Cup glory for Thefutureisbright
GAUTENG-BASED JP Van de Merwe was seldom seen on a Cape racecourse in the recent past but he has now become a frequent visitor and Justin Snaith has taken advantage. He rode a cracking race aboard Thefutureisbright to land the Durbanville Cup (Listed) at Hollywoodbets Durbanville yesterday as he punched clear with a furlong to travel to hold off the attentions of Ryan Munger and Master Redoute.
The Durbanville Cup is one of the few races whose name has stood the test of time at the so-called ‘country course’ in
Cape Town and it is a good test of stayers as the field does a lap of the course.
It was a more than happy win for owner John Rycroft who said that he tends to avoid precocious sprinters in favour of a more ‘Classic’ type horse.
Kotzen
Kzn-based Ashton Arries has hit it off with the Glen Kotzen stable and when Arries makes his way back to his home town in Cape Town it often pays dividends for punters who follow.
He was aboard the Kotzentrained Blue Holly in the first and the pair scooted away at the top of the straight to win unchallenged although the grey Unconquerable Lady tried vainly to get onto terms.
Kotzen pointed out that he had tried for the big juvenile bonus races with the filly without success but was super confident in yesterday’s race and also collected a R100k Bloodstock South African bonus.
It is always a pleasure and one of the attractions of the sport watching top riders in action. There may have been a race review after Lily Of The Nile and Streethavenoname fought out a ding-dong battle in the second but it was Grant van Niekerk who always had the measure of Keagan de
Melo and punched his mount out over the last few strides to win rather comfortably.
The two got close together over the last furlong as the went streets clear of their rivals but there was never anything in it and Glen Kotzen led in his second winner of the afternoon.
Bantam
Craig Bantam is one of the journeyman riders in the Cape but given the chance he is value for money as he showed when deputising for Richard Fourie on the Justin Snaithtrained Mary Lamb. Bantam always had his mount in contention and once in daylight she accelerated away to win as she liked.
A gamble down the inside rail paid dividends for Ryan Munger as he got Piet Steyn’s Gem King home in the shadow of the post.
Van Niekerk looked to have ridden the perfect front-running race as Trout A Fait clung gamely to his lead when challenged from all sides, but Gem King got him on the line.
It was an early Snaith double as replacement rider Corne Orffer got Future Swing home to a third successive win in another tight finish. Lions Head had it one stride before the line and one stride after but Future Swing had him on the line. Snaith intimated that Future Swing was still immature and in time would enjoy a trip.