Coetzee is first jockey to claim eight Gold Cup wins
JOCKEY Felix Coetzee was as ecstatic as an Olympic gold medallist after partnering the Argentinian-bred gelding In Writing to victory in Saturday’s R1m Ladbrokes Gold Cup at Greyville.
Coetzee secured his own piece of racing history by becoming the first jockey to win SA’s marathon race for the eighth time.
“This is a really great thrill for me,” said Coetzee, whose last win in this 3 200m contest was on Bella Bianca in 1998.
In Writing was one of two horses representing Cape trainer Dean Kannemeyer, who also saddled the well-supported Blake.
In the post-race interview, Coetzee was full of praise for Kannemeyer. “He had the horse spoton on the day — he’s done a splendid job as I could tell my mount was tuned to the minute.”
Kannemeyer said: “We bought the horse in Argentina and always thought a lot of him. Unfortunately, he suffered a tendon injury, but he’s come back from that, which not a lot of horses do.”
Although Kannemeyer will be happy that third-placed Blake also earned a decent cheque, it was 331 chance Princess Of Light who looked the likely winner with 200m to run.
Geoff Woodruff’s filly had advertised her chance with a recent win over 2 600m on the highveld, but it was In Writing who found the best finish to land the spoils for the six-year-old’s owners, Fieldspring Racing.
It was a good result for the bookmakers, with a number of fancied runners including Vettel, Sage Throne, Kolkata, Gorongosa and Ilsanpietro failing to make the first four.
The Gold Cup win more than compensated Coetzee for defeats on two heavily backed two-yearolds, Straight Set and War Horse, in the fifth and sixth races.
The Gold Cup win more than compensated Coetzee for defeats on heavily backed Straight Set and War Horse
Trainer Vaughan Marshall’s high opinion of All Is Secret was vindicated as she proved too smart for Straight Set in the R500 000 Thekwini Stakes.
War Horse, a fluent winner over 1 400m on Durban July day, was always struggling from a wide draw in the supporting juvenile feature, the R500 000 Premier’s Champion Stakes. Black Toga looked poised to give Marshall another winner in this grade 1 event, but Piere Strydom had other ideas and produced The Hangman, with a well-timed run to grab the honours close to home.
Those punters who backed horses who had run in the July were left with empty pockets and all of Piere Jourdan, Chesalon, Gold Onyx and Castlethorpe failed to shape in the R700 000 Champions Cup.
Young Muzi Yeni has enjoyed another successful season and he produced Greg Ennion’s runner Master Plan with a late surge to collar Karis Teetan’s mount, Black Wing. While Gauteng trainer Sean Tarry will be disappointed his charges failed to show in the Gold Cup, he will be pleased to have saddled two feature winners as the curtain came down on the KwaZulu-Natal season.
Most pundits felt The Hangman’s stablemate, Heavy Metal, would battle to beat the favourite, Tribal Dance, in the Darley Arabian, but Piere Strydom rode another powerful finish to notch his second winner at the meeting.