Andrew Harrison

After winning the first at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday, anyone who was paying attention will have included Magma Magic in their exotic calculations with Tony Rivalland intimating that the gelding was in the ‘right’ race, the KRA Cup.

A horse with a mind of his own, a bit of a ‘thinker’ according to Tristan Godden, he broke quickly and immediately into the lead. Given comfortable early fractions, there was still lots to come in the straight and helped along by a brisk tailwind, he was not for the catching chased home by Jazz Festival and World Of Our Own.

Wild At War was sent to Alyson Wright by Candice and Tammy Dawson from the Highveld specifically to take advantage of the poly track but when the right race is programmed for poly or turf one has to take advantage.

Narrowly beaten first up on the poly, Wright put the finishing touches to Wild At War who got home in a tight finish to the Conditions Plate over 1400m.

One could throw the proverbial blanket over the first four across the line, but Muzi Yeni rode a driving finish to snatch victory on Wild At War and deny Adam Azzie his first win in KZN and as a trainer in his own right with Gimmefabulous beaten a head and Rollo The Viking and pacemaker Cymric disputing the shallow end of the purse but beaten less than a length.

Wright had another race on the poly planned before deciding that Wild At War should take his chances here so the gelding should be fully primed for his next assignment.

Azzie did not have to wait long to finally crack his first winner as Keagan de Melo made all the running on Thought Control, assisted by a strong tail wind up the straight, to hold off challenges from Spirit Of Shimla and Psyche, both putting in their best work late.

In the card opener, Deepest Water put up her hand as a filly to follow with a convincing victory for Tony Rivalland and one of the doyens of South African racing, Mary Liley. It was something of an upset result for punters with Deepest Water one of the rank outsiders but she made short work of the more fancied runners Red Cardinal and Bourbon’s Beast with favourite Flag Champ unlucky not to finish a lot closer after S’Manga Khumalo was forced to snatch his mount up with the gap on the inside rail snapping shut.

De Melo was quickly back in the winner’s enclosure riding a confident race aboard Perfume Power for Duncan Howells in the fourth. Quickly out from a wide draw, De Melo tracked the lightly weighted Arverni Princess and always had Louis Goosen’s mare in his sights. The two fought out the finish but De Melo always had things in control, never resorting to the stick as Perfume Princess gradually got the better of her rival to win comfortably.

Having the fiftieth start of his career, the seven-year-old Smorgasbord put it all together for this fifth win of his career to land the C Stakes over 1000m for Goosen. Blazing Beauty set a blistering gallop with Chara Sands and City Of Love trying to keep up. Deryl Daniels, who doesn’t get many chances these days, commented post-race that he was sitting fourth on Smorgasbord but ten lengths off the pace. Given the gallop, it was always going to come down to who could keep going but all were treading water as Smorgasbord kept finding and running them all out of it with Chara Sands staying on best of all for second and Goosen’s second string Blazing Fury making late progress for third.

Front running tactics were the order of the day and with the tailwind getting stronger as the afternoon wore on, it was no surprise that Craig Zackey sent Mountainsofthemoon for the lead in the seventh, one that she never relinquished. It got a little sweaty over the final furlong with Mississippi Space closing in but Mountainsofthemoon was never in any real danger of being caught.

There was some drama at the start with the course vets checking out the fancied Flying Rain Storm and declaring her lame behind and not fit to run.

It was three up for De Melo in the last and one of the best rides of the day as Happy Fortune landed the gamble for Darryl Moore. De Melo, had earlier stated that Happy Fortune was his best ride of the afternoon. He may have had a few doubters as he dropped Happy Fortune out from the jump and only one behind him heading for the home turn. However, he knew what he had under him, slowly reeling in the opposition and timing his run to perfection in a polished ride.