Grade 2 double for Domeyer

Recently returned Aldo Domeyer scored an impressive Grade 2 double at Kenilworth on Saturday.

First up was Brett Crawford’s King Of Gems (55-1), who found a flying finish to cause a major upset and win the Grade 2 Concorde Cup over 1600m.

The well-supported Sachdev (9-2) seemed to have done everything right when Richard Fourie produced him to lead in the closing stages.

But after turning for home virtually last of the 11 runners, King Of Gems weaved through traffic and stormed home to win going away by a long neck.

"He went to the start amazingly well. He dug down deep and found an amazing extra gear when it was needed,” aid an elated Domeyer.

"That was super impressive. The way he finished was something special,” commented trainer Crawford.

This son of the late Kingsbarns will now be a major player in next month's Cape Guineas and if the manner of this win is anything to go by he will be even better over the 2000m of the Cape Derby on Sun Met day.

Favourite African Warrior (16-10) was a big disappointment as he failed to quicken and trailed in ninth.

Domeyer’s win in the Cape Merchants over 1200m was far more popular with punters, as tote favourite Russet Air (6-1) also found a sustained finish to win comfortably by 1.5 lengths from a game Ready Steady Go.

The big field split into two groups, but the speed was on the outside, where Bwana tore off to lead followed by Ready Steady Go and Cabo Da Cruz. Russet Air was poised to strike a couple of lengths further back.

Joint favourite Pleasedto-meetyou would probably have preferred some cover but led the inside group from a long way out due to a lack of pace there. But to his credit he stayed on for third.

"He's really improving now and I knew I had them a long way out,” was Domeyer's summary of the race.

"I thought he had a big shout today and he quickened really well," added his conditioner Candice Bass-Robinson.

Domeyer went on to complete a clean sweep of the final three races when handicapping certainty Capoeira was backed into 2-1 favourite and duly won the Graduation Plate over 1400m.

But he had a survive a late scare as talented three-year-old Invidia ran on well to only go down a neck. This Ashley Fortune-trained gelding will be a major player in the rescheduled CTS Ready-To-Run on 14 December.