Former SA Champion jockey S’manga ‘Bling’ Khumalo had to wait through a long and frustrating day, punctuated with light rain, at Turffontein on Saturday.
But his patience was rewarded when he bagged the feature with the consistent Paul Matchett filly Gee For Go proving too strong in the R100 000 Gr3 Fillies Mile.
A small field faced the starter, with recent Starling Stakes winner Due Diligence starting a weak 3-1 second favourite, ahead of the 11-10 Caralluma.
S’manga Khumalo steers Gee For Go to victory ahead of Miss Elegance (Piere Strydom) in Saturday’s Turffontein Gr3 (Pic – JC Photos)
After stalking the pacesetting Cloth Of Ice (14-1) all the way around, Gee For Go (5-1) took command halfway down the home straight and despite shifting away from the crop in the latter stages, had enough in hand to beat the pressing Miss Elegance (11-1) by a length in a time of 99,85 secs.
This race was run in steady rain.
Lyle Hewitson reported that the fancied Caralluma choked up in the running and it wasn’t her days as she was also found to be not striding out left fore.
The pacesetter Cloth Of Ice suffered a bilateral epistaxis and was suspended for 120 days,
Bred by Nadeson Park, the winner is by Gimmethegreenlight (More Than Ready) out of the one-time winning Fort Wood mare, Nunavik.
Gee For Go was sold under the name Green Harmony and purchased for R120 000 at the BSA 2019 KZN Yearling Sale by Roy Wentzel.
A winner of 2 races with 6 places from 8 starts, Gee For Go has now earned R171 500.
She looks likely to go further than the mile.
