King Lerena reclaims his seat on the throne
Roquebrune a good Eachway bet
Gavin Lerena is arguably the best jockey South Africa has to offer and at Turffontein on Saturday afternoon he confirmed superiority over his peers by visiting the winner’s enclosure four times – taking home two of the three feature race trophies contested in the process.
His return to competitive riding following an injury has been nothing short of extraordinary having already registered an impressively high 40 percent win strike rate, courtesy of 12 wins and nine places from 30 rides.
Lerena scored twice for trainer St John Gray; in Race 1 aboard Rocky Path who, although a lukewarm 4-1 favourite, didn’t break a sweat in victory, skipping 2.75 lengths clear of Captain’s Alpha in the Maiden Plate over 1200m on the Inside track, and then on Twelve Oaks, who glided a length clear of rivals despite giving weight to all.
The late scratching of second favourite Regal Graduation in the R150 000 Heritage 1200 for Fillies and Mares left many punters biting their nails but Lerena made no mistake aboard 5-10 favourite Schippers.
He had her confidently stationed at the rear of the field, and when he asked her to accelerate at the 300m marker, she passed rivals like they were standing still to win by an extending 1.40 lengths.
Long-time leader Celestina stayed on smartly for second with Rouge Allure a further 2.60 lengths back in third and My Friend Lee rounding off the Quartet which paid R126.90.
Lerena scored a quick double that paid R5.70 when earning his riding fee aboard Roy Magner-trained Prince Of Kahal who showed tremendous heart when fending off Just As I Said by a gutsy 0.50 lengths in the R150 000 Heritage 1200 Handicap (Non-Black Type).
Trainer Ashley Fortune seems to have found herself an above-average thoroughbred in Dalai’s Promise, who remained unbeaten in two appearances on the Highveld circuit when defeating the boys by 0.25 lengths to win the R135 000 Sophomore 1000 under an animated ride by in-form Ryan Munger.
“For now we are planning the qualification route to the R5-million CTS 1200 on Sun Met Day in January 2019,” said Fortune, who clearly rates the filly highly.
The jockey-trainer combination of Richard Fourie and Justin Snaith added more silver to their collection when 5-8 favourite Magnificent Seven won the Listed Settlers Trophy over 2400m by 1.50 lengths at Durbanville. Surprisingly, this was the pair’s only winner on the card.
“At the 1200 he was dropping back, but he has heart and is a fighter,” said Fourie. “He wants to win and is a lovely horse.”
Roquebrune looks a tempting Eachway bet when he lines up in Race 8, a Pinnacle Stakes over the minimum trip at Flamingo Park today.