Cape-based owner Etienne Braun grabbed a confidence boosting Fairview feature win on Friday ahead of the Sun Met, when the Jay Peg gelding Omega Onslaught, racing for the first time in his silks, made it five straight wins with a cracking score in the R110 000 Fairview Merchants.
Ryan Munger gets a great finish out of Omega Onslaught (Pic – Pauline Herman Photography)
The seafood baron owns Met runner Copper Force in partnerhsip with Nic Jonsson. The Royal Air Force gelding carries the same blue, red, green and white flag as that worn by the consistent Omega Onslaught – a former Mayfair Speculators-owned gelding who sure pays his way.
Tara Laing (photo: Pauline Herman)
Trainer Tara Laing has an extraordinary record in this race. Besides having set what is thought to be a South African record in 2016 as a trainer saddling a top four for the same owner when Vauclair won at the expense of Captain’s Reserve, Black Toga and The West Is Wide, she also saddled winners, Vauclair (2014), Unannounced in 2015, Normanz in 2017 and Omega Onslaught on Friday.
Tara has done superbly well to keep the gelding on the boil for an extended period and he put a small but quality field to bed in the style that suggests that he has plenty more to come.
Heartland from the stable of Etienne Braun’s Cape trainer Justin Snaith, who saddles Copper Force in the Met, was all the rage in the non black-type 1200m feature, but he was the first horse beaten when the whips were cracking.
Ryan Munger – a cool ride
Ryan Munger rode a confident race as Omega Onslaught burst through late to win going away by a length in a time of 67,06 secs.
His 7yo stablemate Exelero stayed on well for second ahead of Vous Et Var.
The well-fancied visitor Heartland ran an 11 length last under top weight.
The Klawervlei bred Omega Onslaught is a son of Jay Peg (Camden Park) out of the one-time winner Alpharhythm (Wolfhound).
He has won 7 races with 14 places from his 24 starts and R473 575 in stakes.
Tara Laing achieved a nice double when Keanan Steyn – who grabbed his own double – steered the well bred Street Gaze to win the next race in the Mayfair silks.
Braun’s Met runner Copper Force ran a storming second in the recent L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and is fancied by many – including SP in-house analyst Mark McGillewie – to turn the tables on Legal Eagle.
