Keagan de Melo, one of the more stylish jockeys around, took full advantage of a 9.5kg swing in the weights with hot favourite Fiorella to get Royal Frost home in the Pinnacle Stakes at Greyville yesterday. Although beaten, Fiorella warmed- up nicely for a crack at the Gr2 Ipi Tombe Stakes on G-Bets Summer Cup day next month.

De Melo was content to sit back in the early exchanges on Dean Kannemeyer’s filly but made his moved wide on the home turn as he realised that Fiorella was trapped behind runners on the inside rail and took full advantage of the situation.

Royal Frost got first run and although Fiorella, on the back foot at the top of the straight, got going late the bird had flown and Royal Frost coasted home with the balance of the field well beaten.

The contrast between racing at Happy Valley and Greyville yesterday was marked. There’s no holding back in Hong Kong as they go hammer-and-tongs from the jump and generally the fittest horse wins. In contrast, the Greyville ‘crawl’ was order of the day and some of the results were a lottery.

Odds-on favourite Mela Stregata was a victim, Jet Stream was good enough to over come the hurdle, but Flichity By Farr also succumbed to a funerial gallop.

After visiting second box for the 24^th time this season with Rocket Fire in the card opener and odds-on favourite Mela Stregata finishing in the scrum, Jet Stream put a wry smile back on the face of Duncan Howells.

Jet Stream was not facing the strongest of maiden fields but did it in style as he put one over the lightly raced All Aboard with the balance of the field strung out like the washing.

With stable companion El Cordorbes setting a pedestrian pace, Mark Khan raced in Marriott Road for much of the race with none too keen to let him in. But the favourite had too much class. In spite of racing green, he still had a full tank in the run home and All Aboard chased in vain.

Frank Robinson has hit a rich vein of form of late and there was some ante-post support for Top Classman in the fifth. The race was run at a muddling pace but Top Classman quickened best of all to get home ahead of Silver Rose and favourite Flichity By Far. The pace, coupled with the 4kg weight difference, was probably the deciding factor as Anton Marcus committed Flichity By Farr at the 800m mark and although she stuck gamely to her guns she was not able to hold the final sprints of her two lightly weighted rivals.

Warren Kennedy, one of the relatively unsung heroes of the weighing room and one of the best light-weight riders in the country, is a master of his craft and took his season’s tally of winners to 33 on Oratorina in the second. But he came a fraction short as Missibaba just failed to catch Fancifilly in the seventh.

Coughs and niggles were starting to get to Ashburton-based Louis Goosen who has been short of a few winners of late but he was fairly confident of Fancifilly’s chances yesterday after Marcus asked for the ride. This was the Fancifilly’s last chance as she had been a very sick horse last season but how often don’t horses come up trumps when on borrowed time.

“Sherman went like the clappers last time so she was entitled to compound, “said Goosen mid-week. “Anton (Marcus) was in the race. He clocked the gallop.”

It was close but Marcus got it right.

It was back to the drawing boards in the last for Dennis Bosch. After stretching Mutawaary over ground without success it was back to the gelding’s barrier trial first up for his new stable when close-up behind the speedy but since retired Doing It For Dan, matching the sprinter for most of the trial.

Back to a sprint yesterday, Mutawaary gave Warren Kennedy his double in the last as the pair pulled away comfortably from top weight Roy’s Magic.

By Andrew Harrison