Nel’s charge to bolt home

Sometimes one has to look at the horses who ran behind the winner in order to assess the quality of the victory.

That appears to be the case with Aqua Bolt, who contests Race 7 at Kenilworth today a MR 96 Handicap over 1200m. Trained by Andre Nel and owned by bred by Sabine Plattner, this son of Gimmethegreenlight has been lightly raced.

He has only run seven times for two wins and three places and looked to be quite good early in his career. However, after a disappointing performance over 1400m at Kenilworth in December, in which he never got into the race at any stage, a decision was taken to geld Aqua Bolt.

This three-year-old made his comeback on 29 June over 1000m at Kenilworth and the change was remarkable. Ridden by Aldo Domeyer, Aqua Bolt found betting support to go off favourite at 5-2, and never gave his supporters an anxious moment. For the first time in his career, Aqua Bolt sat up with the pace and when Domeyer asked for the effort he just swept into the lead to beat Winter Assembly by 2.25 lengths. The third finisher, Regimental, was a further 5.25 lengths back while the fourth horse, Senor Don, was beaten 8.25 lengths.

What is also significant is that Aqua Bolt, carrying 60kg, won this MR 79 Handicap in a faster time than Mister Vargas won the previous race, a MR 102 Handicap. Mister Vargas took the race by a long head, carrying 55.5kg,

Aqua Bolt takes a jump in class in this event but only got a 3kg penalty for his win and looks to have a bit in hand when it comes to the handicappers’ assessment.

With Domeyer in Durban, Greg Cheyne picks up the ride.

The only threat looks to be Green Jacket, but he ran third behind Mister Vargas and will have to give 5kg to Aqua Bolt.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 5 Hello Tomorrow, 1 Shinnecock, 2 Nevil Mu, 6 Bright Eyed Girl

Race 2: 1 Affirmation, 6 Perfect Princess, 5 Green Light Gal, 7 Sovereign Rose

Race 3: 10 Trippin The Stars, 12 Winter Furi, 3 Duplicity, 8 Social Butterfly

Race 4: 10 Purple Cloud, 12 Winter Flight, 11 Spiritual Wind, 4 Double Blue

Race 5: 5 Sockeroo, 1 Retro Effect, 2 Miraculously Ours, 11 Smart William

Race 6: 4 Dynastic Light (best Win/Place bet), 3 Rosalie Runs, 8 Jolly Josephine, 1 Elusive Fortune

Race 7: 7 Aqua Bolt (best Win bet), 3 Green Jacket, 2 What A Winner, 5 Bernie

Race 8: 4 Magic Mike, 12 Wadi Rum, 8 Out of the ordinary, 7 Icon King

Race 9: 5 Naturalist, 9 Moon Rock, 10 Spy, 3 Regimental