Tropical Hibiscus can start off punters on a winning note in the opening Itsarush.co.za Maiden Juvenile Fillies Plate at Kenilworth today.
Paddy Kruyer freely admits that he was surprised to see her run so well on debut – she was completely unfancied at 22-1 yet she was only beaten a length and a half into third behind the highly regarded Santa Clara who had the advantage of a previous run – and he is pleased with her subsequent progress.
Glen Kotzen
He said: “She hadn’t even seen Kenilworth before and the racing experience will have brought her on.”
Donovan Dillon’s mount has hardened from 5-2 to 18-10 favourite with World Sports Betting and has the advantage of being drawn on the wide outside. The penetrometer reading for Sunday suggested that the ground on the inside is marginally faster but try telling that to the jockeys. In the Somerset most of them made a point of making for the outside. Monday night’s rain might swing the balance but the riders are likely to stick with what they believed on Sunday unless and until they are convinced otherwise
The one negative about Tropical Hibiscus is her temperament – Kruyer said she has “a bit of a nervous disposition.” Second favourite at 4-1, and on paper the most likely danger, is Star Angel representing the Somerset winning combination of Joey Ramsden and Bernard Fayd’Herbe. This one has steadily improved in three runs and ran well against three-year-olds at Durbanville last time.
Next in the market at 11-2 are the Candice Bass-Robinson newcomer Go Snow Girl and Green Savannah who makes her debut for Glen Kotzen. Mrs Robinson’s juvenile fillies number some future stars so her’s has to be respected. Significantly stable jockey Aldo Domeyer is on the daughter of What A Winter rather than stable companion Profound.
The TAB Telebet Maiden Juvenile 40 minutes later is nothing like so clear cut. Shadowing, the 18-10 favourite and the selection, had Perfect Symmetry (11-2) two lengths behind when going under by a head in a hard-fought tussle with the Kotzen newcomer Crown Guardian but Perfect Symmetry suffered interference in the final furlong and so can be expected to finish quite a bit closer. Also Rock Of Asia (9-2) was only three-quarters of a length behind Shadowing and possibly has more scope for improvement. But note Sacred Night. This colt is another Kotzen newcomer and is significantly short at 5-1.
The Boston Rose was only raised a kilo for justifying favouritism in fairly convincing style on her second run out of the maidens and she can go in again in the Book Your Seat Handicap. The biggest danger could well prove to be stable companion Omega Force who has already been supported and is now favourite.
Magic Mountain steps up to a mile to take on older horses in the Betting World Maiden. She is 15-10 favourite but her outside draw spells caution. Hopefully Robert Khathi, deputising for the sidelined Richard Fourie, can overcome it.
By Michael Clower
