Princess Royal and Greg Cheyne are on their own at the finish of the East Cape Nursery (Coastal Photos)
Trainer Glen Kotzen looks to have another really decent sort on his hands from a family he knows very well. The Captain Al filly Princess Royal dished out a galloping lesson to her seven rivals with a smooth win in the R150 000 Listed East Cape Fillies Nursery at Fairview on Friday.
Kotzen won the same race last year with the Kildonan filly Rosier and always looked well set for the double with Princess Royal having won on debut, and then placed in a stakes feature on Met day.
And the man from the beautiful Woodhill Estate in Paarl has made little secret of the fact that he thinks the world of his former champion Princess Victoria’s half-sister Princess Royal, who cruised in at 16 to 10 on her Kenilworth debut in mid January.
For the locals, it was to be another week without feature race cash as the visitor was backed into 1 to 3 and won readily.
After relaxing down the inside a few lengths off the pace, she came forward with authority at the 250m marker and, despite running green, Princess Royal strode out smartly to beat the late charging Yvette Bremner debut winner La Rebel by 1,50 lengths in a time of 69.89.
Greg Cheyne has been riding like a demon and he picked up another three winners on a day where he could possibly have had five if things had gone his way.
Baloo Baleerie, one of the three Gavin Smith runners, showed plenty of pace and led the charge. She hung in to grab third, three lengths ahead of Mock Mambo, in a strung out field of stragglers.
Princess Royal’s half sister Princess Victoria (Victory Moon)
Princess Royal has won 2 of 3 starts, with her placed run coming in mixed company when a decent fourth in the Listed Summer Juvenile Stakes on Met day.
She took her stakes earnings to R141 870 and looks to add to that as she heads for Champions Season in KZN.
She was bred by her part-owners Maine Chance Farms and is by Captain Al out of the unraced Rakeen mare, Platinum Princess.
This makes her a half-sister to multiple Equus champion raced Princess Victoria (Victory Moon), who was also trained by Kotzen in a glittering career.
Princess Royal races in the Maine Chance silks in partnership with Georgina Jaffee and Peter De Beyer – a man who can do little wrong at the moment!
