Only Muzi! The 2yo filly Only Emily powers home to win the ListedSummer Juvenile Stakes
Some highly vaunted Cape 2yo male reputations were tossed by the wayside in Saturday’s R125 000 Listed Grandwest Casino & Entertainment World Summer Juvenile Stakes run over 1000m. The high – riding big race day Snaith team produced the Captain Al filly, Only Emily, to win in fine style at any old price.
At this stage of the day, the Snaiths had dominated the day with three of the first four winners, and while the ‘wrong’ horse may have won from their quartet of runners,they took the trophy with both hands.
Tour De Var was fractious prior to the start, and an untidy start ensued with the field breaking up into two groups.
Magic Cloud, Bold Var and Lunar Moon led Tsotsom and Only Emily, with the PE visitor Navistar tucked in behind them.
At the 400m marker Bold Var led the outside, while the Kotzen filly Tsotsoma led the inside group.
With all the action happening down the inside, Yeni produced Only Emily at the right moment to hold a flying Letas Bonnet, with the well-backed PE visitor Navistar, grabbing third.
The winner got home at 28-1 by 1,50 lengths in a time of 60,31 secs.
Trainer Justin Snaith admitted that Only Emily had produced the worst sprint up of his runners in the week: “ She was very green and it was a strange race. It looked like a false start to me but everything went well.And of course, I just love the Captain Al fillies!” he said.
Happy Days. The Thurloe SA syndicate lead their star filly in
Snaith said that the syndicate of owners were ‘massive’ in the UK. He also observed that the 2yo racing in Cape Town of late hadn’t been of the strongest, and he could provide a long list of horses that had not trained on.
Jockey Muzi Yeni said that Only Emily was a nice classy filly and that the light weight had helped :
“ She pulled me through the 400m and ran in slightly, but went right through to the line,” he said.
The owners, Thurloe SA Ltd, are an English racing syndicate race 20 horses in their home country and raced the champion European sprinter of 2002 in Europe. They were assisted by British bloodstock man Peter Doyle with the purchase of Just Emily.
The list of disappointments is a long one, as is often the case when young horses are hyped up beyond their genuine ability.
The Kotzen-trained Kono ran seventh and 3,15 lengths behind. The son of Dynasty may have found this a touch fast and he could make amends over further next time.
The well-backed Bold Var plodded into ninth and 5,90 lengths behind. His previously undefeated stablemate Silk Road ran an 11,10 length twelfth.
After having run second twice from his first two starts, Tour De Var, showed some pace but faded badly to run fourteenth and 12,45 lengths off the winner.He will have to work on his pre race antics.
Only Emily is owned by Thurloe South Africa Ltd, and was bred by Klawervlei Stud.
She is by Captain Al out of the National Emblem mare, Heavenly Ray, and was sold at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale for R375 000.
A winner at her second start, after finishing second on debut, she has grossed R89 725, and won’t be stopping here.
