David Thiselton

There were two significant overseas results over the weekend with a South African flavour to them courtesy of a pair of six-year-old mares, with Gimme A Nother winning a Gr 3 in the USA, while a British-bred mare part-owned by Larry Nestadt and Gary player, Alalcance, won the Gr 2 Brisbane Cup at Eagle Farm in Australia.

At Monmouth Park on Saturday Gimme a Nother sat behind a relatively slow pace, swept to the front on the far turn and drew away late to a 3,5 length win in the Grade 3, $150,000 Eatontown Stakes for fillies and mares.

The Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein Gimmthegreenlight homebred mare, who is a six-year-old by Northern Hemisphere rules, is trained by Graham Motion and jockey Jorge Ruiz wore the familiar Mauritzfontein black colours with a yellow sash, sleeves and cap.

It was the 55th running of the 1 1/16-mile turf race, contested on firm going by a field of six who were aged three and upwards.

Longshot Creative Stuff carved out the pace on the inside through an unhurried quarter-mile in 25.24 seconds and went through the half-a-mile in 50.42.

Gimme a Nother, who was the 6/5 second favourite, settled well behind her and made her bid when going around the leader on the far turn.

She took over the lead and and reached the three-quarters of a mile point in 1:14.83.

Even-money favorite Whiskey Decision, under Flavien Prat, ranged up three wide around the bend and rallied at the top of the straight to briefly challenge the winner 400m out.

However, Gimme a Nother brought back memories of her Turffontein heroics when responding to being ridden. She kicked clear, going through  mile in 1:37.34, before being ridden out to win by 3,5 lengths in a final time of 1:42.90.

“She’s a very professional filly. She made it easy work for me. I broke good, got good position early and it was just a matter of waiting for the right time to ask her. She was so strong in the stretch. When I asked her she kept giving me more. I’ve worked her in the mornings. She’s a very nice mare,” Ruiz said.

Whiskey Decision dug in to finish second

Grayosh (9-2), under Tyler Gaffalione, raced off the pace inside, swung out for a late rally and finished third.

Don’t Jinx It (12-1) tracked the speed and lacked a kick to wind up fourth.

Creative Stuff faded to fifth and Rhee Wall (92-1) trailed the field.

Gimme A Nother is by Gimmethegreenlight out of the Tiger Ridge mare Nother Russia and she races for Stephen and Jessica Jell’s USA operation, Newstead Stables.  She won all seven of her starts in South Africa including two Gr 1s, before relocating to the United States.

“It was a perfect trip. We thought she might end up on the lead the way she has been running her last couple of starts, but it was fine that he let that longshot (Creative Stuff) set the pace with her right behind in slow fractions. There wasn’t a ton of speed in the race so Jorge (Ruiz) did exactly what we wanted him to do. She does know how to win, that’s for sure. She was undefeated in South Africa before she came here. She had a bit of a slow start to her career in the United States but lately she has not done anything wrong. Even in her defeats she was very good. With the Southern Hemisphere horses it is quite a transition bringing them to the United States. We’ve done it in the past with South American horses, not so much horses like this from South Africa. It does take them a little time to get accustomed. It’s not an easy thing,” said Ian Wilson, an assistant to Motion.

The win earned Gimme a Nother free entry to the July 18 Matchmaker Stakes at Monmouth Park, an option also open to runner-up Whiskey Decision.

At Eagle Farm on Saturday the striking grey mare Alalcance (Mastercraftsman) secured back-to-back wins, having edged out stablemate Bella Montagna in the  Gr 3 Premier’s Cup (2400m) at the same track a fortnight earlier.

Tim Clark delivered an assured performance aboard Alalcance, who carried 59kg and never looked threatened in the straight after establishing a handy lead.

Stable representative John Livingstone was full of praise for both horse and rider and it looks likely that Nestadt and Player can look forward to a Melbourne Cup campaign.

