A win in the J&B Met then another crack at
the Vodacom Durban July is how trainer Gary Alexander sees the future
of Saturday’s winner of the R500 000, Grade 1 Champions Cup over
1 800 metres at Clairwood Racecourse, James Jaguar.
The three-year-old Jallad colt, who yesterday turned four at the
start of the new racing year, was perfectly ridden by Piere Strydom
in a slow run race which played right into the hands of the big
colt - allowing Strydom to settle him early, move him into a striking
position in the home straight then letting him loose to deliver
the challenge that took him past Alastor and on to victory.
The Champions Cup was the final feature event of the South African
racing season and the final feature on All Stars Day at Clairwood.
It was the last of five superb graded races which saw favourites
beaten in the R150 000, Grade 2 Gold Circle Oaks, the R200 000,
Grade 2 Gold Circle Derby, the R200 000, Grade 2 Thekwini Fillies
Stakes and the R300 000, Grade 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes.
In the big race, Sharief Song set a somewhat sedate pace in the
early stages and brought the field into the home straight. He had
led from Alastor and His Lordship with James Jaguar settled in midfield.
Sharief Song was not able to quicken in the straight and His Lordship
was not making any noticeable ground which left Alastor to make
the challenge on Sharief Song and take the lead with victory a definite
possibility.
Having played his waiting game Strydom moved James Jaguar up to
race behind Alastor just waiting for the right moment to make his
move. When he did it was over in a matter of strides and James Jaguar
slipped smoothly into the lead and into the winner’s enclosure.
Alexander said he would nominate the colt for the Summer Cup but
he would really like to win the J&B Met and then bring the colt
back to Durban for another crack at the Vodacom Durban July.
Earlier in the day Mike Airey’s filly Studio Fifty Four at 14-1
strode through beautifully from off the pace to win the Gold Circle
Oaks where favourite Sabina Park once again failed to fire. The
Ferraris runner seems to have lost her verve and had nothing to
come when they entered the home straight.
Skin Tight ran a gutsy second ahead of stable companions Deneuve
and Princess Kay, Dean Kannemeyer’s last two runners in Durban before
heading home to the Cape today.
Geoff Woodruff’s Saddlewood was favourite to win the Gold Circle
Derby but he failed to produce the goods and it was Joey Ramsden’s
Set To Music that looked on course for victory halfway up the home
straight. But he too was to be denied victory by the Western Winter
gelding, Western Prospect, from the yard of Neil Bruss who has had
a great season.
The gelding was hard driven by Bernard Fayd’Herbe to get up and
win by a head with Lots To Laugh and Rusedski filling the minor
placings.
The Thekwini Fillies Stakes looked a very open race after the scratching
of Dash For Gretna with Princess Sassi and Royal Approval starting
joint favourites on 3-1. Weiho Mawing, however, had other ideas
and had come down from Gauteng with a contingent of supporters with
a view to winning the race with his National Emblem filly, Royal
Emblem.
Brother Weichong Mawing wasted no time after the start in taking
Royal Emblem to the front and she dictated the pace throughout.
Then, in a hard-fought finish with the pack snapping at her heels,
she kept finding to win the race by half a length from Los Angeles,
Royal Approval and Pacific Lights.
Punters were looking to Ormond Ferraris’s Australian-bred colt,
Silverpoint, to win the the Premier’s Champion Stakes. But alas,
like Sabina Park earlier in the day, he just failed to produce a
winning effort and it was Geoff Woodruff’s National Emblem gelding,
Fez, who fought out the finish with Sean Tarry’s Fork Lightning.
It was a great performance by the champion trainer’s charge who
beat Fork Lightning by a head – the same distance that had separated
them in a juvenile race at Scottsville in July and confirmed the
form of the pair.
It will also enhance their status in the merit ratings with Zebra
Crossing finishing third ahead of Silverpoint.