Richard Fourie gets Charles Lytton to stay on and beat Notting Hil in the Ibhayi Stakes (Pics-Coastal Photos)
Dwarfed in stature by his opponent, but not in heart, the fairytale rags-to-riches gelding Charles Lytton dug deep and showed epic resolve to register his first stakes win in the R150 000 Listed Ibhayi Stakes at Fairview on Friday.
The 9 to 20 favourite was confidently ridden by the Freemanstallions-sponsored Richard Fourie but gave his supporters some heart-stopping moments in the final strides as he almost bungled what looked like a walk in the park at the 400m.
A combination of having the edge taken off him after the Cape Town trip and a big performance from his rival in the betting market, Notting Hill, almost saw a minor turn-up for the books.
The Dorrie Sham-trained Notting Hill was the only horse remotely backed to beat Charles Lytton and veteran local commentator Bumpie Schoeman conceded that he ‘nearly made a fool of me,’ after he had confidently hailed Charles Lytton a winner going into the 100m.
Richard Fourie – confident ride
Only seven runners lined up for the 3yo feature and it looked difficult to oppose the Snaith runner.
Things went mostly according to plan as Karl Zechner took the big boy Notting Hill up to lead at a relaxed gallop rom Shine Like A Star, Blast and Charles Lytton, with Frederick Fox and Seattle Joe further back.
Into the home run Notting Hill continued to pace it out as Blast commenced a challenged with Fourie angling Charles Lytton to the centre for his challenge.
Into the 250m marker Charles Lytton moved up effortlessly and went past the leader Notting Hil as he looked set for victory.
But he turned his head and appeared to peck and stumble as the Sham horse came right back at him.
Charles Lytton held the verdict to win by a head in a time of 83,14 secs. Notting Hill ran a cracker in second, while Blast was further back in third.
Julia Pringle – broke the feature ice early
This was a first feature victory for new Snaith assistant trainer Julia Pringle.
Jockey Richard Fourie, who has a knack of looking so calm and collected, said that Charles Lytton was a ‘funny horse.’
“For a stride or two he was holding the bit. Ad when I asked for an effort, he didn’t really give it to me. I felt that he wasn’t really happy and the traveling may have taken it out of him. He stumbled just before the line too. But there is a lot of heart in this little horse!” he said.
Charles Lytton was bred by Mauritzfontein and is a well documented son of teaser, Thomas Crown and is out of the Shaamit foster mare, Love Of Grace.
Charles Lytton has now won 5 races with 2 places from 8 starts and R287 850 in stakes.
His only non-earning trip to the races so far has been his unplaced run in the Cape Guineas behind Act Of War.
This race was the first leg of the Eastern Cape Sophomore Challenge.
Read more about the Charles Lytton fairytale here.