“She was great, wasn’t she? She has given them everything – weight, the start, everything,” said Livingstone.

“She wasn’t that good with the blinkers off today and didn’t jump the best, but Tim just bided his time. He’s a great judge of pace. He went to the lead and it was all over.

“With the blinkers off, it just took a little bit of time for her to get interested – but she got into it at the right time, off the back of a win last start.”

Clark confirmed that removing the blinkers played a crucial role in helping Alalcance settle over the gruelling 3200m journey.

“It helped her relax through the middle stages. She was a little bit further back than I’d anticipated, but it is a long way, two miles, so I wasn’t in any rush,” he said.

“A couple of moves came earlier and the race really quickened up, which was better for me.

“I was confident that she was the superior stayer, even though she had 59kg. I was just confident that her class would take her a long way.”

Clark was equally enthusiastic about the mare’s future prospects, noting that the Great Britain import had needed a run or two to acclimatise to Australian conditions before showing her true ability.

“She was brilliant today. I’m sure Gai (Waterhouse) and Adrian (Bott) would be stoked and I’m sure Gai would already be plotting a path to the first Tuesday in November,” he said.

“She would drop a lot in weight (for the Melbourne Cup), but she can really stay. She’ll go for a well-earned spell now and come back for the spring.”

David Thiselton

The Gr 3 Lucky Fish Winter Stakes run  at Hollywoodbets Greyville over 2400m on Saturday shaped up to be a crucial Hollywoodbets Durban July qualifying race, but ultimately it is unlikely to have any impact on the final field decision-making process because it was won by Native Ruler, who was in a comfortable tenth position on the last July log, and the second placed finisher, Imilenzeyokududuma, is not a July entry.

The July entries who desperately needed to win the race to put their hands up for a berth in the final field were Shoot The Rapids, who finished third, Tenpenny, who finished fifth, Holding Thumbs, who finished seventh, and Enflame, who finished eighth. None of them were in the top 20 on the log and they willl likely have to rely on scratchings to get in.

JP Van der Merwe rides for Greg and Gina Bortz, who own both Native Ruler and Tenpenny, but as Keagan de Melo has been pencilled in as Native Ruler’s rider in the Hollywoodbets Durban July he took the ride on the latter in the Winter Stakes, who was a 5/2 shot.

Van der Merwe has been pencilled in as the Bortz-owned Regulation’s rider in the July. For the Winter Stakes he was aboard Tenpenny, who drifted out from 5/1 to 17/2.

The Nathan Kotzen-trained Shoot The Rapids was backed in to 2/1 favourite and Gavin Lerena took him to the front from draw four.

The former Gold Cup winner Redoute’s Choice broke well from pole position and sat in the box seat behind Shoot The Rapids.

The second highest rated runner in the field behind the 121-rated Native Ruler was the 119-rated 9/2 shot Holding Thumbs and he was in third place in the running, but was unfortunately caught wide.

Holding Thumbs provided nice cover for Native Ruler, while Tenpenny sat on the rail inside of Native Ruler.

Son Of Raj was caught three wide on the quarters of Native Ruler.

Imilenzeyokududuma sat behind Native Ruler, Enflame sat behind Tenpenny and the former Gold Cup winner Future Pearl was at the back.

They kept that order until the straight at a steady pace.

Shoot The Rapids attempted to kick away coming off the false rail.

However, he soon had challengers on all sides.

Master Redoute was looming large on his inside, Holding Thumbs was on his outside and Tenpenny was making his bid on the inside rail.

However, none of them were going as well as Native Ruler, who had joined Shoot The Rapids by the 200m mark, despite his head being cocked sideways and appearing to be looking at the stands.

Native Ruler was just freewheeling up until that point, but when De Melo got to work he quickly put daylight between himself and the others and won with authority.

He was eased late which allowed a running on Imilenzeyokududumu to close within 1.05 lengths and the latter was in turn a quarter-of-a-length clear of Shoot The Rapids.

