Fiorella will be chasing history
IT’S been seven years since last a three-year-old filly won the Vodacom Durban July and only two have been victorious this century. Both Igugu in 2011 and Ipi Tombe in 2002 were trained by Mike de Kock and went on to race successfully on the international stage, an indication of their class. Prior to that the last sophomore filly to win was Migraine in 1957. So the Duncan Howellstrained Fiorella has a lot of history against her when she lines up at Greyville tomorrow.
In her favour is that she is backed by solid form in a field that offers opportunity.
A glance at bookmaker’s prices sees an 18-horse field sandwiched between 26-10 and 40-1 which gives an indication that this is anyone’s race.
Fiorella has had a perfect buildup and has been the surprise package in Champions Season.
She started her run with a closeup fourth in the SA Fillies Classic at Turffontein and Howells is on record saying that she was not at her peak that day and still had improvement in her.
That assessment proved to be on the mark when she up-staged hot favourite Snowdance in the Gr2 Daisy Fillies Guineas.
There were excuses for Snowdance that day but she followed up with an arguably unlucky second in the Gr1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge which franked Fiorella’s Fillies Guineas form.
Next up for Fiorella was the Gr1 Woolavington 2000 where Gr1 Sun Met winner Oh Susanna was all the rage.
Oh Susanna was the first threeyear-old filly to win the Met in over a century and was expected to doddle the race.
With a furlong to run, Fiorella had her under serious pressure and the line came just in time for the Met winner.
Behind Oh Susanna in the Met was tomorrow’s ruling ante-post favourite African Night Sky and although Fiorella will only be getting 4kg as opposed to the 8kg Oh Susanna was receiving in the Met, it is five months down the line.
This will be Fiorella’s first venture into open company but if Oh Susanna’s Met form holds any water then she must rate as a big runner.
“She is fit and well and has improved with every run,” said Howells and Mark Khan was suitable impressed after her Greyville gallop last week. “She gave me a really good feel. I think she will have a big chance,” was his opinion.
African Night Sky, winner of all three legs of the Cape Winter series last season, will be attempting to emulate the mighty Pocket Power who also landed the winter Triple Crown before going on to win the July the following season.
Justin Snaith’s runner has always been near the top of the boards since betting opened for tomorrow’s race but it was his smashing performance in the Cup Trial that catapulted African Night Sky clear in the market.
Pace, or the lack of it, plays a major role in any race, horse or otherwise, and without any recognised front runners in the line-up there could be a fair bit of congestion in the early exchanges and a rough race is on the cards where luck in running could play a major part and horses who like to come from behind off a strong pace will be disadvantaged.
African Night Sky is a runner that does his best when allowed to bide his time but can turn up the wick in an instant. However, if the field hits the home stretch tripping over each other, big race rider Grant van Niekerk will need to read what is in front of him and be wide awake to any gap.
He got it wrong in the Pinnacle Stakes where he was caught in traffic and just failed to catch stable companion Star Express. That was a costly mistake as Snaith was then forced to run the gelding in the Cup Trial to make sure of his July participation. The Cup Trial proved to be little more than a walk in the park as African Night Sky accelerated through the field to win as he liked.
It was a seriously good showing but as feared, it earned him some extra pudding for the July.
It also put paid to the chances of Crowd Pleaser and Platinum Prince making the July field as they were clearly no match on the day.
With five runners in the race, Snaith could hatch a plan and send out a hare in the form of Made To Conquer. Jeff Lloyd has been doing some work on him since arriving from Australia and said his mount felt like an out-and-out stayer, a “Gold Cup type horse”.
Made To Conquer has certainly come into his own recently and comes off a four-race winning streak, most recently getting the better of a bumping match with stable companion Strathdon in the Lonsdale Stirrup Cup over 2400m.
He has also won of 2500m in Cape Town so with a master tactician in the irons and no stamina limitations, Lloyd could have his rivals sweating come the last furlong.
Another trainer who will also be looking for a strong gallop is Paul Peter. Majestic Mambo came from the clouds when touched off by Surcharge in the Daily News 2000 and he certainly will not be suited to slow early fractions.
Given his style of racing, his wide draw should not be too much of a handicap and he does come into the race off a handy galloping weight.