For the second consecutive weekend, a Hollywoodbets Durbanville feature was decided in the boardroom. That’s not by choice and it’s racing for you.
As the sun sets on the country course, the Candice Bass-Robinson team and Drakenstein will be pleased with a terrific Gr3 feature double, on a glorious winning afternoon.
Trip Of Fortune (Domeyer) and Silver Operator (Van Niekerk) go head to head in a thriller(Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
The R250 000 Gr3 Hollywoodbets Matchem Stakes attracted drama early with talented Snaith wild child Pomp And Power delaying the start and eventually being waved away, with a lost bridle further protracting matters.
Only two runners escaped the long wait in the stalls, and it was this duo, Silver Operator and Trip Of Fortune, who had the crowd on their feet with a rousing duel over the final 100m.
At his first meeting of the season after an injury enforced break, Grant van Niekerk was always going to be heard but the talented Drakenstein-sponsored jockey had to endure four frustrating runner-up finishes, including the Hollywoodbets Matchem Stakes where he got Silver Operator up in a cliffhanger to beat Aldo Domeyer Trip Of Fortune.
A boardroom call always looked likely as the two slugged it out and the Vaughan Marshall team were left to lament what would have been their third Matchem in four years – One World (2019) and Seeking The Stars (2021) their most recent triumphs.
Instead it was Candice Bass-Robinson who was celebrating after she had opened her Matchem account in 2017 with the Aussie-bred Our Mate Art.
Trip Of Fortune is out of the versatile ten-time winning Doowaley mare, Louvre. He is bred and owned by Drakenstein, and is listed as a R750 000 National Yearling Sale graduate.
Already a dual stakes winner, Trip Of Fortune has now won 6 races with 2 places from 11 starts for stakes of R557 075.
And Grant van Niekerk deservedly broke his duck in the final race of the day when Beerenberg, a new acquisition and now in the Lucinda Woodruff yard, bounded home to win a good race.
