Smart Call makes big impact
SMART Call will attempt to follow in the successful female footsteps of River Jetez (2010) and Igugu (2012) in the J& B Met but Alec Laird has an even bigger target in mind for Saturday’s winner of the Maine Chance Farms Paddock Stakes.
He said: “Winning this means that we now have a ticket for the Breeders’ Cup and we may well go for that, possibly via Mauritius but hopefully we can get a shorter route by then.”
Laird, who travelled the world with his 1997 Met winner London News, deliberately did not enter the Mauritzfontein homebred for the Klawervlei Majorca on Saturday week and explained: “A mile is a bit sharp for her. The Met will be tough but she is a good filly and I think she will actually get further than 2 000m as she is by Ideal World out of a mare by Horse Chestnut.”
Weichong Marwing, who also rode Horse Chestnut, was fined R1 000 for saluting the crowd before the line while runner-up Inara came back with a mouth injury and fourth-placed Same Jurisdiction had an over-reach wound on her left fore.
Anton Marcus for once failed to get a flyer on the 16-10 favourite but reported: “It wasn’t the draw that beat her - I had a great run. It was the distance and at that pace.”
Duncan Howells added: “I’m not disappointed. All in all I thought it was a fantastic run. With a good draw she would have been second. If she pulls up sound she will run in the Majorca.”
Surprisingly Black Arthur could miss Saturday week’s Investec Cape Derby despite making up 15 lengths when coming from last under Piere Strydom to get up just over 50m out in the Cartier Politician Stakes.
Justin Snaith, who won five of the 12 races, said: “The Politician was the race I earmarked for him for the summer – we have been holding him back because he needed time to mature – and he has a good future. There is a big doubt about the Derby and he won’t go for it unless I think he has a real winning chance.”
Runner -up Marinaresco is among the 28 Derby entries and so is third-placed Liege although Andrew Fortune was urging Sean Tarry to switch to the CTS Million Dollar. Second favourite Mooghamir dropped out disappointingly and the course vet found he was making an abnormal respiratory noise.