Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Double delight for Tarry

David Thiselton
Sean Tarry completed a fantastic season by landing two Grade 1 events on Vodacom Durban July day on Saturday at Greyville.
Tarry finished second on the National Trainers log behind runaway winner, Mike de Kock. His small filly Happy Archer, winner of Saturday’s Durban Thekwini Stakes for two-year-old fillies over 1 600m, is by one of the world’s emerging boom sires, Dubawi. She was bred in Australia, a country Dubawi will not be shuttling to from his England base this season. Anton Marcus, rider of Happy Archer, told of how the chestnut filly was dwarved in the parade ring by her rivals, but added that what she lacked in size she made up for in ability. Tarry made Happy Archer his best runner of the day before the event and his only doubt in the build up was that she would not stay the mile at this stage of her career. He did add though that, “she looks to stay and definitely will do so in time.” He needn’t have worried as she showed a devastating turn of foot at the top of the straight and streaked clear to win by 2,5 lengths. On that showing it would have been an interesting clash if the Mike de Kock-trained Mahbooba had lined up and panellists will have a difficult time separating the two for the Equus Champion two-year-old filly award.
Clairwood-based trainer Deon Visser, the former assistant to Alec Laird, had the best result of his short career since taking out his own license by finishing second with Kahal filly Silent Call. Glen Kotzen’s Qui Danzig filly, Six Blue Notes, ran on well to snatch third from the Gavin van Zyl-trained Strike Smartly filly Cherry On The Cake. The Paul Lafferty-trained Lake Coniston filly, Legal Account, started second favourite and finished fifth. She has a speedy pedigree, despite her rangy action, and might not have quite stayed the 1 600m. Tarry’s New Zealand-bred Black Minnaloushe colt, Gold Onyx, caused a major upset in the Premier’s Champion Stakes for two-year-olds over 1 600m, coming with a late charge to catch and pass the favourite, the Mike de Kock-trained Tiger Ridge colt Kavanagh. Kavanagh had drifted from 13-20 to 14-10 in the market on the grounds of a flood of money coming for another de Kock horse, Perana, who shortened from 7-1 to 16-10. Tarry had worried about Gold Onyx’s wide draw in the lead up, but added that his last outing could be “confidently ignored.” After the event Tarry mentioned that Felix Coetzee had shown mastery all season in overcoming wide draws so was not surprised the top jockey had done it again. Kavanagh moved comfortably throughout and looked all over the winner coming around the turn in a handy position near the rail. Kevin Shea sent him to the front and the horse opened up a big lead but then drifted towards the outside. It soon became clear that 33-1 shot Gold Onyx would catch him and many Pick 6 tickets went up in smoke as he did so to win by 0,75 lengths. De Kock’s Fort Wood colt, Zanzamar, finished third from the Charles Laird-trained Galileo grey, The Assayer. The all conquering De Kock-Delpech partnership, who won the July with Bold Silvano, also wrested the Grade 1 Garden Province Stakes over 1 600m with the three-year-old Brazilian-bred Roi Normand filly, Here To Win. Here To Win came from near the back with a sustained run that picked up momentum when a dream gap opened at about the 200m mark. She swept past the Glen Kotzen-trained Imperious Star to deny that yard a repeat of last year’s victory in this race. Imperious Star brushed the rail at about the 700m mark as the leader, the Tarry-trained Captain’s Gal, appeared to cramp her for a moment, but it probably had no material effect on the result as she didn’t lose her stride. De Kock and Delpech also won the Grade 2 Gold Vase over 2400m with the Argentinian-bred Editor’s Note filly, Equiparada, who was very impressive, romping home by 2,25 lengths and she has a bright future as a stayer. The other stakes race on the card, the Grade 3 Schweppes 2200, which is a largely a consolation event for those July entries that don’t make the final field, went to the Michael ÿ¿OLeer-trained Saluki, who flew up from last place.

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