There can be few more staunch jockey-horse partnerships around than that between Apprentice Philasande Mxoli and the game Red Ray 4yo Alula’s Star.
The duo showed their mettle in fine fashion again at Turffontein on Saturday with a thrilling victory in the R200 000 Gr3 Sycamore Sprint.
Diego de Gouveia and Kiss Me Captain (checked cap) apply the presssure but Phila Mxoli has matters under control on Alula’s Star (Pic – JC Photos)
Only one other rider has ever been behind the controls for the very smart Alula’s Star’s 19 starts, and then she ran downfield.
On Saturday, young Mxoli made it 6 wins, and a second stakes success, in 18 outings, when the Winterbach Stud-bred daughter of Red Ray produced a sustained finish at 10-1 to gain a narrow edge over the 2-1 favourite Kiss Me Captain in a time of 67,04 secs for the 1160m dash.
Cold Fact (25-2) was always thereabouts and stayed on well for a 1,25 length third.
The winner was saddled by Hollywoodbets-sponsored Stuart Pettigrew.
A R60 000 CTS Ready To Run purchase, the winner was bred by Winterbach Stud and is a talented dual stakes-winning daughter of Red Ray (Western Winter) out of the six-time winning Captain Al mare Solar Voyager.
A winner of 6 races with 8 places from 19 starts, Alula’s Star has now won stakes of R650 062.
Watch the replay here:
