Sniper Shot gets Cat on the line

Mike Moon

Sniper Shot got up on the line, under a well-judged ride by Keagan de Melo, to win the Grade 2 Post Merchants at Greyville on Friday night.

Trained by Paul Lafferty, this son of Judpot, has hinted that he is better than his three wins from 15 races might indicate. Second to top-rated Undercover Agent in the Byerley Turk and second in the KwaZulu-Natal Guineas showed a touch of class – and so it proved as he dropped down to 1200m and put his turn-of-foot to the test.

Back Cat Black started as the 7-2 favourite after his stablemate and early favourite Sunset Eyes was scratched on raceday. Brett Crawford’s runner flew out of his No 3 gate and set a hot pace with Wonderwall, Attenborough, Our Mate Art, Wynkelder and old hero Legislate scrapping it out just behind.

Sniper Shot, starting at 11-2 third favourite from draw nine, was just behind this bunch, well-settled.

In the straight, jockey Warren Kennedy did not hang around to see who might challenge Black Cat Back and gave him licence to race away from the pack. Flat to the boards, he held the lead until the last few strides. But he was collared by bigstriding Sniper Shot, who had been picking off the pacemakers all the way down the straight.

The winning distance was 0.50 lengths, with a similar distance back to third-placed Wynkelder, who showed resilience in the finish.

The 2014 Vodacom Durban July winner Legislate, making a return to racing after two years at stud, started as the 5-1 second favourite after an impressive barrier trial a few weeks ago. However, something clearly was amiss as he faded out of contention in the final 400m and jockey Bernard Fayd’Herbe did not ride him out.