The master had the keys
THERE are few more passionate owners than former Msunduzi Municipal manager Alderman Rob Haswell, and given the current treacherous state of affairs in the KZN Capital, he is probably relieved that he doesn’t have anything to do with it anymore.
Be that as it may, Cumulus obliged in his colours at Scottsville last weekend and Master Keys came to the fore at Greyville yesterday, both for Nathan Kotzen.
Also, in the Master Keys partnership was novice breeder Nothemba Mlonzi whose fledgling stud is based in Birnham Wood on the outskirts of Howick in KZN.
Amex
It was a stable double for Kotzen with Anton Marcus successful on Amex a halfhour earlier.
Amex snapped a string of runner-up berths, coming from off the pace to win going away, but Marcus had a more difficult time on Master Keys.
Racing well off a good pace in the early exchanges, Master Keys showed an alarming tendency to hang in under pressure, threatening runners on her inside as is Marcus’s custom to head for the outside rail on the poly track. Fortunately for her supporters, Master Key was travelling far better than her opposition and once clear of the traffic, Marcus allowed her to shift ground and she won convincingly.
Walterthepenniless
Walterthepenniless appeared to be named after the punters that sent him off as favourite twice before landing his maiden win, but he made amends yesterday as Charlie Touzel’s home-bred went in again in the sixth – not penniless anymore.
Dennis Drier’s decision to fit blinkers has paid dividends as the son of Crusade is unbeaten in two as Sean Veale took the shortest way home and ‘Walter’ finished with a wet sail.
Grecian Laurel
Grecian Laurel, after surprising all on debut, appears to have found her surface as Duncan Howells’s filly out-duelled Laat Lammertjie in the seventh.
Grecian Laurel’s pedigree suggests that she should go a bit of ground and the way she stuck to her guns under Mark Khan in a mile suggests that this may be the way forward.