Dan The Lad collects the cash
Jack Milner
Dan The Lad had the biggest pay day of his career when he won the WSB Grand Series Match race over 1475m at the Vaal on Saturday.
Paul Matchett’s charge and Ashley Fortune-trained Tsitsikamma Dance fought out the finale for a winner-takes-all R250,000.
Tsitsikamma Dance won Leg 1 of the series while Soldier On won Leg 2. However, the connections of Soldier On decided not to run in the match race and that opened the door for second-placed Dan The Lad. Francois Herholdt rode him in the original race but as he is in South Korea S'manga Khumalo took the ride.
Dan The Lad always held a narrow lead and although both horses hung to the inside, Khumalo kept his advantage to win by 0.50 lengths.
However, what did affect the outcome, however, was the decision to run the match race at the current merit ratings as opposed to those used in the original race in October. That meant that Tsitsikamma Dance was 1.5kg at a disadvantage with Dan The Lad.
The meeting came to an unfortunate end due to heavy rain and lightning, but that did not stop Gavin Lerena who came away with three winners.