African Night Sky shines as July favourite
Undercover Agent and Hewitson strike Grade 1 gold for the first time
Ruling 28-10 Vodacom Durban July favourite African Night Sky finally showed his true class on Saturday when winning the R300 000 Grade 3 Cup Trial by an emphatic 0.75 lengths, proving he’ll be very hard to beat come 7 July.
It was a victory full of merit considering the four-year-old was one from last at the 400m – producing a devastating turn of foot over the last 200m to make up 5.60 lengths like it was just one, and most impressive is that jockey Grant van Niekerk didn’t even pull his crop out!
“I told Justin during the week – after the horse’s work, I couldn’t see him losing,” said the Hong Kong-bound Van Niekerk. “He was terribly unlucky last time. Like I said, I didn’t ride the best race but I’m glad I obliged today.”
Ollivander led the pack turning for home, but his stride shortened drastically after pressure from Crowd Pleaser and Head Honcho who took over the lead with 300m to go. African Night Sky couldn’t find a gap and looked to be in a lot trouble, but once one opened the race was put to bed in a matter of strides.
Crowd Pleaser stayed on well enough to deny Platinum Prince second place and Head Honcho rounded off the Quartet which paid R704.70.
Solely on this performance it’s hard to find a runner who will beat African Night Sky in the July despite him carrying more weight. A fact that could see him reunite with long-time collaborator Bernard Fayd’Herbe explained Van Niekerk.
“I hope I ride him in the big one – that’s if he gets my weight, but Bernard has a good relationship with this horse so if he gets the weight he’ll probably ride,” he admitted. “He (African Night Sky) had the perfect prep and I’m sure he’ll be the horse to beat.”
National Jockeys’ log leader Lyle Hewitson scored his first career Grade 1 aboard Undercover Agent for trainer Brett Crawford in the Rising Sun Gold Challenge – defeating 13-10 favourite Snowdance by 0.50 lengths.