Kotzen holds a strong hand
GLEN Kotzen (pictured) has a strong hand in the Gr 1 Allan Robertson over 1 200m at Scottsville on Saturday and he might well have the dark horse in the Gr 1 City Of Pietermaritzburg Fillies Sprint over the same trip.
Kotzen's Captain Al filly Princess Royal is a halfsister to a previous Allan Robertson winner Princess Victoria and is held in high regard. Kotzen took her to Scottsville to show her the course for her Champions Season pipe opener in the Gr 3 Strelitzia Stakes over 1 100m and she put up a decent effort without having any kind of luck.
She played up in the preliminaries and was a bit unsettled very early in the race. She then became hopelessly boxed in near the rail when looking to have plenty of running in her and finished two lengths behind her stable companion Royal Pleasure at level weights.
Her only previous defeat was against the boys in the Listed The Sun International Juvenile Stakes over 1 000m, where she was far from disgraced when finishing 4,25 lengths back in fourth to the speedy Buckinghampshire, whom she had to give 0,5kg.
Her two victories include the Listed East Cape Fillies Nursery over 1 200m. Stable jockey Greg Cheyne has always ridden her and believes she is top class.
Kotzen said she hadn’t put a foot wrong in her work. She jumps from a tricky draw of nine, considering the low draws are usually favourable.
The Visionairre filly Royal Pleasure was purchased for just R30,000 and has realised a dream for her part-owners, the popular 3A Racing Syndicate, who have done a lot to promote racing to KZN's youth. She is full of precocious speed and Kotzen described her as a beautifully balanced and strong filly. She tends to put it in when working, so the yard have just kept her ticking over since the Strelitzia by working her alone.
She has landed a plum draw of four and Anton Marcus has retained the ride. She will likely be the filly they are all going to be chasing late in the race. Her second dam Taineberry won over 2400m and produced Jalberry, a stakes-winning sprinter who finished third in the Gr 1 Golden Slipper over 1 400m, so Royal Pleasure should see out the trip.
The yard have kept their Gr 1 City Of Pietermaritzburg Fillies Sprint contender Jet Belle fresh since her four length romp in the Gr 3 Poinsettia Stakes over the course and distance, her second successive victory in this race. This versatile five-year-old Jet Master mare has also won a Gr 2 over 2 000m, which emphasises her class. In November last year she beat Saturday's likely favourite Alboran Sea by 2,75 lengths over 1160m at Turffontein.
However, she was facing the three-year-old on 3,5kg better terms than weight for age that day and Alboran Sea subsequently performed to a much higher level in three sprints over 1000m, which included wins in the Gr 1 Cape Flying Championships and Gr 1 Computaform Sprint. Jet Belle has landed a plum draw of two and her regular pilot Cheyne is aboard.