Katy's Lane what a bargain buy
A pair of Gr 3 events made up the balance of the Stakes action from Turffontein on Saturday. Katy’s Lane is proving to be one of the bargains of her generation and the R35 000 purchase recorded a second Gr 3 win in succession when capturing the Fillies Mile for three-year-olds, writes Matthew Lips
Katy’s Lane had won the Gr 3 Starling Stakes over 1400m when she made her seasonal debut after a 23 week lay-off earlier in November and went off as the 3/1 favourite in a field of 14 in this level weights event over 1600m. Amur Affair was the 75/20 second favourite ahead of dual Gr 1 runner-up Felix The Cat, who started as a 5/1 chance alongside Magic Smoke, who was supported from an ante-post price of 8/1.
Katy’s Lane was again held up amongst the backmarkers as Paschal Moon set a decent pace from Shadows In The Sun and Ilha Bela, with All In The Mind and Glamazon next in line. Amur Affair and Felix The Cat were waited with in the bunch as Paschal Moon led them into the straight. Those that had raced handy soon began to weaken and it was Uptothemoon who came forward with Extra Zero and Amur Affair approaching the final 200m, but Katy’s Lane was starting to unwind a killer punch wider out and sailed past them all in the closing stages under Piere Strydom to win by 1.25 lengths going way from Uptothemoon, who had looked a possible winner until she was swept aside by the favourite’s superior turn of finishing speed.
Amur Affair was three-quarters of a length further away in third, with ExtraThose that had raced handy soon began to weaken and it was Uptothemoon who came forward with Extra Zero and Amur Affair approaching the final 200m, but Katy’s Lane was starting to unwind a killer punch wider out and sailed past them all in the closing stages under Piere Strydom to win by 1.25 lengths going way from Uptothemoon, who had looked a possible winner until she was swept aside by the favourite’s superior turn of finishing speed.
Amur Affair was three-quarters of a length further away in third, with Extra Zero appearing to not quite see out the distance before in turn finishing 1.25 lengths further away in fourth. Felix The Cat never really quickened when asked for her effort and was beaten 5.5 lengths into fifth place. She stood out head and shoulders above this field on merit ratings, but ran to nothing near that sort of mark and even allowing for the fact that the Duncan Howells yard has recently been affected by a virus Felix The Cat has yet to establish that she has really trained on from last season.
Whether any of this lot would give the likes of Princess Victoria a serious run for her money may be debatable, but Katy’s Lane has done nothing wrong and – like Princess Victoria – her only career defeat came when she made her debut. The Tyrone Zackey-trained winner boasts an excellent burst of acceleration, and she is certainly going the right way. A daughter of the now Zimbabwe-domiciled Tamburlaine out of the Lustra mare Beautiful Piper, Katy’s Lane was bred by Cheveley Stud and has won four of her five starts for R373 875 in stakes.
