Dennis Drier revealed that Triptique’s win in the Gr 2 Cape Merchants at Kenilworth on Saturday was a plan come together and the imposing son of Trippi might now be aimed at the Gr 1 L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate.
Drier has perennially become a thorn in the flesh of the big-Cape yards and was not surprised to be in the winner’s enclosure of the Cape Summer Of Champions Season’s second Gr 2 event.
He said, “I have always rated him and said to Braam (Van Huysteen, who part-owns him), ‘I think he can win the Merchants’.” Drier went on to speak of the satisfaction of a plan coming together.
He praised lightweight stable jockey Sean Veale, who joined the yard in about February, and said, “He has taken the bull by the horns, is riding with a lot of confidence and rode to instructions.”
Triptique (Liesl King)
Veale was given the ride ahead of first call stable jockey Sean Cormack simply due to the 52kg Triptique was set to carry and Drier confirmed that at the weights, with Generalissimo having to carry 57,5kg, Triptique had “definitely” been the yard elect. The betting reflected this as Triptique was backed in from 16/1 to 9/1, while Generalissimo drifted from 8/1 to 20/1.
Drier had spoken of his regard for Triptique in the build-up to the Cape Summer Of Champions and had rated him the 26-horse string’s “dark horse”, before adding, “He is very talented and we haven’t seen the best of him yet. I think he could be looking for 1400m to a mile.” Drier thus regards the 1000m of the Cape Flying Championship as too sharp for him. One plan he is eyeing is to take in the Gr 2 Khaya Stables Diadem Stakes over 1200m at Kenilworth on December 26 and then run him two weeks later in the Queen’s Plate, which is widely regarded as the country’s most prestigious weight for age mile. Plan B is to keep him to sprints.
Triptique will be taking on a lot of the country’s best horses if he runs in the Queen’s Plate, including two Equus Horses Of The Year in Legislate and Futura, but asked on whether he was up to it, Drier replied, “He has done nothing wrong to date.” Indeed, if the race turns into the crawl that it did last year he could be the dark horse considering his natural speed.
However, the feedback on Generalissimo was not bright, as he has pulled up badly from his fourth place finish in the Merchants and the yard are on tenterhooks as they monitor his condition.
Generalissimo was regarded as one of the yard’s leading Cape Flying Championship hopefuls and Drier said they could only “hope and pray” he would recover timeously from his lameness, which looks to be worse than mere “jarring up.” X-rays have been taken and have revealed little.
Meanwhile, Equus Champion Three-Year-Old colt Seventh Plain is doing well ahead of Saturday’s R2,5 million Lanzerac Ready To Run Stakes, while the Gr 2 weight for age Green Point Stakes contender Punta Arenas continues to thrive and the top sprinter Guiness is also enjoying himself at Drier’s Phillippi yard.
Seventh Plain, a tall colt by Seventh Rock with a beautiful action, makes his seasonal debut and is merit rated ten points superior than any other horse in the 16-horse field which lines up for the Ready To Run Stakes over 1400m. However, Drier admitted he had it “all to do” from the very outside barrier position. However, the classy bay does have early pace as well as a fine turn of foot, two vital assets for the tight Kenilworth Old Course, and another bonus is Anton Marcus aboard.
Punta Arenas thrived while being taken care of by Drier during the Champions Season on behalf of the now retired Stan Elley. As an official member of the yard, he has continued to enjoy himself at Phillippi, which he is familiar with as this was Elley’s base. The J&B Met is his main aim but Drier has still not decided which race will be his final stepping stone into the Met, pointing out that the 1600m of the Queen’s Plate was a touch on the sharp side. Elley used the Gr 2 Peninsula Handicap over 1800m on Queen’s Plate day as a preparation for Punta Arenas in both 2014 and 2015 and he went on to finish 3rd and 5th respectively. The evergreen seven-year-old Silvano gelding loves to gallop and if able to find a handy position from his high draw of nine under Sean Cormack he could be the surprise package in Saturday’s ten horse field for the Green Point Stakes.
By David Thiselton
