Danie Toerien
Despite doing almost everything wrong before the running of the Walmer Handicap at Fairview on Friday, Medlers Tart still managed to score a very convincing win with Louie Mxothwa in the saddle.
This daughter of Master Of My Fate misbehaved pre-raced, sweated up, and did not look happy going to post.
To his credit, Mxothwa ensured that Medlers Tart, trained by Sharon Kotzen, was the first to load and perhaps that extra minute or so in the starting stalls was all she needed to compose herself.
With Unconditional Love, and then Heartsease setting the early pace, Mxothwa ensured they did not open up a big gap, keeping up with the pace and at the same time settling Medlers Tart into a fluent, calming rhythm.
Racing for home Medlers Tart found an extra gear to win by almost 3-lengths ahead of Definitely Maybe.
A Textbook ride when everything seemed to go wrong pre-race proves that Mxothwa is worth his weight in gold.
With only three more race meetings scheduled for Fairview in the current campaign, the race for the champion trainer title is going down to the wire yet again.
Unlike the national trainer title, which is decided on total stakes won, the Eastern Cape champion trainer is judged on total number of wins, with Gavin Smith currently on 118 and Alan Greeff on 117.
Smith went into yesterday’s meeting leading by three wins and he extended that to five when he took the honours in the opening two races with Peace Frog and Kind Of Blue. They were ridden by S’manga Khumalo and Yuzae Ramzan respectively.
But Greeff struck back with a hat-trick in races four to six with Path Of Choice, Quick Count, and Three Rocks, all ridden by Richard Fourie.
Fourie did a remarkable job to get Three Rocks across the line first with a well-judged ride in a race characterised by a blistering pace.
Three Rocks was many bettors’ banker and one could almost hear a collective sigh of relief when Fourie edged the two-year-old Heavenly Blue filly ahead of Sharon Kotzen’s Glass Shoes to win by 0.25-lengths.
Three Rocks is most definitely a rising star and must be followed as she boasts three wins from four outings.
Greeff scored another unlikely win in the lucky last when Kendall Minnie rode 25-1 long shot Esther to victory.