Easy Lover had proved his class in his previous outing when beating some useful older horses in a handicap over 1200m despite being an early three-year-old running off a merit rating of 92.
This was the first time he had raced over further than 1450m, but after sitting at the back he looked as if he had been dropped into the race at the 200m mark and won effortlessly by 2,5 lengths from the Mike de Kock-trained favourite Trip To Rio and the Mike Miller-trained Melson.
The second favourite Split To Breeze was next best, but finished 7,75 lengths behind the winner, while the promising Rif Raf was beaten eight lengths into fifth which underlined the class of Easy Lover’s performance.
However, Howells does not believe Easy Lover is quite Gr 1 class and will instead be aiming him at a Cape Thoroughbred Sales R2,5 million sales race at Turffontein in February.
Easy Lover drifted from 22/10 to 9/2 and this was a welcome win for KZN’s champion trainer as his yard has been through a rare quiet spell.
In the previous race, a MR 74 Handicap over 1200m on the polytrack, the Dennis Drier-trained four-year-old Horse Chestnut gelding Ho’oponopono (pictured) looked one of the best bets on the card as he was running off a likely capped merit rating of 70 having won his maiden over 1000m by over three lengths. He duly won by 4,5 lengths under Sean Cormack and will probably still be ahead of the handicapper next time out.
Cormack completed a double when the ever improving Paul Gadsby-trained Lundy’s Liability gelding Candy Moon narrowly won the last, a Conditions Plate over 1600m, which was one of only two races run on the turf.
Anton Marcus added another winner to his treble on Friday night by scoring in the second race on the heavily backed Garth Puller-trained odds-on favourite Snow Rose.
Anthony Delpech rode a winner on Friday night, one at Turffontein on Saturday and followed suit by having one winner yesterday on the Sean Tarry-trained Strategic’s Pride who won a maiden over 1600m.
Mark Dixon has only had the four-year-old Trippi filly San Trip for two runs and she has now won both of them, having got up in a fillies and mares MR 84 handicap over 1900m yesterday under Keagan de Melo. This big, rangy sort could have more wins in her.
The most exciting finish yesterday was the fifth over 1000m and saw 2,5kg claimer Callan Murray only just prevailing on the Colin Scott-trained Stormy Cat.
However, the ride of the day could well have come in the first from the much underestimated jockey Derryl Daniels, who won on the 150-1 shot Mullins Bay first-timer filly from the Lola Crawford yard Dream Bay. The poly is being called a “jockey’s track”, as pace judgement and timing are of the essence and Daniels poly statistics in October and November tell a story, 26 rides, eight wins and a strike rate of 30,77%. Furthermore the return for a R1 bet on every one of his mounts in this period has been R114,30.
Pictures: Nkosi Hlophe
