Argentinian Gr1 Guineas winner Hat Puntano was being written off as a lemon after fluffing his lines on his local debut but a change of bit made all the difference.

“Horse make fools of every one but today he showed his true worth,” commented an emotional Mike Azzie after the colt silenced his critics with a stunning victory in the Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile at Turffontein yesterday.

Azzie gave all the credit to Bomber Nel, who specialises in making bits for horses.

“He (Hat Puntano) was always hanging and giving us a hard time,” said Azzie. There was plenty of advice from all sides but Azzie eventually called in Nel who spent two days in his yard working with the colt. “He said we were racing him in the wrong bit and training him in the wrong bit. When we changed on Bomber’s advice, the horse settled and started running straight.”

Carrying joint top weight with race favourite New Predator and ridden by Cape jockey Grant van Niekerk, the colt got his mind on the job and gave notice that he will be a contender for the Gr1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and possibly the Gr1 Sun Met.

Earlier Via Seattle put a major spanner in the exotics.

“I’m racing here with a few of my mates and we never even put her in the Pick 6,” confessed part owner Braam van Huyssteen after Port Elizabeth raider put the skids under a high-class field of fillies in the Gr3 Princess Charlene Starling Stakes. “You hope but you don’t really believe,” he said of the 66-1 outsider who was given a copybook ride by apprentice Lyle Hewitson.

Hewitson, who has replaced Anton Marcus in the South African team for the Jockey’s International Challenge, showed just why he cracked the nod.

He sat comfortably off the pace before making his move as Folk Dance and Silver Thursday battled it out for the lead. Just as Folk Dance gained the upper hand in that duel, Hewitson slipped Via Seattle up the inside fence to win going away.

Big Bear, one of a trio saddled by Sean Tarry in the Chris van Niekerk silks in the R2.5 million Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup, underlined his credentials with a smart victory over the game filly Brave Mary.

It was possibly one of the strongest Ready To Run fields in the history of the race with Brave Mary a Gr1 winner and Purple Diamond a Gr2 winner on July day in the line-up.

Big Bear, prominent throughout as stable companion Wonderwall cut out the early fractions, kept finding to win impressively, his third victory from just four starts.

Bred by Summerhill Stud, whose boss Mick Goss pioneered the Ready To Run concept in South Africa, Big Bear has a stout pedigree that should stand him in good stead if Tarry decides to chase the Triple Crown.

By Andrew Harrison