If ever a horse deserved the honour of a Grade 1 victory it was the gutsy son of Gimmethegreenlight, the three-year-old Surcharge from the Stuart Pettigrew stable, that powered his way to victory in the R2-million Daily News 2000 at Greyville in Durban on Saturday.
Only once out of the first two in his previous 10 starts and runner-up in the three legs of the Highveld Triple Crown, the game and honest colt boosted even further the outstanding season his pilot Gunter Wrogemann is enjoying and saluted the talent and perseverance of his conditioner.
Surcharge, coming from behind in another below par paced event won by three-quarters of a length from the Paul Peter-trained Majestic Mambo whose stable companion Alssakhara had been sent out to ensure a good pace and made the running ahead of Pack Leader and Warrior’s Rest that disputed the second place for most of the race.
Surcharge (Candiese Marnewick)
When they hit the home straight, favourite Do It Again made his winning bid down the inside while Wrogemann “got a split” further out at the top of the straight and stormed down the centre of the track to take the honours.
Having ridden his 100th winner of the season earlier in the week – and one of the best seasons of his long career – Wrogemann commented that he felt for jockey Piere Strydom who had partnered the colt in most of his races and was sidelined with injury, but he felt blessed in the way racing had treated him this season. He said Surcharge had been unlucky in the three legs of the Triple Crown having had bad draws in all three.
Pettigrew, a long-time trainer on the Highveld, managed to hold his emotions in check as he praised the colt and said Surcharge was the best horse he had ever trained and ever would train.
Like the slow pace of the R1-million, Grade 1 Woolavington 2000 that had been run a short while earlier, the Daily News 2000 had not been run at a strong place in spite of the Paul Peter pacemaker getting on with things from the outset with the winning time of 124.31 secs being considerably slower than the class average of 122.72 sec and that will have been a concern for many racing pundits looking for a real star among the three-year-olds.
The Woolavington 2000 was run at an even slower pace with the Daisy Fillies Guineas winner Fiorella deliberately doddeling along at the head of affairs with Lady In Black in second place along the rail and odds-on favourite Oh Susanna fighting for her head in the early stages and one off the rail in third place. In the home straight Grant van Niekerk got the favourite to the head of affairs but under strong attack from Fiorella on her inside with Lady In Black challenging and, at one stage, looking dangerous on her outside.
With this race having been run at a crawl in a time of 125.29 secs, it was definitely not a true reflection of the true capability of Oh Susanna but there could be a re-think of the star filly’s programme for the rest of the season when taken in the overall context of the three-year-old performances at the meeting.
The R300 000, Grade 3 Lonsdale Strirrup Cup had the racegoers on the edge of their seats as the Justin Snaith stable companions, favourite Made To Conquer and Strathdon, burst clear of the field together from off the pace at the top of the straight and fought it out to the line with Made To Conquer getting the decision by about a long head and third-placed Mr Winsome some seven lengths back.
News from the Snaith stable is that Made To Conquer, at present not featuring on the July Log, will be a July contender while Strathdon will be aimed at the eLAN Gold Cup on Super Saturday at the end of the season.
By Richard McMillan
