Head Girl! The beautiful Antonius Pius filly Yoshie looks too strong in Friday’s Listed Lady’s Slipper Stakes
Alan Greeff’s four time winner Yoshie stands out head and shoulders in Friday’s R130 000 Listed Lady’s Slipper Stakes at Fairview. Only three of her fifteen opponents have actually won a race, so the daughter of Antonius Pius looks to be well set to take this one in her stride.
It is quite unusual to experience such an alarming lack of winners in a race of this nature, and short of the Cape challenger Darling Moon, the talented Yoshie looks home and hosed.
First
Yoshie had the distinction on debut of opening the South African account of Highlands stallion, Antonius Pius. Since then she has shown that she is not just a bundle of speedy joy and gone on to better things. She has won a further three races from her next four starts. That also included a cracking victory in the Listed Dahlia Plate as well as a smooth course and distance win at her latest.
Although not being blessed with the best of the draw, she should wallop this lot at level weights. Her stablemate Free Flight has pulled an awful draw and is yet to win from four starts. She did run a distant third in the East Cape Nursery behind Winter Fantasy, but will need to up her game dramatically to have a say.
The third of the Greeff runners is the Miesque’s Approval filly Ndlovukazi. She has been placed at all of her four starts and looks to have nice scope for improvement. She is however held by It’s Freezing.
Planetary Music
In the absence of Piere Strydom, Muzi Yeni rides the Indigo Magic filly Darling Moon for Justin Snaith. Darling Moon shed her maiden down the Kenilworth 1200m at her fourth outing and then ran a cracking second behind Pure Power in last Saturday’s Listed Irridescence Stakes at Kenilworth.
The red light immediately flashes! A two year old filly travels 1000km and runs again just six days after a tough feature race effort. But who are we to question the operational decisions of a top trainer who wins the PE features with absolutely monotonous regularity, week in and week out.
Message
Jacques Strydom’s Horse Chestnut filly Luv U Babes won readily at the second time of asking, when charging clear to win over the Arlington 1000m. Being out of a Badger Land mare she is bound to enjoy the extra here and gives the impression of a fairly progressive sort if given time to mature. She looks likely to run in the first four places.
Jacques Strydom also sends out Bursary. The daughter of Lundy’s Liability is the most experienced filly in the race with seven outings on the clock, but appears to have gone backwards since a promising second to Winter Fantasy in the East Cape Nursery.
One would have thought that a filly that could achieve that level of performance would have won by now. To the contrary, her form has tapered negatively and she ran her worst race yet last time when dropping out to finish 13.10 lengths behind Thalasso in open company. Apprentice Anthony Andrews takes some pudding off her back, but she looks stretched to feature.
Lady’s Day
Yvette Bremner sends out a duo, which includes the recent Judpot course and distance debut winner It’s Freezing. The Varsfontein bred may well be held by Yoshie on their last encounter , but is nicely drawn again and could be ridden with more restraint than last time when going handy. We note that she won with a late rattle from midfield.
Her stablemate Pipette is also a daughter of the fast rising Judpot. She has her fourth run here after three improving efforts and could improve even further over the extra 200m. Gavin Smith also has a Judpot running for him.
Paul Barret’s Natural Beauty has her fourth run, and improved dramatically when trying the course and distance last time. Despite that, and like most of the rest, she appears well held by Yoshie.
Outgoing
Mitch Wiese is always a man to reckon with and the exhuberant conditioner is represented by a maiden coupling. Princess Gem is a daughter of Captain Al who was scratched from her scheduled fourth run last time with a cough. She showed little previously.
Wiese also has the interestingly named Sarah For Certain. Rebel King’s daughter has four ordinary runs to her c redit, and needs vast improvement.
Difficult
It looks difficult to make a case for the rest, although it may prove prudent to monitor the betting on the two Steven Janse Van Rensburg first timers. His three way coupling includes the twice raced Pax Africana, who has two poor KZN runs on the board.
His first timers Entice The Arrow (A.P. Arrow) and Tapai Tigress (Tiger Dance) should both need a touch further and will benefit from the experience.
Mind The Gap
It is not often that we see such a disparity between the credentials of runners in a race of this nature. Yoshie is talented, proven and has the experience to win. She towers above her opposition. Snaith’s Darling Moon has a tough week of little recovery time and a long road to travel. Yoshie should win readily and she is selected with confidence ahead of Darling Moon and Luv U Babes.
