Ramsden-trained filly looks to be on the rise
Ken Nicol
Joey Ramsden first timers come to the track with a little left in the tank, and consequently any who win first up are usually worth immediately adding to your little black book of horses to follow.
This description certainly fits the well-bred imported Australian filly Still I Rise who, despite racing green, went on to win Race 2 at Kenilworth in quite impressive fashion.
Bought for A$80,000 at the Melbourne sale, and running in the colours of stable mainstays Mayfair Speculators, the daughter of Street Cry found early betting support from 14-1 to eventually go off at 6-1.
She found herself behind a wall of horses coming to the final furlong and at that stage seemed likely to have to settle for a minor place. However, things opened up at the right time and, under some strong urgings from Morne Winnaar, she quickened well to get up close home.
This was a first win since recently returning to Cape Town for experienced journeyman Winnaar, although the connection between him and “JR” goes back a long way.
The stable followed up later in the top-lining Pinnacle Stakes when ultra-reliable Catkin just got up to deny free-striding outsider Icon King. The runner up could be counted an unlucky loser as he jumped a shadow close to home, which played a big part in his eventual narrow defeat. The 1-1 favourite, Silicon Valley, was never travelling well and trailed in a well-beaten fifth.
Another impressive threeyear-old female winner on the day was Vaughn Marshall’s Listedplaced Sequined, who scored an overdue Maiden win in the third. She was rather unsettled early on, but once Grant van Niekerk took her to the head of affairs after 400m or so she settled beautifully and after that the result was frankly never in doubt.