Andrew Harrison
Tristan Godden has had a season to remember with the first Gr1 of his career coming in the Gr1 Betway Summer Cup for Frank Robinson, and is now getting chances from the top stables.
Crossing the subway in the Bet With The Tote Class 3 handicap on the poly at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday, he will have been a touch nervous of what the Snaith yard will have been saying as he got hemmed in with seemingly little prospect of getting out.
Aboard the Justin Snaith-trained favourite Powerandtheglory, Mickaelle Michel aboard City Of Love had him tight in behind Wild At War with nowhere to go.
However, as Wild At War shifted in slightly and City Of Love came up empty, the gap opened timeously enough for Powerandtheglory to accelerate through to catch Maphaka who had slipped through on the inside rail.
Godden made light of the situation saying that he knew that he was on the best horses but admitted that he would have liked to have pulled the trigger a little earlier.
Veteran trainer Ricky Maingard is one of the deepest thinkers in the sport and the man behind the formulation of the popular Capstone Feeds. He was also the man who trained champions of yore, Wolf Power and Bodrum to name but a few.
That said, he may have set a new president for Champions Season, arriving in KZN without out any stars in his string but a string laced with horses that would perform at the lower levels for the increased stakes. All but one of his runners have finished either first or second in their races and Billy Cool added to that tally as he made all the running in the eighth, to give champion jockey elect Craig Zackey another winner.
It was a relatively straight forward win. Leading from an inside gate, waiting for challenges to arrive and then pressing on to a bloodless victory.
Former multiple champion jockey Anton Marcus once labelled the outside of the straight on the poly track as the ‘golden highway’ with the perception that there was a track biase. That biase has since been remedied with the revamp – if in fact it ever existed – but jockeys who still elect that route for a straight and clear run at the line, often come up trumps.
While most of the field for the Lucky Fish Magic Mile Class 4 battled up the inside rail, attempting to peg back the free-striding Blue Steel, Zackey took his chances on Nathan Kotzen’s runner Bangladesh. Back early, Zackey made his move around the turn and wide into the straight and while all were in the scrum on his inside, Bangladesh finished with a wet sail to collar an ever game Blue Steel.
In spite of giving his rivals four months start in the championship, Keagan de Melo has given notice that he will be a force to be reckoned with come August 1 as he racked up his 150th winner of the current season. At a winning strike rate of 20% he is only behind log leader Craig Zackey and last season’s record-breaking Richard Fourie.
His 150th came aboard the Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained Molten Lava in the card opener, taking the lead smoothy at the top of the straight and winning with the minimum of fuss.
He was back in the winner’s enclosure in the third but forced to share the honours with apprentice Mxolisi Mbuto who arrived with a telling late run on Darryl Moore’s charge Fort Usher. Green Commander looked to have the race in the bag 50 m out but Fort Usher was making up ground all the while from a long way off the pace. Green Commander was running on empty the last bit as Fort Usher just failed to get past with the judges unable to separate them at the line.
Not yet done, De Melo added a third winner to his tally as he gave Position Of Power the perfect ride to land the Class 3 seventh. With the pace on from the jump, De Melo was happy to sit mid-field on Alyson Wright’s runner before punching through a gap that opened like the Red Sea to reel in Blazing Fury and Rainbow Reward who disputed a tight finish for the minor money.
The Apprentice Class 4 developed into a two-horse race as Last Margarita with Anaas Mosaheb aboard and Damyan Pillay riding Miss Ladyaterix burst out of the pack. However, Yogas Govender’s charge finished the stronger of the two, eventually pulling clear of Last Margarita.
It was a long wait for Calvin Habib with only two rides on the day but it was worth it as Habib rode a confident race on Lucinda Woodruff’s filly Innerbloom. Tracking the pace he moved smoothly into the lead and the result was clear a long way out in spite of De Melo arriving late on Sovereign Gem to snatch second.
