For Anthony Andrews it was his finest hour but for all those who backed Carry On Alice down to 9-10 favouritism Saturday’s Sceptre Stakes was an unmitigated – and expensive – disaster.

The talented favourite saw no need whatsoever for S’Manga Khumalo’s call for early restraint and fought for her head, burning up so much energy that she didn’t have enough in the tank when her rider said go.

This was two furlongs out when Andrews also elected to press the button but from a position several lengths in front of her. Khumalo made up all bar a length and a half but it was only enough for fifth place, worth a mere R10 000. Andrews won R250 000 for his grateful employers.

Princess Royal & jockey Anthony Andrews (Liesl King)

A visibly upset Khumalo refused to answer press questions but Sean Tarry said: “She missed the break, got crossed and her head was in the air for 200m – and it was very hard to come from so far back.”

By this stage, though, Andrews was on the winner’s podium basking in adulation. “He puts in a lot of work and he is a young kid who is on the way up,” enthused Glen Kotzen.

Not so much of a kid. Andrews is 27 but everybody thinks he is a lot younger because he started late. But he has a better pedigree than most of his rivals. His sire rode at the Cheltenham Festival and won the South African Champion Hurdle while his dam was the racing correspondent of the Cape Times. What more could you ask for!

Mind you, his Sceptre-winning partner Princess Royal is also bred in the purple – a half-sister by Captain Al to Princess Victoria – and this win vindicated both Kotzen’s belief in her and his perseverance with a filly who is apparently a bit of a madam.

Kotzen, seemingly impervious to the ire of the whole feminist movement, declared: “She is a typical lady – she can throw her toys out of the pram now and again. But I always said that she has loads of talent. It’s just a matter of getting it out of her.”

Andrews preferred to concentrate on thanking the injured man whose advice played a big part in his first Grade 2 winner, saying: “Greg Cheyne told me exactly how to ride her. He said that, if she started to find her feet, I should go with her rather than holding her up – and that’s what I did.”

Plans for Princess Royal are fluid but the Dennis Drier-trained Gathering Fame, who repeated last year’s win in the Claremart Auction Group Jamaica Handicap under a confident Aldo Domeyer, will skip the rest of the Cape season to return to Durban.

By Michael Clower