Danie Toerien
All eyes will be on the Mike de Kock-trained Good Queen Bess, who lines up today at the Vaal in Race 7, a FM 92 Handicap over 1500m.
Good Queen Bess will be having her second run after a break. In her comeback run over 1160m she showed little signs of ring-rust, running on well towards the end. With that warm-up behind her, this Kingman filly should come on in heaps.
The extra distance should also be right up her alley now that she has matured and with Richard Fourie in the saddle, bettors should hold no fears of a misjudged pace.
She stormed to a 2.75-length victory on debut as a three-year-old but has only run three times since. She will be turning five on 1 August and one can’t help but wonder if De Kock is prepping her for a big one before she is summoned to Wilgerbosdrift.
Good Queen Bess is regally bred by one of Europe’s top sires, Kingman, out of Golden Reign, a half-sister to 2015 Epsom Derby winner Golden Horn, who is owned by Anthony Oppenheimer.
Golden Horn was the 2015 European Horse of the Year after winning the Epsom Derby, Arc de Triomphe, Irish Champion Stakes, and Eclipse Stakes, and coming second in the Breeders' Cup Turf.
After his Eclipse win the British Horseracing Authority's handicapper gave Golden Horn a rating of 130, a mark for a three-year-old equalled only by Frankel since 1996. He was also briefly rated the best racehorse in the world by the World's Best Racehorse Rankings, overtaking American Pharoah.
On 1 August 2018, during an interview on ITV Racing at Goodwood, jockey Frankie Dettori declared Golden Horn as his favourite horse of all time.
Good Queen Bess, owned by Mary Slack, obviously carries a heavy weight of expectation as she is probably earmarked to join the mares at Wilgerbosdrift.
The runner most likely to chase home De Kock’s charge is the Paul Peter trained Fromheretoeternity. This Captain Of All filly won well last time out and should be fitter than Good Queen Bess.
Fromheretoeternity is now rated 90, compared to 71 on the first day of the current season. Despite her continuously increasing rating, she keeps on winning, begging the question what her ceiling actually is. Two of her last four victories have also come in the company of the opposite sex, so further improvement is more than just likely.