After a superb Hollywoodbets Durban July weekend at home and abroad, leading Cape breeders Ridgemont Highlands were celebrating again when their Cape Winter Series star Katak registered his most emphatic win to date at Kranji on Saturday.
It did not take long for Katak to make amends in the best possible way in the SG$100,000 Spanish Bay 2015 Stakes run over 2000m on Saturday.
Vlad Duric steers Katak to a facile citory on Saturday (Pic – STC)
The win was a much-welcome relief to his connections, who went through some head-scratching moments when the 2020 Cape Winter Series Triple Crown winner put in two disappointing runs following back-to-back wins earlier this year.
He only beat two home in the Gr1 Kranji Mile (1600m) on May 21 at his last start. After giving it serious consideration, his trainer Ricardo Le Grange went with the snip.
It paid off after the son of Potala Palace turned his form around in the Kranji Stakes A race, albeit with an obvious flaw still yet to be fixed.
“It was a big call for me to geld the horse because if that didn’t work, where do we go,” quipped the winning trainer.
“To (owners) Marsh (Shirtliff, father), Guy (son), Bryn (Ressell), (racing manager) Mark (Van Deventer) and the breeders at Ridgemont Highlands Robertson Stud (South Africa), thank you so much for your support and the time you’ve given me with this horse.
“I think there could be times they were scratching their head and thinking ‘does this clown know what he’s doing?’
“Today, he (Katak) showed me what I’ve always expected of him.Everything was against him, the weight (58kgs), the draw (eight) but he still put paid to a decent field, with him giving weight to some multiple Group 1 winners.
“Big thanks to Ayie (track rider) who rides him every morning. He’s not an easy horse to work. And to (assistant-trainer) Jacci (de Tert), who does a lot of work behind the scenes. It’s a great win, but I still want to work out why he is hanging out.”
After assuming the leader’s role on the paint early, Katak (Vlad Duric) kept charging to the line, but started hanging out badly at the 250m.
Hard Too Think (Marc Lerner), stablemate Pennywise (Krisna Thangamani) and Circuit Mission (Ronnie Stewart) were making up ground and about to hunt him down.
But under a few reminders from Duric, the favourite maintained the gap to an unassailable level to romp in by five lengths from Circuit Mission.
Minister (Jake Bayliss) flew home to finish another neck away in third. The winning time over 2000m on the Short Course was 2min 2.49secs.
Duric noticed Katak’s tendency to lay out when the pair won in a barrier trial last Tuesday. He reckoned the waywardness could have been a bad habit since young.
“He did hang out mildly in the trial but there was not much pressure then,” said the Australian jockey.
“He’s sound in his action, so this probably was a habit he picked up when he was a colt. We bowled along and he was too good. He’s a proper horse, but in saying that, the track today was too firm and some give in the ground would be better for him.”
Duric, who is set to ride out the remaining season at Kranji, took home a hat-trick of wins on Saturday with two other winners, Illustrious ($12) in the $50,000 Countofmontecristo 2017 Stakes, a Class 4 Division 1 race (1200m) and Born To Win ($15) in the $30,000 Super Easy 2012 Stakes, a Class 5 race (1600m).
With his third win from nine starts in Singapore, Katak has amassed close to SG$260,000 (R3,2 million) in prizemoney for the Vasco Stable.
Katak is a son of the Ridgemont Highlands-based Gr1 Premier’s Champion Stakes winner Potala Palace and the three-time winning Windrush mare Sapphire Silk.
