Highveld success for PE horse
HORSES from Port Elizabeth can compete with the best and beat the best, jockey Ryan Munger said bluntly after National Park’s stunning win at Turffontein on Saturday.
The Yvette Bremnertrained runner, who went off at 22-1) defied the odds to secure a stunning win in the first leg of the Pick 6 in the Grade 3 Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m for three-year-olds.
National Park pulled away over the last 200m to demolish the field by 5.80 lengths. With 150m to go S’manga Khumalo and Chimichuri Run tried to make a race of it, but National Park became had more to come and raced away from his opposition.
In the end the victory was much easier than the winning margin suggests. With 20m to go Munger looked over his left shoulder and shot his fist into the air for the winning salute.
“Mrs Bremner does not bring horses to Joburg for mahala. She brings them to win. “I always believed PE horses can compete with the best and beat the best. That is what we have shown today. I’m so happy for PE and all concerned,” Munger said.
National Park opened the betting at 7-1 but drifted out to 28-1 before shortening in to 22-1. The gelding now has four wins from nine starts and it will be interesting to see what Bremner plans for the future.
National Park’s victory follows the top performance of Wild Brier last month who so nearly became the first Port Elizbeth horse in nine years to win the Algoa Cup at Fairview.