A spokesman for Gary Alexander Racing Stables has rejected any suggestions of sinister motives or foul play after their 2015 CTS Emperors Palace Ready To Run winner Champagne Haze had run a dismal fifth in a field of six at Turffontein on Saturday.
Champagne Haze wins the CTS Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup
Champagne Haze, a winner of 3 of his 5 outings and a half-brother to a former Alexander star in Pierre Jourdan, was partnered by regular jockey Andrew Fortune in the 1400m MR 93 Handicap, where he jumped at 5-10 and was a popular Bipot exotic banker for many.
After being settled a few lengths off, he failed to improve his position and ran 6,50 lengths behind the Sean Tarry-trained Lunar Approach.
“Andrew Fortune jumped off afterwards and said that he could not say that he was not disappointed. We echo his sentiment and felt that Champagne Haze had done enough work and had the class to win a race of this nature – or certainly run in the top three – after his 9 week break. Andrew had to fight him to get him into a position off them and with the track running dead and the grass quite long, he failed to quicken as they sprinted away in the final 400m,” said Dean Alexander, who added that Fortune had not resorted to ‘cutting the youngster in half.’
Dean Alexander – ‘disappointed but still on track for Guineas’
He went on to explain that Champagne Haze was an immature and physically and emotionally softer individual than Pierre Jourdan was at the same time of his career.
“There is little question that he will be a much better 4yo and that is why we kept him to his own age group here. We also feel that the handicapper should restrict the topweight to 60kgs – for a 3yo to lump 61,5kgs is no fun,” he suggested.
“When the second race was run, we did not realise yet that the track was dead and that is precisely why we didn’t opt to drop Crystal Glamour out in the sixth and get caught flatfooted again. We had her up there and she was returning from exactly the same break as Champagne Haze,” he said.
A promising 3yo filly, Crystal Glamour drifted to 22-10 and won the sixth race in the hands of Fortune.
Andrew Fortune – didn’t cut his mount in half
“While we, and our owners, are disappointed, punters need to see the bigger picture of a race programme plan for a young horse. For us to allow him time to develop and reach his optimum level of performance, and ensure he trains on, we have to let Champagne Haze find his feet. We don’t ‘stamp’(Ed- afrikaans word pronounced stump – ‘put serious pressure on’) our horses – particularly when his season target is the Guineas – he thus needs to peak in 8 weeks’ time – not yesterday.”
Dean confirmed that they believed that a mile would be Champagne Haze’s maximum trip and that his next run would be in the Tony Ruffel Stakes.
“We go out trying to win with all of our runners. This run was clearly a prep for his classic plans. The fact that he didn’t run up to scratch because of a possible combination of fitness, track conditions or the way the race turned out, is highly regrettable,” he said in conclusion.