Master Redoute ran a good race ahead of his likely Durban Gold Vase engagement on July day. He stayed on for a 2,60 length fourth, a neck clear of Tenpenny, who stayed on steadily without ever looking threatening.

Future Pearl ran on well late to be beaten 4,50 length into fifth, but it was not a bad preparation for the Gold Vase, considering his best career form has been at Hollywoodbets Greyville.

Holding Thumbs paid the price for not having any cover and faded to be beaten five lengths.

Enflame found nothing in the straight was beaten a dozen lengths, while Son Of Raj was a spent force a long way out and was tailed off.

Native Ruler finished a somewhat unlucky 3,95 length sixth in last year’s July and proved his class in the Winter Stakes.

He was bred in partnership by Maine Chance Farms and Coolmore and was a R1 million National Yearling Sale purchase.

This was his first stakes victory.

He has now had three wins and five places from  15 starts for stakes earnings of R792 038.

The stakes win puts Vercingetorix on 18 stakes winners for the season (of 27 races), meaning he is still in with a chance of matching or bettering the record he set last season of 23 stakes winners (of 33 races).

Native Ruler will be a big runner in this year’s July as the field does not look to be as strong as it was last year. He is unlikely to be raised for his win on Saturday, because he was well in at the weights and as things stand he will carry 58,5kg in the July.

The most eyecatching performance of the rest of the meeting was by the Corne Spies-trained African Pride, who followed up from his impressive two length win at the Vaal six days earlier by winning a Class 2 Handicap over 1000m, despite jumping from draw nine. The outstanding Mickaelle Michel has ridden him in both starts. The 1,5kg gender claim she gets is proving to be a bonus rather than a necessity.

She took him into a share of a lead after a good break and kept the long-striding three-year-old Rafeef gelding going well in the straight before getting to work at the 200m mark. The 10-1 shot held on well from the 3/1 favourite Position Of Power, who was flying at the finish and 7-1 chance Circumbendibus was a neck further back in third.

African Pride is at home over 1000m, but his first of four career wins was over 1200m, so the Gr 3 Post Merchants over 1200m on July day is a possibility.

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David – Thiselton

Tenpenny has a crucial race on today in the Gr 3 Lucky Fish Winter Stakes over 2400m as he will probably need to win it to earn a berth in the Hollywoodbets Durban July.

If he does get in he will become the second runner trainer Paddy Kruyer has had in the big race in his career.

Tenpenny has been one of the most progressive horses of the season, rising from a 90 merit rating to 105 with four wins from 1600m to 2500m.

His win over the latter trip was in the Listed Masks Of Fire Kenilworth Cup.

He followed that with a 1,40 length third in the Gr 3 Variety Club Mile, beating the like of Viva’s Liberte and Legal Counsel, although he was receiving 6kg from the latter and only beat him by a longhead.

In his last run he was beaten by 12,24 lengths in the Gr 3 Legal Eagle Stakes over 1800m.

However, Kruyer said, “The ground was very bad, it was very, very heavy, and he also came back with a little bit of a dirty scope post race.”

He continued, “But we are very happy with where he is at the moment. There is a little bit of pressure as I am trying to get him into the July with a light weight. He has been with Michael Roberts at Summerveld for two weeks and I’ve been here too. He traveled very well and his workouts have been very good. Everything is in order and we are hoping for a nice run. He is a very nice horse, but this is a last chance saloon, he will need to win to get into the July.”

Paddy’s only previous July runner was At The Savoy (Dancing Champ), who finished 6th and 14th in 1994 and 1995 respectively and he was ironically ridden by Michael Roberts in the latter race.

Paddy said Tenpenny will love the faster ground he will get today compared to last time.

He is quoted at 5/1 in the nine horse field for today’s race and he is 75/1 with the sponsor for the Hollywoodbets Durban July.