The five-year-old Qui Danzig gelding, Key Of Destiny, smashed his
own course record for the Scottsville Racecourse 1 200 metres when
he scorched to victory in the R400 000, Grade 1 Golden Horse Sprint
yesterday (Sunday).
Trained by Colin
Lee and ridden by Nicholas Shearer, Key Of Destiny was having just
his second run after returning to the Lee stable and stopped the
clock in 67,06 secs to beat Nhlavini, O’Caesour and Tornado King.
The gelding,
who as a three-year-old won the Gold Circle Derby over 2 400 metres,
suffered a major breakdown early in his four-year-old career that
put him out of racing for a year. He showed very little since his
return until rejoining Colin Lee when, in his first race over 1
200 metres at Clairwood, he cruised home by five lengths.
Opening at 10-1
in the betting yesterday, Key Of Destiny was backed in to start
at 9-2 and took command of the race from the 400 metre mark where
he pulled clear to win unchallenged.
A crowd close
to 10 000 gathered at Scottsville for the Capital’s biggest racemeeting
of the year with the Golden Horse Sprint heading the card which
included three other Grade 1 sprints.
The first of
these was the R225 000 Allan Robertson Fillies Championship for
juveniles where Patrick Lunn’s daughter of Qui Danzig, Legally Blonde,
was backed in to 5-2. The pace was on from the start with Forever
And Always and Glittering Idol among the early leaders along with
Lapis Lazuli and Legally Blonde.
With 500 metres
to run the field had split into two groups. Glittering Idol and
Legally Blonde were gearing up for the final push with World Of
Stars making her presence felt and Elegant Blush looking for a run
up the inside.
In the final
rush to the line Legally Blonde took a narrow lead from Glittering
Idol and they flashed across the line in the first two places with
a close call for third between Elegant Blush and World Of Stars
- the latter just snatching the position.
The R250 000
Gold Medallion was the second event for the juveniles and Geoff
Woodruff’s Argentinean-bred colt, Candidato Roy, looked the pick
of the field. A big strong horse, he looked divisions better than
his opposition in the parade and when he burst from the pens at
the 1 200 metre mark it was not long before he was dictating the
pace.
Under Mark Khan
the colt was never challenged and he cruised clear to win as he
liked with outsider Noble Rami leading the rest of the field home.
Marine Sands and Royal Harvest filled the minor placings.
The R250 000
South African Fillies Sprint looked a difficult race with a number
of talented individuals in the field. But when the chips were down
it was Ormond Ferraris’s American-bred filly, Overarching, that
proved far too good for the opposition and she pulled well clear
of the field to win well.
Fancied runners
Running Wild and Texan Summer were never factors in the race and
it was Justin Snaith’s Zolaroyale who proved the best of the others
with outsider Tycoon Rosita getting the better of Geoff Woodruff’s
Dunmore West for third place.