Kilauea the brave
CLOSE: NIEUWENHUIZEN’S CHARGE FIGHTS OFF SHAAMA IN THE CLOSING STAGES ʂ Maujean rides a treble on the day.
After Friday's results at Fairview and Greyville it was good to get back to some semblance of sanity on the Turffontein Inside track on Saturday. Most of the races were won by favoured horses with the only real disappointment was well-supported Tharoos, who shortened in to 9-20 but could only manage third place.
In fairness the Mike de Kocktrained runner was only beaten 0.40 lengths and should be a lot better on a more galloping course. It should not take long before he regains the losses.
The other runner who failed to run up to expectations but did have a valid excuse was Polyphonic, who was backed in from 3-1 to 18-10 to win Race 6, a Conditions Plate over 1450m.
Alec Laird's charge was the best handicapped runner but could only manage to finish 8.75 lengths behind Kilauea. However, according to the stipes report the on-course veterinary surgeon checked out the filly and noted she was “not striding out right front”.
There was also a possibility the Judpot filly might have been in need of a run and if that was the case, then Kilauea looked to be the right horse. She was racing fit, well weighted on both handicap and form, and had improved in blinkers last time.
However, jockey Chase Maujean had to ride her all the way to the line as Shaama came flying up late and just a short head separated the pair at the finish. Shaama was a top-rated two-year-old who went off the boil as a three-yearold and now looks to be a filly to follow.
Trainer David Nieuwenhuizen has done remarkably with Kilauea and this four-year-old daughter of Trippi has now run 10 times for three wins and three seconds.
It was a day to remember for Maujean who rode a treble at the meeting and in all three he had to work hard to earn his money. The other two were for Geoff Woodruff and he started in Race 3 with first-timer Parabola.
This daughter of Silvano showed loads of courage as she fought on tenaciously to keep favourite Cold Cash at bay and should only get better from this experience. The fact that there was 7.40 lengths to the third runner, Legend Seeker, suggests that both should be worth following.
Maujean's other win was on Detonation in Race 5 who many saw as one of the best bankers on the card. He drifted to 2-1 and as they turned for home with the son of Dynasty still needing many lengths to make up, one wondered if some people “knew something”. However, he is known to detonate over last 200m and that is what he did again, easily catching Star Trek to win going away by 1.25 lengths.
Andrew Fortune had two winners, one of them finally ending Jackman's frustrating run of seconds, the other coming on Unagi, who led all the way to win well. Warren Kennedy also rode a double but both Racing Free (Race 2) and Inga (Race 8) needed the judge to separate the runners.
Callan Murray finally found the winner's enclosure in Race 9 where he brought Arpad home to give trainer Brian Wiid a double on the day. He admitted that things had not gone well early on with the defeats of Tharoos and Shaama, and he was just happy to finally go home with a winner to his name.