Good day for Riaan and Craig
It was a day to remember for the training partnership of Carl Burger and Riaan van Reenen, as well as apprentice Craig Bantam on Saturday at Kenilworth, as the trio collectively brought home a 6500/1 treble!
Juvenile fillies Rebel’s Spirit (36/1) and Midnight Moonlight (25/1) both comfortably cracked their maidens at the first time of asking, followed later by threeyear-old gelding Rocketeer (7-1) who lived up to his name when running on strongly to score in a MR64 over 1600m.
The affable Carl Burger has been training for nine years, but this was the first time he has managed three winners on the same day. The same is true of improving apprentice Craig Bantam, whose winning total was boosted to 28 by his successes here. Riaan van Reenen has enjoyed days like these in the past, but is still unlikely to forget this one in a hurry.
Anyone who believes owners don’t have enough patience would have been stunned by the result of Race 5, a MR72 over 2400m. The rising eight-year-old Cigar Boy is owned by NHA Chairman Ken Truter and got up late to deny year younger Juddering Angel.
Remarkably the once highly regarded winner’s last triumph was just over three years ago in May 2014, while the luckless runnerup was visiting the number two box for the seventh time since he last tasted victory early in 2015.
The form of the recently run Winter Derby won so impressively by African Night Sky took a bit of a beating here. Four of the field lined up in that Grade 3 race, but in this supposedly lesser company Desert Wisdom only managed fourth while Paddington, Mangrove and Soaring Past sadly made up the trifecta for last.
Costly to follow maiden Cossack Guard tried blinkers again but the move was a failure as he raced too keenly and was a spent force halfway up the straight. His remarkable run of seven consecutive seconds came to an end, but at least he didn’t attempt to feast on any other horse like he did last time!
Stand out performance was that of progressive sprinting filly South Side, who scored her fifth win from seven tries over the minimum trip.