Genuine. Dean Kannemeyer’s Dynasty gelding Blake has reached peak fitness and looks ready to improve on his 2012 Gold Cup third place
It really doesn’t get much better than the spectacle of twenty of our best longhaulers thundering down the Greyville straight with two miles of hard slog ahead of them. The R1,25 million Gr1 Gold Cup is run over the 3200m on Saturday and will provide a fabulously fitting climax to a dazzling and mostly memorable Champions Season.
South Africa’s premier marathon has stood the test of time over an era of thrills and spills spanning some eighty eight years. The gruelling epic is without question the ultimate and most sought after prize for anybody who has ever owned a racehorse with a reasonable pair of lungs and with the courage to dig deep when most mortals have had enough and are coming up for air.
The most startling aspect of this year’s renewal of a great race is the fact that a titanic contest of this magnitude is without a sponsor. Thanks to the Soccer World Cup it was run in the month of June in 2010, with the July being staged on the last Saturday of the season that year. The Gold Cup was then brought forward to an end of season slot with effect from Aslan’s 2011 win. That was from its original positioning in the first week of August, and it now takes pride of place on Super Saturday.
One would frankly have thought that sponsors would have been fighting over it. But we are more interested in the sporting thriller that lies ahead, than dissecting and analysing the obstacles and challenges that face the captains of our industry.
Diversity
The capacity field of twenty is a diverse and star studded one in staying terms. There are six runners that return from the 2012 Gold Cup, while only two fillies line up. The fairer sex have won the race three times in the past seventeen years. We doubt if either of the two representatives this year have the fire power of the likes of a Festive Forever (1996), Bella Bianca (1998) and Colonial Girl(2000), but stranger things have happened.
In fact the wide open betting tells a story. It is a race known for providing a serious upset every so often and the curved ball lies in the fact that a measure of the form(and thus often the individual rating) has been achieved up to around 2400m maximum. So be warned!
Top Yard
Dean Kannemeyer has had a fair season and won this race last year with In Writing, who set a new course record in the process. He also won it in 2000 with Gary Player’s Colonial Girl. The Capetonian is represented, appropriately, by two sons of Dynasty, in Blake and Taipan.
Karl Neisius rides the rock solid stayer Blake who caught the eye when storming through late for third in the shortened Gold Vase on July Day. While he had no chance with Kolkata, he was patently finishing strongest of all. He ran a close up third to his stablemate In Writing last year, and is a half kilo better off with Seal, whom he beat into fourth there. Felix Coetzee rode a tactical blinder on In Writing and Blake did not have things his own way.
Blake’s heart and consistency have been hammered in predictable fashion by the handicapper, and now that he is a touch more comfortable again, must rank as a serious contender to lift the biggest prize of his career. The 4yo Taipan has been a disappointment and while he did not finish far off Master Plan in the Mango 2200, was reported coughing. Taipan’s prep has been rather ordinary and he would be a surprise winner.
Dynamite Duo
The Soldier. Gavin Van Zyl’s Silvano gelding Seal is a proven stayer with all the credentials needed to win the Gold Cup
Gavin Van Zyl saddles Seal and the enigmatic Shogunnar. Just as the pair did for the July raid, they will travel down from Johannesburg a few days prior to the Gold Cup, to optimise the oxygen benefits of going from altitude to sea level. One of this country’s trojan stayers, Seal’s run in the Vodacom Durban July can be ignored as luck did not go his way.
He lacked the necessary early pace and was squeezed out in the rush for position up the back straight in the July and from then on was caught four wide. In the straight he had to first be eased when caught between two horses and was then stopped in his tracks by another horse that was hanging outward. His rider then decided to ease him out of the race.
The Silvano gelding was also drawn poorly in last year’s race but travelled well in a handy position, and finished a solid 2,5 length fourth with topweight of 60kg. Shogunnar is drawn a lot better than Seal and he may just be crying out for this test of stamina. Shogunnar’s July effort may have been seen as disappointing, but it is worth noting that he was miles back turning for home and stayed on well for 4,6 lengths eighth position. He is a horse that we have fancied and tipped often and is going to pop up on us when we least expect it!
Championship Hope
In Form. Sean Tarry’s Gold Vase winner Kolkata has found form and will be partnered again by the brilliant Piere Strydom
Trainer Sean Tarry will want to win this race to bolster his prospects of winning the trainers championship. Recent Gold Vase winner Kolkata is probably the stable elect and will be ridden by Piere Strydom. The son of Requiem ran eighth and just under five lengths behind In Writing in last year’s Gold Cup, and appears to have found form at an opportune time.
The 4yo Colorado King Stakes winner E- Jet has been disappointing and faded in the July to finish six lengths back. The classy son of Jet Master never finishes far behind and tries this trip for the first time and now needs to deliver again to justify his Champions Season campaign. The third of the Tarry runners, Gold Onyx, has drawn poorly. The son of Black Minnaloushe loves Greyville though and ran on well in both the Betting World 1900 and the Mango 2200 to suggest that he is fit and well.
He is unproven over the ground though, but will be ridden by the ‘King Of Bling’ himself. July winning jockey S’manga Khumalo is riding a Gr1 crest of a wave this season, and he won’t lack for confidence.
