Woodhill Racing master Glen Kotzen is an astute traveller on the best of days and the Paarl conditioner celebrated a 100% strike at Fairview on Friday when he picked up a smart feature double with his only two runners on the card.
No doubt still smarting after the agonising disappointment of having his Cape Derby favourite Viva Rio scratched a week earlier from the Gr1 after being sold to Hong Kong, Kotzen saddled Fours A Crowd at Kenilworth on Wednesday for her third win in five starts since joining his yard, and cemented the bounce back with a delightful feature double on Friday.
Sandile Mbhele salutes as Point Of Sale cruises to victory (Pic – Pauline Herman Photography)
Glen opened his account with the strategically placed Var filly Point Of Sale for Drakenstein Stud in the R150 000 Listed Ibhayi Stakes.
Just a maiden winner before Friday, Point Of Sale carried a handy 51 kgs with Sandile Mbhele declaring a half over.
Getting weight from the boys, she was cleverly ridden to take them on early and strode out smartly to beat fellow Capetonian Stopalltheclocks (7-2) by 1,75 lengths in a time of 84,82 secs.
Topweight and local star Foreign Source (19-10) may have needed the run after a 15 week break and he ran on into third, a further 1,25 lengths back.
Bred and raced by Drakenstein Stud, Point Of Sale has won 2 races with 4 places from 8 places for stakes of R213 750.
She is by champion Var (Forest Wildcat) and is the fourth foal of the four-time winning Casey Tibbs mare, Cash Register – an own sister to the Kotzen’s 2009 Vodacom Durban July winner, Big City Life.
Her full-brother Speedpoint was a speed merchant and her Oratorio half-sister Snapscan was an impressive winner for the Kotzen team of the 2800m Gr2 Western Cape Stayers on Sun Met day – so the family is super versatile!
Kotzen was on the mark again in the very next race when Louis Mxothwa steered the well-travelled Elusive Fort mare Elusive Heart to victory in the weather delayed R150 000 Listed Lady’s Pendant for Chrigor Stud and Peter de Beyer.
With local star World Radar failing to go on with it and pulling up lame and almost 8 lengths off the winner, Elusive Heart (13-2) showed her courage when staving off a courageous challenge from the talented Via Seattle (18-1) to win the 1200m straight contest by a short head in a time of 68,23 secs.
Louis Mxothwa steers Elusive Heart to a smart win as Marco van Rensburg challenges on Via Seattle (Pic – Pauline Herman Photography)
The lesser fancied of the substantial Greeff coupling, Outlandos D’Amour ran third and a further 2,25 lengths back.
Bred by Narrow Creek Stud and a winner of the 2018 Gr3 Prix Du Cap, Elusive Heart has now won 5 races with 8 places from 25 starts for stakes of R735 225.
She is by triple Gr1 winning Equus champion Elusive Fort (Fort Wood) out of the one-time winning Redeem My Heart (Indigo Magic).
Her win was good timing on the same day as the regional sale at Mistico as she is a R100 000 Cape Yearling Sale graduate – when the 2016 renewal was held at Val De Vie.
