Blueridge Mountain on the rise
BLUERIDGE Mountain arrived at Clairwood from Cape Town on Tuesday, a few days before her engagement in the Grade 1 Woolavington 2000 at Greyville on Saturday. Lorenzo Karriem, who is Joey Ramsden’s Clairwood assistant trainer, said that she had travelled very well and was looking in fine shape.
The Giant’s Causeway filly looks to be the most rapidly improving performer on the South African turf.
She arrived for the Cape Sizzling Summer Season on the back of a 1 200m win at Clairwood on debut, a narrow defeat over 1 160m at Turffontein in a strong Progress Plate and a narrow second to subsequent KRA Fillies Guineas winner Festival Of Fire in the Gr 3 Starling Stakes over 1 400m. She started 22-1 for the Avontuur Estate Cape Guineas and ran accordingly, finishing unplaced five lengths behind Rumya. However, it was discovered afterwards that she had been cut into.
Since then she has reeled off four victories in succession from 1 200m to 1 600m, including the Gr 1 Majorca Stakes over 1 600m in which she reversed form with a number of the horses that had beaten her in the Guineas. In her last start, when winning the Listed Sweet Chestnut Stakes over 1 400m at Kenilworth by a widening 3,5 lengths, it was noticeable that she is growing into a lion of a horse. She went straight to the front in that race, travelled comfortably and won easily.
Giant’s Causeway
Her sire Giant’s Causeway had a legion of followers in his racing days in England and Ireland and whenever the subject of favourite horses crops up in those parts his name features prominently.
He was known as “the iron horse” due to his refusal to be beaten and he ended his career with six Group 1 victories. His famous five-in-a-row Group 1 wins during his three-yearold year were all by margins of less than a length, underlining his courage. As European Horse Of The Year, he was retired to Coolmore Stud in 2001 and was commanding a service fee of US$300,000 by 2006. He was the leading sire in North America in both 2009 and 2010.
Three of Giant’s Causeway’s Group 1 victories were over ten furlongs and at stud he has been a stamina influence which gives a lot of reason to believe that Blueridge Mountain will stay the Woolavington 2 000m trip.
She will face the Triple Tiara heroine Cherry On The Top, who destroyed all before her during the Johannesburg Autumn season. However, the latter has never faced a horse of Blueridge Mountain’s quality and this is going to make Saturday’s Woolavington one of the highlights of the Champion’s Season. Blueridge Mountain jumps from draw two, which will be ideal for her front running style. Anton Marcus is booked to ride the Markus and Ingrid Joosteowned chestnut filly.
Marcus had an operation to repair a snapped tendon in his right thumb on Monday. A pin, that will be there for six to eight weeks, was inserted and he said he would ride on Saturday if he “feels comfortable.”