Justin Snaith helped himself to a feature double at Kenilworth on Saturday and after Heartland had won the Jet Master Stakes, it was the turn of the stayer Current Event to register his peak career success with a good victory in the R250 000 Gr3 Summer Stayers Handicap.
Current Event and S’manga Khumalo stay on best of all to win the Cape Summer Stayers Handicap (Pic – Wayne Marks)
Punters were caught napping in the 2500m eight strong field of staying handicappers and the Snaith second stringer landed up jumping at 20-1 as the outsider of the bunch.
No doubt bettors were influenced by his recent placed form stint in PE and the support was for the Mike Bass-trained My World, who went off at 5-2.
The initial pace was a tentative one as it always tends to be in these races and Weichong Marwing di not hesitate in taking the De Kock visitor Kingston Mines out to show the way ahead of My World. Current Event was some way downfield early on.
Into the run for home, the pace had quickened as My World ran past Kingston Mines, with A Time To Kill running on down the inside.
My World’s effort petered out at the 200m and it was here that Khumalo produced Current Event with a decent late effort.
S’manga Khumalo – well judged win after Silicone Valley’s narrow loss
With Kingston Mines digging deep, Current Event ran on the better under a well judged ride by Khumalo and stayed on strongly to win by 1,25 lengths.
No time was published.
Kingston Mines was always thereabouts and was rewarded with a R50 000 second cheque.
Last year’s winner Coltrane plodded into third and looked to need the run after his 20 week break.
Current Event, who had run third behind Coltrane last term, took his career stakes earnings to R583 038 with his 7th win and 11 places from 36 starts.
A R50 000 National Yearlng Sale purchase, Current Event originally raced in the Chow silks for trainer Gavin Van Zyl but was bought over in training as a one-time winner.
He was bred by Lammerskraal Stud and is a son of Go Deputy out of the five-time winning Elliodor mare, Camara – who was trained by Dean Kannemeyer for the Fosters.
