Close! Vauclair finishes well to win the Merchants. Bois De Var (obscured) ran third (Coastal Photos)
Trainer Tara Laing and jockey Raymond Danielson put the cherry on the top of a splendid hat trick of winners at Fairview on Friday when the Var gelding Vauclair scored an impressive win in the R100 000 Fairview Merchants run over 1200m. The Jooste silks were worn by the Laing winners and were also on the second placed Protest Song in the feature. The omen was to turn out well for the J&B Met the very next day.
The Jooste racing empire is living proof that this is first and foremost a numbers game.
Seldom a meeting goes by without the green, black and yellow in the number one box. Tara Laing just happens to have the sought after job (that said, it can’t be without its pressures) in the Eastern Cape and Justin Snaith’s talented former assistant has certainly taken the career make or break opportunity with both hands.
The non black type feature attracted a field of twelve of the best local sprinters and Bois De Var, Jamie Lee Jet and Paris Perfect dictated the running after Blackmalkin was slow into stride.
The Jooste pair Of Vauclair and Protest Song moved up on the outside and inside in a pincer like attack into the final 200,
Tara Laing. Great treble on the afternoon
While Vauclair grabbed the limelight, Protest Song’s challenge was deceptively threatening.
But Vauclair, who went off a weak 4 to 1 favourite, was going marginally the better and held on by 0,25 lengths to beat his stablemate Protest Song in a time of 66,48 secs.
Miss LaIng and her jockey Danielson also won the second and fifth races with Drill Sargeant and Stars And Stripes, respectively.
A R350 000 National Yearling Sale purchase, Vauclair has now won 7 races from 18 starts with 4 places and R312 605 in stakes.
Vauclair was bred by the well known Cape breeder Pippa Mickleburgh out of the very smart six time winning Elliodor mare Wild Aster.
Trained in her racing career by Peter Kannemeyer, she won the 1998 Majorca Stakes and has produced a host of winners.
Include the Laing horses as the yard is very hot at the moment.
