On an entertaining afternoon of competitive racing at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Tuesday, results went largely to form with the Ridgemont team celebrating three winners, two of which were bred by them, and including a double for the Khaya Stables-Kannemeyer Racing combination.
Coming off an eyecatching second to the promising Sahara Cat on debut, the Ridgemont -bred Tanneron went off at a prohibitive 1-5 to get the favourite trend rolling in the opener when she strode out to a facile victory under Aldo Domeyer for Candice Bass-Robinson.
Tanneron (Morne Winnaar in blue cap) was pipped by the promising Sahara Cat (Richard Fourie) on a top debut (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
The daughter of Var (Forest Wildcat), who races for the ‘Badge Boys’ team of the Fullard and Drew families, is out of the thrice winning Count Dubois mare, Anime, and is a big strong girl who looks to have a genuine touch of class about her.
In the third race, the Cape Premier Yearling Sale R1 million ticket Explosive Speed, a Klawervlei-bred son of the Kieswetter family farm’s Redoute’s Choice champion Rafeef, exploded up the outside late to beat the pacy Connery going away.
The improved again winner is out of the three-time winning Captain Al mare, Sitia.
The Khaya-Kannemeyer-Zackey-Rafeef combination were back in the winner’s box in the fourth when the Ridgemont- bred Enchanting Choice, another progressive daughter of Rafeef and a R650 000 Cape Premier Yearling Sale buy, took the fight to her opposition and scored a meritorious gun-top-tape victory in the Class 4 mile contest.
Rafeef’s daughter Enchanting Choice (Craig Zackey) carries too many guns for the year older Philosophise (Aldo Domeyer) to score an end-to-end win (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
This was no mean achievement in a mixed age-group race, and was her second win, with 4 places, from 8 starts, and came at an appropriate time for a thrilled Dean Kannemeyer, as he was discharged from hospital following emergency surgery last week.
Recent new freelancer Aldo Domeyer was the most successful jockey on the afternoon, with a treble that included a double on Tanneron and the Maine Chance bred and raced Silvano daughter Grandiosa for Candice Bass-Robinson, and a rare winner for Justin Snaith in Nic Jonsson’s Trippi gelding Moonacres, who has taken his time to win, but could go on from here with the confidence boost.
The Cape Winter Series could be on the radar for the Boland Stud-bred Gimmethegreenlight colt Luce Verde, who recorded his second victory from eight starts when justifying enthusiastic betting support to win the Cape C Stakes over 2000m under Sporting Post-sponsored Louis Mxothwa.
Trainer Brett Crawford did the honours for Lance and Delma Sherrell. The former Springbok flyhalf was on course to celebrate his first winner in the new era Hollywoodbets Kenilworth front-of-stand winner’s enclosure and indicated that the unkindest cut of all could be on the agenda for the progressive 3yo.
Heavyweight Bernard Fayd’herbe doesn’t ride a lot, but his double on the afternoon exemplified his status as being amongst the best of our local riders. His sister and her family were on course on a visit from Madagascar, and Bernie’s timing proved spot-on.
Fayd’herbe rode a confident end-to-end race to win the Cape C Stakes over a mile, on Denis Le Breton’s Vercingetorix gelding Le Legionnaire for trainer Des McLachlan.
Just under two hours later, the top notch rider delivered the only knockout blow of the afternoon when the 12-1 Marvel William got up in the last stride to nab the free-striding Speed Racer, who was looking to give Lady Christine Laidlaw’s Khaya Stables and Craig Zackey what would have been their third winner of the day.
A Lammerskraal bred son of William Longsword (Captain Al), and a R50 000 Cape Yearling Sale purchase, Marvel William claimed his second victory from 14 starts in the Truter silks, in partnership with Vaughan Marshall and Jenny Jones.
For three Hollywoodbets’ Punters Challenge players who were leaning on Speed Racer, Marvel William’s return to form was an agonizing moment as they were on the brink of sharing the R750 000 on offer for a perfect eight winners on the afternoon.
Had they wagered a minimum of R50 on the popular competition’s programmatically generated Betslip, they would have doubled their potential prize to R1,5 million.
So goes it, and that’s racing for you. There is always another chance to win big!
The next Cape racemeeting is at the same venue on Tuesday 2 April, when the Easter Sprint heads the programme.
