Silver Flyer very smart 3YO.
Some highly touted names were left to lick their wounds after 15/1 shot Silver Flyer demolished a smart field of three-year-olds to win the Investec Dingaans over 1600m on the standside course at Turffontein on Saturday, writes Matthew Lips
Gauteng’s first major test of the season for three-year-olds attracted a dozen starters, amongst them last season’s Gr 1 winner Potala Palace and the facile recent debut winner Merhee, but Silver Flyer stepped up considerably on previous form to win in fine style and establish himself as yet another high-powered inmate of the Mike de Kock yard.
Potala Palace had made heavy weather of winning a graduation plate on his seasonal debut earlier in November, but his trainer Mike Azzie is never shy to sing the praises of his horses and Potala Palace was sent off as the 19/10 favourite to defend his massive reputation. Merhee – whose debut win just eleven days earlier had come over 1160m – was the 33/10 second favourite ahead of 5/1 third choice Straw Market. Pomodoro had beaten a field which included Silver Flyer when winning a Listed race over 1600m at Clairwood five weeks earlier and started as a 7/1 chance even though stable jockey Robbie Fradd had deserted him to ride Whiteline Fever (who’d finished fourth in the Clairwood race) instead.
Potala Palace had won the Gr 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes at Greyville in July with pillar-to-post tactics and a poor draw in the Dingaans left him with little choice but to try the same thing again. He soon worked his way to the front and set a decent pace from Pomodoro and Straw Market, with Mushreq further back. Golden Chateau and Frontino Gold raced in the pack along with the likes of Silver Flyer and Merhee as Potala Palace brought them into the straight.
The favourite appeared to have a comfortable lead at the top of the straight, but Potala Palace began to come under attack from all directions inside the final 400m and didn’t find a great deal once challenged. Pomodoro was the closest to Potala Palace when the latter began to fade, with Straw Market having every chance as he tried to launch his bid, but they were all about to be swept aside by a rampant Silver Flyer, who quickened impressively from off the pace under Glen Hatt. One of five entries from the De Kock stable, Silver Flyer burst clear inside the last furlong and clearly had the race in safe-keeping even as Whiteline Fever gave chase from off the pace.
Silver Flyer had plenty left in the tank and went on to win by 2.5 lengths from Whiteline Fever, who at least justified Robbie Fradd’s belief that he was the pick of the Sean Tarry runners. Straw Market simply could not match the finishing speed of the first two and finished 1.5 lengths further away in third, with Pomodoro lacking extra late to finish another half-a-length behind Straw Market in fourth. It may have been a case of too-much-too-soon for Merhee, who was beaten 6.5 lengths into seventh place, but it would not come as a shock should he turn out to be more effective in sprints.
Potala Palace was eventually beaten 9.25 lengths into ninth place. The expensive son of Singspiel has to be much better than this. Much has been made of how weak the field was by Gr 1 standards when he won the Premier’s Champion Stakes, but Silver Flyer was in that line-up and could only finish fifth. His pedigree suggests that Potala Palace wants to go 2000m and beyond, but he will need to settle much better in his races if he is to have any hope of seeing out that sort of distance. It is interesting, though, that in his frequently televised public gallop at Turffontein a couple of weeks ago Potala Palace settled easily behind his unnamed working companion before striding clear to “win” as he liked. If he can perform similarly in a race he will surely leave his Dingaans form far behind and hopefully justify his trainer’s enormous opinion of him. Mike Azzie may wear his heart on his sleeve and open himself up for plenty of gentle (and not-so-gentle) ribbing when things go wrong, but he assuredly knows his way around horses and Potala Palace is hardly one to be written off as being overhyped or overrated. Not yet, anyway.
Runner-up Whiteline Fever is worth a mention. A strapping son of Right Approach, Sean Tarry’s colt gives every indication of still being a big baby who is looking for a greater test of stamina than he has yet been presented with and it would come as no surprise whatsoever to find him turning into one of 2012’s dominant three-year-olds.
Silver Flyer, of course, is another with a bright future and he should also relish going further than 1600m, which is the maximum over which he has raced to date. He won the Dingaans in resounding style, rising above his KZN form by some way in the process, and he has both the trainer and the pedigree to go on to even bigger things. A son of Silvano, Silver Flyer in the sixth foal, fourth winner, and first Stakes winner produced from Flaming Rock mare Fiery Flyer, who won five races between 1600/2000m. This is the family of Gr 1 winner Love Is In The Air and SA Oaks winner Rootin’ Tootin, so when Silvano is added to the mix there seems to be every reason to expect that Silver Flyer will stay 2000m and beyond. Bred by Mrs Patricia Devine and bought for R200 000 at the 2010 National Yearling Sale, Silver Flyer has won three of his six starts for stakes of R437 600.
