Oh Susanna does it with a dance
SO, just how good is Snowdance? Stable companion Oh Susanna, best of the rest when Snowdance annihilated the Fillies Guineas field, put the star older fillies to bed in Saturday’s Cartier Paddock Stakes.
Justin Snaith, winning his fourth Paddock in 11 seasons, said: “I think you know the answer but I did say at the time of the Fillies Guineas that if anything could beat Snowdance it was this one.”
Snowdance now goes for the Klawervlei Majorca on Met day but seemingly there will be no rematch with Oh Susanna. “It is not up to me – it will be a team decision – but going back to a mile wouldn’t be the right thing to do. Oh Susanna will go to Durban.”
Inara
Grant van Niekerk, who also won this in Gaynor Rupert’s colours on Inara three years ago, said: “I was basically a passenger. When I pulled her out she quickened clear and she kept going. If anything had come to her she would have quickened again.”
He and Snaith each won a third of the 18 races over the two-day meeting and he said: “When you are riding for Snaith Racing on big days you come with confidence because you know the horses will be ready.”
The trainer responded, saying: “Grant has a quirk about himself – a certain way that he handles things - but he is such a good young jockey and horses run for him.”
They certainly do even though his all-consuming will to win sometimes takes precedence over keeping them straight and, as a result, he is almost as familiar with the boardroom as he is with the winner’s box.
He got another ten days for interference on Friday and has resolved to bite the bullet straightaway, starting the suspension on Wednesday. He was also fined R2 500 for raising his arm in triumph before he reached the line on Oh Susanna.
Second-placed Lady In Black, fourth to Snowdance in the Fillies Guineas, will also miss the Majorca. “She needs further so I didn’t enter her,” Dennis Drier explained.
Nightingale
Nightingale ran way below form and finished with only two behind her, with Anthony Delpech reporting that she was not striding out properly. Gimme Six (11th) was squeezed early in the straight while Wind Chill (eighth) lost a front shoe. WHAT THE OTHER JOCKEYS SAID
Lyle Hewitson (Copper Force, 2nd at 50-1): “I was last 450m out and then he got his head down and really raced.
“I had to weave about a bit and if I’d had a clear run, well ……..”
Greg Cheyne (Sail South, 4th): “He really enjoyed the fact that he could run at them. He hit the line strong and two strides after the post I was well clear.”
Aldo Domeyer, (Marinaresco, 5th): “I was very pleased with him considering it was over a mile. There are a lot of positives coming out of that.”
Donovan Dillon, (Silicone Valley, 6th): “He moved up quite nicely but then got a bit tired. He ran a good race.”
Bernard Fayd’Herbe, (African Night Sky, 7th): “I had the run of the race and he didn’t stop but he didn’t quicken like he can. He just stayed on. He is better over 2 000m.”
Richard Fourie, (Gold Standard (8th): “He ran an OK race but he didn’t sprint when he needed to. He wants distance and he’s got a big chance in the Met.”
Grant van Niekerk, (Hat Puntano, 9th): “The draw cost me, the track is riding fast and I couldn’t make up the ground. He is much better than that.”