Good Guineas for old timers

Jack Milner

Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, Joe Soma, Paul Matchett and Piere Strydom - a list of evergreen old timers.

Soma put it perfectly into words following Lady Of Power's victory in the Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas. "The youngsters must take note - education only teaches you to spell experience." 

While Lady Of Power may have paid R21.60 for a win and R4.50 for a place, Soma told anyone who would listen that this daughter of Master Of My Fate would run a big race. and that he would be disappointed if she didn't finish in the top four.

Then bring Strydom into the equation and the prophecy is fulfilled. Striker magic provided the finishing touches with a remarkably confident ride.  He popped her out into the lead from the off, extended his lead as he came for home, and then still left enough in the tank to hold off Feather Boa (4-1) by a neck.

Third place went to Reny (25-1) with Emirate Gina (20-1) fourth and 5-4 favourite Gimme A Shot in fifth.       

The victory, remarkably, also gave Soma his first Guineas victory. He does, however, have a good record in the Classic and that could auger well for Lady Of Power.

A short while later it was Matchett's chance to claim the glory as Eye Of The Prophet (33-1) gamely fought off 5-1 TAB favourite Royal Victory to capture the Grade 2 World Sports Betting Gauteng Guineas by a short head.

While the "Old Gringos" may have dominated the day there is always one Young Gun who comes to the party and in this case it was Rachel Venniker, who rode a superb race to keep her mount in front to the line, holding off S'manga Khumalo on Royal Victory.

Third place went to Electric Gold (Muzi Yeni) with Jimmy Don (Gavin Lerena) in fourth.

The two races were the first legs of the respective World Sports Betting Triple Crown and the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara with the second leg coming up on Classic Day at Turffontein on 4 March.

As far as Strydom is concerned, the Triple Tiara is a real possibility for Lady Of Power. "Definitely. I think 1800m (the distance of the Grade 1 Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic) is more her game," he said.

The final leg is the Grade 2 Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks over 2450m on 1 April. 

The R1-million World Sports Betting Gauteng Guineas looked an open affair and it was interesting to see Richard Fourie fly out of the starting stalls from No 13 draw aboard Shoemaker and go out to set a strong pace. 

Unzen sat second ahead of Argo Alley and Good Council with Eye Of The Prophet midfield and Royal Victory behind him.

Once in the straight the field began to concertina and with 300m to go Shoemaker faded out of contention. Meanwhile Eye Of the Prophet and Royal Victory made their runs towards the outside and it soon became clear they would fight it out.

Royal Victory started to hang out and carried Eye Of The Prophet towards the centre, and the pair twice made contact. Even if Nathan Kotzen's charge had got his head down at the line it is likely the race would have been lost in the boardroom.       

"I'm actually pleased S'manga's mount did hang like that," said Venniker. "My horse is  fighter and it actually made him fight all the way to the line."

It is also worth noting that as this is a Grade 2 event, Venniker was not able to claim her 1.5kg sex allowance, so nobody can claim that was the reason why her mount won.

This victory gave her the young rider her first Grade 2 success. "I've won a Non-Black Type and a Listed event. With his win that leaves me with still two to get." 

She is likely to get a shot at Grade 1 success because if Eye Of The Prophet goes for the World Sports Betting SA Classic, which is likely, she will no doubt get the ride.   

However, that defeat has proved costly for Khumalo. He was charged with a contravention of Rule 62.2.7 in that he, as the rider of Royal Victory, failed to ensure that he did not cause interference to Eye Of The Prophet in the concluding stages. He signed an Admission of Guilt and has been suspended from riding in races for a period of 10 days.
Suspension dates to be advised.

In addition, he was charged with a contravention of Rule 58.10.2 (read with Guideline M on the use of the crop) in that he misused his crop by striking Royal Victory more than 12 times in the entire race. Once again he signed an Admission of Guilt and was fined R12,000

When assessing the penalty, the Board took into consideration the number of times the crop was used (15), the manner in which and the distance over which the crop was used, the status of the race as well as Jockey Khumalo’s recent record with regard to this Rule and Guideline.  
              

In Race 9, Venniker and Matchett once again got the better of Khumalo as Gimmealight held off the challenge of In The Beginning to win by a head by a head.

It turned out to be a great meeting for Soma who won three races on the day.