The magnificent grey Fort Wood filly Negroamaro looks perfectly placed to secure a Triple Tiara first leg victory at Turffontein on Saturday. Bred by the sponsors, she ran an eyecatching prep in the Three Troikas Stakes and will be a banker bet for many.
Negroamaro – leading contender
Poorly drawn in that feature event three weeks ago, Negroamaro was conservatively – and cleverly – ridden by Anton Marcus and failed by a stride to catch Madame Dubois.
The ground made up on the outside over the final 250m was impressive and as a course and distance winner, she will relish the extra 200m on Saturday. And Johan Janse Van Vuuren’s charge has a comfortable draw on Saturday.
Juxtapose has not been so lucky.
The daughter of Judpot was 0,60 lengths third behind Negroamaro in the Three Troikas but shifts out 8 gates on Saturday.
She’s A Dragon was 1,40 lengths behind in fourth positions and tries a mile for the first time.
KZN raider Princess Varunya faces the biggest test of her career after four successive wins in her home province.
Anthony Delpech rides the Australian-bred daughter of High Chaparral who will get the trip without an issue, but needs to prove she is in this class after striking in handicaps.
Heaps Of Fun ran a poor race when 7,90 lengths back in the Three Troikas.
Her two second placed efforts in the Gr2 Fillies Mile and the Listed Swallow Stakes show that she is no slouch and S’manga Khumalo knows her well.
Persian Rug – difficult to unravel
Persian Rug ran fifth and 3,10 lengths off in the Three Troikas and looks held by Negroamaro on her Fillies Mile run.
Western Winter filly Frosty Friday has won three on the trot since shedding her maiden and steps into the big league on Saturday.
She has not been blessed with a draw and will need to show that she is much better than rated to make her presence felt.
KZN visitor Lala was supplemented for this race and has her first outing outside of KZN.
The daughter of Visionaire is another who is tested for the first time but has shown decent ability with 3 wins from 10 starts.
Mike Azzie – trio of runners
Mike Azzie’s Melliflora returns from an unplaced run in the CTS Million Dollar and has drawn wide again. She dropped away after running handily in the Fillies Mile and cannot be fancied.
Her stablemates Jungle Mist and Penny Serenade have drawn on either end of the spectrum and with ratings in the high 80’s have it all to do.
Geoff Woodruff’s Varsfontein Stud-bred pair of Christmas Carol and Alexa are in the same unexposed league.
The beautifully bred Christmas Carol is well drawn and has stepped up from 1400m to 2000m in the process of winning her last three starts.
Trainer Gary Alexander told Tabnews that his filly Crystal Glamour is a big runner.
“I don’t say Crystal Glamour can beat Negroamaro. She’ll be hard to beat because she’s obviously such a smart filly. But Negroamaro might be looking for a touch further and it’ll depend on the pace. If she fluffs her lines, my filly has as big a chance as any.
Gary Alexander – another big horse
“Crystal Glamour is a beautiful horse who packs a lot of class and, the way she’s been working, I think she’ll definitely finish in the first three,” said Alexander.
“Draw a line through her last run because she was drawn very wide in the Three Troikas Stakes and didn’t get cover. She over-raced three deep all the way round the turn and just ran out of steam. She’s drawn midfield this time so things will be easier.”
This two-time winner from four career starts finished 14th behind Madame Dubois in that race – her worst run yet. Alexander points to an earlier race as key to her chances. That was in the Bloodstock SA Ready To Run Cup in October when Crystal Glamour finished a neck second to Lineker over 1400m. “That was a very good run in only her second start,” said Alexander.
This will be her first race over further than 1450m but Alexander believes she will get the trip easily and, depending on how she comes out of the Fillies Guineas, will probably even enjoy the 1800m of the Wilgerbosdrift Fillies Classic in early April.
That race forms the second leg of the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara, with the Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks on Champions Day as the final race in the series. “We’ll take it one step at a time,” said her trainer. “These races are hard for some of these young horses.”
