Doff your cap to Liege
would rather have had Witchcraft in the race but she didn’t get in,” were some telling words from Champion Trainer Sean Tarry after Liege put one over all of the more fancied runners in yesterday’s Gr1 Sansui Summer Cup, postpone because of rain from Saturday.
“We were disappointed in his Victory Moon run but could find nothing wrong …. so it was possibly just a flat run,” commented Tarry post-race.
Liege, largely disappointing earlier in his career after promising much and more importantly fluffing his lines in the Victory Moon, put that all behind him yesterday.
Danielson
Raymond Danielson, who has more than once done justice when picking up the Tarry stable crumbs, always had his mount well placed and timed his run to perfection in spite of some doubts. “I thought I had gone a little bit too early but he kept going.”
The win heralded a return to form for Tarry who has been experiencing a rare lean spell of late.
All the big guns failed to fire with the minor placings filled by rank outsiders Fort Ember and Coral Fever with lukewarm favourite Pagoda in fourth, the quartet paying over R247k.
Alistair Gordon, who has trained his far share of champions in his time, has been short of a ‘big horse’ for some years now but Monks Hood broke the drought when putting the Highveld’s best to the sword in the Gr2 Investec Dingaans.
Monks Hood
Anthony Delpech gave Monks Hood an impeccable ride, tracking the pace from well back but giving his mount a clear run at the wire. It was close at the end, “he’d had enough,” confirmed Delpech, but it was good enough to hold a hard-charging Seerite.
With the majority of the current racing season still to come it is still early days but Johan Janse van Vuuren’s gelding The Thinker put his name on the board for Equus honours with a smashing victory in the Gr2 World Sports Betting Merchants.
Favourite Naafer always looked to be going well and was the horse to beat approaching the final furlong as the Australian import pulled clear.
However, Donovan Mansour produced The Thinker with a smartly timed finish to nail the favourite and win going away.
Run away maiden winner San Fermin and favourite for the Gr3 Fillies Mile was travelling like a winner approaching the final two furlongs but folded like a wet newspaper under pressure as Folk Dance stamped herself as one of the best of her current generation as Gavin Lerena punched her clear to win comfortably from Aurelia Cotta and long-time leader Cashel Palace.