Andrew Harrison
Lucinda Woodruff heads back to a wet Western Cape on Saturday with a song in her heart after a successful raid on Champions Season. Her last three runners have been winners but particularly satisfying will have been Wing Walker notching up a hattrick of wins at Hollywoodbets Greyville yesterday to round off her raid and get her season off to a winning start.
Wing Walker arrived in KZN a maiden but after a promising start when second at Hollywoodbets Scottsville he ramped up his performance, shedding his maiden by five lengths and following up with a hard-fought victory first up in handicap company.
He made further progression yesterday. Stepped up to 1400m for the first time he finished off his race smartly to round off a hattrick before heading home. He appears to be a late maturing son of Rafeef and a mile looks well within his compass.
Run To Rio was game in defeat as he went clear over the subway but was unable to hold of Wing Walker’s challenge.
Go Grayson Go and Solar Sail were at the top of the boards for the opening leg of the Pick 6, but the race resulted in a major boil-over as rank outsider Master Josh got the better of Go Grayson Go in a tight finish with Solar Sail outpaced in fourth place behind Down By The River and Mark Khan’s raider probably looking for further.
Master Josh was having his first run for Yadav Singh and was confidently ridden by Jason Gates who is never one to back off in a finish. Serino Moodley saw him coming and in a tactical move allowed Go Grayson Go to gradually press his rival towards the outside rail. However, Master Josh started to hang in and without coming together, Gates pressured Go Grayson Go to finally get the job done.
The meeting got off to a delayed start as apprentice Dezahn Louw was dislodged on his way to the start on She’s A Trackstar and it took time to replace him with fellow apprentice Girish Dookhit.
Garth Puller’s charge Mohave Prince, a close-up second to the promising Green Gateway at his last start, vied for favouritism with Mark Dixon’s runner Master Du Rouvray who was coming off a lengthy break.
The money proved to be a reliable guide as the pair pulled clear of their rivals up the straight with Mohave Prince possibly just the fitter as he edged out Master Du Rouvray with Global Warrior chasing them home for third but well back.
Catch A Penny finally made her exit from the maidens in the second after earning a cheque in all of her previous ten outings; but it was a close run thing. Starting deep in the red, those supporters who took the cramped odds about the favourite were preparing to tear up their tickets with 100m left of the race as the first timer Oklahoma Girl kept finding and was only run out of it on the line.
Muzi Yeni tried to keep all honest as he set a brisk pace on second favourite Intro with Chad Little seemingly in no hurry as Catch A Penny dropped off the pace. Little had Intro in his sights off the false rail but it was Oklahoma Girl who was the surprise package as she went past Intro and had the line in her sights. Catch A Penny moved up along sides her rival under a driving ride and it finally came down to a bob of the heads.
Blinkers, a light weight and a change of stable brought out the best in Queen Of The Spear as she ran out a comfortable winner of the Open Maiden. There was obviously stable confidence as she found steady market support in spite of her run of seven duck eggs. Apprentice Mxolisi Mbuto tracked the early pace and took the brakes off Queen Of The Spear at just the right moment as she had to work the last bit to hold off a late-charging Ms Galore who will be worth following.
The Class 5 Handicap always had an open look about it and so it proved as Music Of Life gave Gareth van Zyl his second winner of the afternoon backing up from Queen Of The Spear. The pace was on from the jump and the contested turned into a test of stamina to see who lasted the longest. Nicholas Patel took the shortest way home jumping from his good draw and Music Is Life kept finding up the inside rail as challenges fell away leaving him in front. Whereverilaymyhat stayed on gamely for second with a blanket separating the next three home.
In a day of upsets, Grand Appeal continued the trend as he finished with a wet sail under Mathew Thackeray. Iron Will cut the early fractions with Yadav Singh hunting his second win but was closely tracked by Run Forest Run.
Iron Will was the first to faulter as Run Forest Run took up the running but Thackeray, who sat comfortably mid-field, slipped Gold Appeal up the inside of the pack and MJ Odendaal’s runner charged home to put the race to bed.
Jazz Café and Prom Queen made full use of their good fortune in the last avoiding a pile-up at the start. Blowin In The Wind, drawn two, took a sharp right turn out of the gate hampering most of the field except Jazz Café, dawn one, and Prom Queen drawn 11.
These two raced unhindered and came together crossing the subway with Tristan Godden getting maximum out of Robbie Hill’s filly to hold of Prom Queen and Callan Murray.
