Kathy Finch and Bridget Kieswetter’s Western Winter filly proved too strong for the pace-setting Double Whammy in Saturday’s Choice Carriers Championship with Fayd’Herbe sending his mount to the front just over a furlong out to score by a most convincing length and a quarter.
Joey Ramsden said: “This is a very good filly and I thought she would win like that. It might sound big-headed but really I wasn’t worried about anything. It’s like having Variety Club and my other good horses – they give you confidence.
“The Fillies Guineas is going to have a seriously good field and I would be a bit worried about the mile. But Bernard isn’t.”
Fayd’Herbe added: “Majmu will be a hard horse to beat, and Cold As Ice is not going to get the mile as well as her, but it’s Cape racing so you never know.
“Anyway it’s going to take a good horse to beat mine. When you press the button it’s like sitting in a Porsche and today I never had any doubts. Indeed I haven’t had any since the first time I rode her.”
However the steady pace – the time was slower than the first of the 1 400m handicaps and only slightly faster than the second one – provides a cautionary caveat and suggests Mike de Kock might have to bring a pacemaker if he wants to copper-bottom Majmu’s chance on 6 December.
It certainly gave Glen Kotzen grounds for optimism. “Double Whammy switched off in front just too well this time,” he said, “and next time we want to see her when she doesn’t have to make the running.”
Vaughan Marshall, too, wants a true gallop for third-placed Jet Set Go and said: “I was very happy with her run here but the extra 200m of the Fillies Guineas is what she is looking for.”
Generalissimo got Dennis Drier’s Cape season off the mark in sensational style by smashing the Kenilworth 1 200m course record, leading throughout the Spring Valley Graduation Plate to clock 69.51 sec. According to the National Racing Bureau, the old record of 69.9sec had stood since L’Passionata 13 years ago.
Sean Cormack’s mount has plenty of speed in the pedigree – by Var out of a mare whose six wins were all over 1 000m – but Drier intends stepping him up to a mile in the Selangor next time.
He said: “They have always told me that a horse who can lead all the way over 1 200m at Kenilworth will get a mile. He is still a bit immature but the way I rate him I would have been disappointed if he hadn’t won like he did.”
Ramsden followed up his Choice Carriers success by completing a quick-fire treble with Miss Saigon (Andrew Fortune) and Swannee Rose (Anthony Andrews) but the former champion only got the mount after seeing he was to be replaced by Karl Neisus.
He promptly sent an aggrieved text to Ramsden and said: “I couldn’t believe they wanted to jock me off for Karl. I thought ‘this man is putting on somebody worse!’” Cape Town’s master of timing, possessed of a considerably more modest make-up, simply shook his head and gave a knowing smile.
Pictures: Liesl King
