Jack Milner
Will his win in the Grade 3 Victory Moon Stakes at Turffontein on Sunday be enough for Litigation to cement his place in the Betway Summer Cup?
Sean Tarry’s charge caused a massive upset with his tenacious victory, to come away a 0.75-length victory over East Coast with Sparkling Water a neck back in third and William Robertson finishing fourth.
Litigation, who gave apprentice Philasande Mxoli his first Grade 3 victory, paid R38.20 a win and R5.80 a place.
Zillzaal made the early pace with Litigation and 28-10 favourite Sparkling Water racing alongside one another in second place. William Robertson sat midfield with East Coast nearer the rear.
Once in the straight S’manga Khumalo made his move early aboard Sparkling Water and hit the front 400m out, but Mxoli went with her, not allowing the Durban July winner to get away from him.
The 8.5kg weight advantage took effect and Litigation moved into the lead 150m from home. William Robertson and East Coast came on strongly and it was the latter who ran on best of all to deny stablemate Sparkling Water second place.
Litigation had a merit rating of 99 and under the race conditions can only get a six-point penalty. When the Betway Summer Cup log was released last week, Litigation was not only missing from the top 20 but also from the next five.
“I was very happy with his seasonal debut – eye catching run over 1200m,” said Tarry. “His second run he was obviously a little above himself. Things didn’t really map out for him so I decided to run him a week later.
“When I looked at the Summer Cup log I almost choked on my cappuccino, so it’s a good thing I did run him because I have some decent horses that haven’t even made the top 20 and there are horses who are 7kg out in the top 20.
“We think we don’t know what we’re doing when we start to look at assessments, but we actually do have a clue!”
Mike de Kock will no doubt be delighted over the performance of Sparkling Water who was having her first run since he Hollywoodbets Durban July victory. She will be spot on for the Betway Summer Cup.
The final field for the Betway Summer Cup will be announced on Monday 21 November.