Jack Milner: Trainer Sean Tarry had a red-letter day at Turffontein on Saturday when he saddled four successive winners. But the cherry on the top came when Willow Magic, who last ran 420 days previously when winning the Investec Dingaans, won his comeback run in extraordinary style.
Ridden by Julius Mariba, the Australian-bred four-year-old accelerated smartly on the outside to win, beating Doing It For Dan by 3.50 lengths in a superb time of 55.43sec. He only carried 52kg but the run was impressive enough to send a warning to other challengers aiming at the Computaform Sprint in April.
Jockey Raymond Danielson had four winners on the day, the first three for Tarry. Their run began in Race 2 where Tiger’s Touch (7-10) ran out a three length winner from Close Relative. In Race 3 Stonehenge (7-1) also cruised to victory, while Love Token won Race 4. Both winners came home345 2.50-lengths clear of the opposition.
Danielson, however, had to work hard for his fourth victory as Blackberry Wine was not an easy ride. However, he brought her from off the pace to beat Wild Dancer by a head in Race 7 over 1400m.
Blackberry Wine gave trainer Dave Nieuwenhuizen a double as he won the opening event with Sapsan (Karl Zechner).