Piere Strydom gets Imperial Ruby up down the inside to nab Factor Fifty (Luke Ferraris) on the post (Pic – JC Photos)
Piere Strydom showed again why he will go down in the history books as one of the great riders to grace our tracks when he rounded off a four-timer at Turffontein on Saturday with a beautifully judged performance on Imperial Ruby in the marathon R125 000 Bidvest Gr3 Gold Bowl.
Trained by Corne Spies, the three-year-old Imperial Ruby had only been tried up to 2450m prior to Saturday’s 3200m contest. But he showed his ability when beaten under 4 lengths in the SA Derby after a late bump and duly delivered on Saturday.
Piere Strydom, as he had done over the straight track earlier in the day, rode a cracker, getting Imperial Ruby (73-20) up in the final stride from way off the pace to nab the good staying filly Factor Filly (73-20) by a head in a time of 209,49 secs.
The 8yo Top Shot (14-1) boosted the trifecta, staying on for third.
Bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, who enjoyed a terrific feature race weekend, the winner is a son of champion sire Silvano (Lomitas) out of the unraced Sadler’s Wells mare Ruby Necklace, who is out of the Irish champion 2yo Necklace.
Imperial Ruby has now won 4 races with 2 places from 15 starts for stakes of R268 350.