Big Fish
Mike Bass has had a mixed bag of a season and the Cape veteran will be keen to stamp his authority with the two good stayers, River Crossing and Jeppe’s Reef. River Crossing achieved the Highland Night Cup and Lonsdale Stirrup Cup double, but did not make the July cut, much to the chagrin of his connections.
His run in the consolation July was a flat effort but he has shown that he stays the 3200m. Jeppe’s Reef ran a fair sixth in the Gold Cup last year, but looks held by Kolkata on his recent Gold Vase effort.
De Kock Duo
Good Value. The Solskjaer gelding Shogunnar is probably the best one time winner in the country and will be right there with a change of luck
Mike De Kock’s coupling of Patriotic Rebel and the Gold Bowl winner Canterbury Tale, will have their supporters. While Anthony Delpech rides the former, Canterbury Tale is our dark horse and preference. He won the Gold Bowl beating Seal in receipt of 9,5 kgs, and now only gets six kilos from the Van Zyl stayer.
Canterbury Tale put in a below par performance in the Gold Vase, but may not have enjoyed the tactics adopted. He is a good sort and should not be underestimated. Patriotic Rebel found form when staying on well behind Master Plan in the Mango 2200 on July Day. While Master Plan is a Gr1 winner, it is worth noting that Patriotic Rebel was in receipt of 8kgs there. The 3yo son of Stronghold has drawn poorly, but will have a shout of he stays the trip. His dam produced nothing to date that has stayed though.
On The Beach
Mike Stewart travels the long road from Noordhoek in the Cape with Paddy O’ Reilly, who is one of four sons of Dynasty in the race. The Listed Glenlair Trophy winner stays every inch of the trip and will be ridden by recently returned world traveller Richard Fourie. Paddy ‘O’Reilly has been plagued by soundness issues and most of his prep will be centred around the sea water therapy made famous by Stewart. Isipingo Beach will be his chosen spot for a daily dip while in Durban, and if he is on song, must have a chance of securing a place.
Pleasing
Ormonde Ferraris is another trainer to engage a globetrotting jockey. Weichong Marwing will ride S’Il Vous Plait. The gelding, along with Seal, carries the hopes of our champion sire elect Silvano, to end the season with a glorious Gr1 win. S’Il Vous Plait won his last start in a 2600m Pinnacle Stakes in great style a month ago, and comes in fit and a lively contender.
Azz Man
The wiley and debonair Mike Azzie’s Caradoc Gold Cup winner Masai Warrior is 3kgs better off with Kolkata on their Gold Vase clash, when the Tarry runner beat him by 0,75 lengths. The powerful front running son of Wolfhound has an awful 16 draw to overcome, but has regular pilot Karl ‘The Truth’ Zechner in the saddle and is one of the few genuinely proven over 3200m.
The Joey Soma trained Wagner has drawn nicely and ran prominently in the July before fading out to finish over nine lengths off Heavy Metal. That was not a sparkling effort after being labelled one of the best weighted longshots in the big race. His furthest previous try was the 2450mof the 2012 SA Derby where he finished 21 lengths behind dead heaters Pomodoro and Royal Bencher,and with two moderate sorts behind him.
His astute trainer is very capable of pulling the magic out of the bag, as he did when making us experts look rather silly in the Summer Cup, and there may well be some strategic plan behind his participation here.
Big Pool
Kumaran Naidoo’s Opera King gelding Scoop The Pool ran 7,90 lengths behind Kolkata in the Gold Vase but now enjoys a 3kg weight turnaround in his favour. He is a typically solid stayer who had fair earlier form and is not far off the likes of River Crossing.
He jumps from the 1 draw and gets the services of the rock solid Alec Forbes. He strikes us a potential quartet kicker if things go his way. One of the most disappointing horses in racing, Colin Scott’s Dynasty gelding Sage Throne has not won since January 2012, and appears to have lost the plot entirely. He ran unplaced in the Gold Cup last year, and there is no tangible evidence that he even stays the trip.
Ladies
There are only two fillies in this year’s Gold Cup. One has to concede that both Dubai Gina and Adobe Pink would be surprise winners. The Go Deputy filly Adobe Pink has been a revelation since being given a test of stamina and the well bred 4yo has won her last four starts on the trot.
This includes three feature victories against her own sex and culminated in a smooth win in the Listed Queen Palm over the Clairwood 2500m last time. She is facing a lot stronger than the one time winning Sounds Of Tigers that she beat there, and the latter was beaten over eleven lengths in the Gold Vase recently.
Dubai Gina is an Australian bred daughter of Dubai Destination. Vaughan Marshall’s runner was solidly beaten into stone last in the Mango 2200 but has a chance on her better previous form. She is some 4,5 kgs better off with River Crossing for a 5,25 length beating in the 2500m Highland Night Cup and her strong finishing second in the J&B Reserve Stayers on Met day brings her into the picture. She is 4kgs worse off with Blake who finished just under two lengths behind her there and looks to have an overall uphill battle.
Gold Shares
Finding the right horse in this minefield is a challenge indeed. Blake and Seal are the proven class stayers and both are likely to be right there when the chips are down. But there are others with prospects to improve into contention.
These include the De Kock coupling as well as Shogunnar and Strydom’s mount, Kolkata. It doesn’t end though. It is a great race and a spectacle and thrill is guaranteed. Wherever your fancy may finish.
