New plans for Marinaresco
DUBAI World Cup night may have been a disappointment for South African horses but the owners of last year’s Durban July winner Marinaresco – now in quarantine in Mauritius - are already planning for next year’s meeting.
Marsh Shirtliff said: “I would imagine he will go into Mary Slack’s yard at Newmarket and from there Mike de Kock will probably raid the Longines International meeting in December.
“There is also a race for him in Singapore, possibly the 2 000m Gold Cup in November, and at the Dubai Carnival he may end up in the Sheema Classic.”
Shirtliff, who had one of his greatest moments when Jay Peg won the Dubai Duty Free ten years ago, owns Marinaresco in partnership with Mike Bass, Bryn Ressell and Fred Green but for the owners of One World the dream is a third consecutive Vaughan Marshall-trained Cape Guineas winner.
Marshall
Marshall first-timers, particularly the good ones, are as well prepared as a Mount Nelson lunch and as ready as a cowboy’s gun and this R425 000 Captain Al knew exactly what to do in the Tabonline Maiden Juvenile at Kenilworth last Saturday.
He sat handy, led two furlongs out and won pulling up with those who had backed him from 41-10 to 16-10 calculating their winnings well before the end.
Admittedly it wasn’t quite as straightforward when viewed from the hot seat. MJ Byleveld, who spends a lot of time getting the stable’s horses ready, reported: “I went a bit early because I wanted to use his action and in case something came at him and I was caught flat-footed.”
But the general impression was one of class, and a future miler rather than a speedster like his ill-fated former stable companion Zinedine.
True, he looked dangerously edgy in the winner’s box – Byleveld, somewhat understandably, couldn’t get the saddle off, and himself out of harm’s way, quick enough – and Marshall confirmed this, saying: He has a bit of a streak that we are going to have to keep an eye on.
“But I didn’t think anything could beat him and I would like to follow the same route as we did with Tap O’Noth and William Longsword.
He will stay in Cape Town and we will look at the Langerman later on.”
One World carries the same white, blue bib colours of Ken and Jane Truter as Zinedine but is owned in partnership with Etienne Braun and Braam van Huyssteen.
Truter wasn’t present on Saturday but as he fielded calls of congratulation over the weekend he doubtless recalled what he said soon after Zinedine’s brilliant debut – “If there is one thing I have learnt from this game it is not to get ahead of myself.” Days later the horse was dead.
Platinum Class
There were suggestions that Platinum Class could be added to Snaith Racing’s KZN team after the Drakenstein filly produced an impressive burst to go from last to first in the Supabets Progress Plate without even seeing Grant van Niekerk’s whip.
But Justin Snaith, watching the race from Durban, promptly ruled out the idea, explaining: “She didn’t like the hard ground in the summer and the bit of rain helped. Grant was moaning beforehand that he was on the wrong horse but she has improved and this was her gallop for the Sweet Chestnut Stakes on April 28.”
Top work rider Andile Ndelbe took his tally to 11 winners from 29 rides in the last six seasons when making most on the Dan Katz-trained Silent Choice in the TAB Telebet Maiden but hot favourite Cradleofgratitude finished five lengths last.
The colt was found to be making an “abnormal respiratory noise” as he had been on his previous two starts – a significant negative which, I regret to say, was not pointed out either by myself or any of the other tipsters who went for him virtually en masse.