A Klawervlei-bred daughter of South Africa’s Champion Sire elect Vercingetorix, Ukuduma, a R2,6 million National Yearling Sale graduate, went all the way under a finely judged ride by Gavin Lerena to shade the well-supported Electromagnetism and win the R250 000 Listed Irridescence Stakes at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday.
With the sun winning the battle against a good few days of inclement weather, the underfoot conditions were testing but the results were not rough and champion title chasers Gavin Lerena and Richard Fourie were two wins apiece, after the former rode a cracker here.
Gavin Lerena keeps Ukuduma at her task as Electromagnetic (Aldo Domeyer) flies late Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Only seven fillies lined up in the 1500m contest, and it was the Vaughan Marshall-trained Ukuduma who led the charge early from She’s My World and Take It As Red.
In the run for home, Ukuduma (5-1) kept up her gallop as Aldo Domeyer switched the tote favourite Electromagnetism (15-10) out for her run at the 300m.
While Electromagnetism was eating up the ground,and looked set to make it three on the trot, Ukuduma held on gamely to beat her a short head in a time of 94,24 secs.
She’s My World (5-2) stayed on for third a further 1,75 lengths back.
The rest were well beaten.
Gavin Lerena admitted that he wanted to give Ukuduma a chance.
“She’s out of the gates so quickly, so we led. She’s not the biggest girl around, but she’s got a heart and she’s a trier,” he added.
A R2,6 million National Yearling Sale buy, the winner has two victories on the board for stakes of R198 813.
Raced by Mukund Gujadhur, Grant Knowles, John Koster, Lance and Delma Sherrell, Ukuduma was bred by Klawervlei Stud. A daughter of Vercingetorix (Silvano) she is out of the top-class Thunder Dance, a dual Gr1 winning daughter of Jet Master.
Ukuduma means ‘thunder’ in Zulu.
