Triumphant return for Van Rensburg the soldier
Making Miracles looks very hard to beat at Fairview
If the performances produced by the first and second leg victors of Saturday’s highly anticipated World Sports Betting Grand Series is any indication, we are in for a thrilling match race at the beginning of December, when the king of the series will be crowned.
There were fears that stormy weather would cause yet another postponement of the event and, though the heavens did open up a bit at Turffontein, Mother Nature was on our side and allowed the organisers to finally breathe a sigh of relief. Both Soldier On (Leg 1) and Tsitsikamma Dance (Leg 2) showed tremendous heart and resilience when winning the R500 000 Non-Black Type contests over 1475m on the Inside track by – remarkably – the same margin of 0.05 lengths! Perhaps all the Grand Series delays were the racing gods buying time for jockey Marco van Rensburg – so he could fully recover from a finger injury and reunite with Solder On, a horse he has ridden in all its 11 appearances to date. Having his first ride back, Van Rensburg had the 9-2 second favourite smartly stationed in fourth place passing the 800m marker, stalking early leaders Sail For Joy (9-1), Dan The Lad (44-1) and Finchatton (66-1).
Lukewarm 71-20 favourite Divine Odyssey was tucked in on the inside rail by Gavin Lerena, a further five lengths behind the leader and, honestly, never really looked a serious threat.
Race dynamics quickly changed approaching the 200m when Dan The Lad and Solder On skipped a length clear of the opposition, thrillingly matching strides all the way to the finish line.
At the line, only one individual in the entire country was certain of the result: Van Rensburg, who saluted immediately.
It was a meritorious performance considering that Soldier On shouldered 4.5kg more than the runner-up.
Lake Kinneret (8-1) produced a devastating turn of foot in the dying stages, and wasn’t disgraced, beaten a rapidly diminishing 0.55 lengths into third. Sail For Joy rounded off the Quartet, which paid a spine-tingling R19 445. Unfortunately Mardi Gras, the 5-4 hot-pot Grand Series Leg 2 favourite, and many punters’ Pick 6 and Place Accumulator banker – mine included – shockingly failed to even run a place under Lerena, being beaten 2.35 lengths into fifth place by Tsitsikamma Dance.
The jockey-trainer combination of Ryan Munger and Ashley Fortune is firing on all cylinders at the moment and the young rider, currently third on the national championship log, earned his riding fee on this son of Captain Al, forcing him to dig deep in the closing stages to deny Zouaves (8-1) by a whisker.
Tsitsikamma Dance impressively maintained his unbeaten record on the Highveld circuit in the process. I advise you follow him until he gets beaten. Munger had this gelding relaxed three lengths behind Pilou (28-1) who set an honest pace under S’manga Khumalo but quickly began to buckle when pressured by Fortune’s charge, who hit the front passing the 200m marker.
Much like Pilou, Tsitsikamma Dance’s stride began to shorten drastically once the Geoff Woodruff-trained Zouaves produced a burst of speed, slicing through the rivals like a hot knife through butter, but it was a touch too late.
One more stride and Zouaves gets there – just one!
Making Miracles, in pursuit of a third consecutive triumph under the in-form Greg Cheyne, is the best bet on today’s Fairview card and a worthy Pick 6 banker as she lines up in Race 5, a FM Conditions Stakes over 2200m.