The former Cape-based Captain Al gelding Captain Magpie made it five wins on the trot at the Champ de Mars on Saturday when clinching the honours to win the City Of Port Louis 50th Anniversary Cup – Draper’s Mile.
Captain Magpie – a file action shot
Trained in his South African racing days by Brett Crawford, Captain Magpie justified his status as the hot favourite in the feature as he stretched his unbeaten record to five, and completed a great hat-trick for Donavan Mansour and Rameshwar Gujadhur’s yard.
Captain Magpie took control at the start of the 1500m contest and did enough to hold off a fast-finishing Tandragee (Jean Pierre Guillambert).
Desert Sheik (Swapneel Rama) and Everest (Rakesh Bhaugeerothee) filled the placings.
Captain Magpie won three of his first seven starts in 2013 before being exported to Mauritius.
Mansour salutes in this photo finish
The winner was bred by Klawervlei Stud and is out of the London News mare, Oracle News – who was trained in her racing career by 2015/16 KZN Racing Personality of the Year, Paul Lafferty.
Stewards’ Report
Terminator and Chinese Gold were slow to begin. Desert Sheik jumped awkwardly and shortly after the start dipped. Captain Magpie also dipped shortly after the start. Near the 250 metres, Everest shifted out when being ridden with the whip. Tandragee, which was following, became awkward when close to its heels and had to be steadied and taken in. Approaching the 100 metres Tandragee commenced to shift in under pressure and at the same time Captain Magpie shifted out slightly under pressure, resulting in Tandragee having to be taken out to continue going forward and, in doing do so, Tandragee inconvenienced Everest. The Clubs Veterinary Surgeon reported that Roman Manner was lame on its off fore leg and that Everest was lame on its near fore leg.
