graduate, the winner was bred by Summerhill Stud and is a son of the multiple Gr1 winning Equus champion son of Western Winter, Capetown Noir.
He is out of the five-time winning Parade Leader mare, Maritime Mist.
Purchased for R1-million at the National Yearling Sale by Lady Christine Laidlaw, Capetown Noir joined the stable of Dean Kannemeyer in whose capable hands he scored eight times from 1200m to 2000m.
At his brilliant best over a mile, a blend of class and durability saw him complete the Cape Guineas/Derby/Queen’s Plate treble, while only the bob of a head stood between him and victory in all of the Gr1 HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut, Gr1 Daily News 2000 and Gr2 KRA Guineas.
