On Fire! Hot Ticket (Karl Neisius) on the inside, gets the better of Cigar Boy (Pic : Equine Edge)
Yet another of champion sire Silvano’s offspring stepped into the limelight on Saturday. Dean Kannemeyer’s Hot Ticket was an impressive winner of the R125 000 Listed Woolavington Handicap run over 2400m at Kenilworth and appears well on track for a possible tilt at the 2014 J&B Met.
Kannemeyer has been officially quoted as a man who allows his horses to do their talking from the winner’s enclosure rather than behind the microphone of an Under Starter’s Orders show. When the Milnerton conditioner labelled Hot Ticket as a prospective big race candidate for the Cape summer season a few months back, astute punters would have taken note.
On Saturday the 7 to 2 available about the smart 4yo may have appeared rather short as he sweated up noticeably in the preliminaries. But, as the saying goes, it is not how they go down, it’s the way they come back.
And Hot Ticket asserted his superiority in no uncertain terms, albeit against the likes of the luckless Cigar Boy and the 8yo Posh Boy.
The field jumped on terms and Nysean Bolt led early from Posh Boy, with Barossa Valley in third. The favourite Hot Ticket was relaxed about ten lengths off the leaders, at that stage.
The running order remained the same as they went into the turn as the pace stepped up a notch or two.
Nysean Bolt led the field for home , as Posh Boy loomed up with Cigar Boy finishing with a flourish wide out.
All the while Hot Ticket was weaving his way through runners down the centre and with Karl Neisius drawing his whip in the right hand, he made up good ground, despite hanging out slightly.
In a thrilling finish Neisius kept the chestnut at it and he beat the fast finishing Cigar Boy with some authority,and easier than the official winning margin would suggest. In Cigar Boy’s defence, it appears that his rider Richard Fourie lost his whip at a crucial time.
Hot Ticket won in a time of 148,15 secs.
The evergreen Posh Boy ran on well for third, ahead of the mare,Dubai Gina.
The rest were outclassed, with PE Gold Cup winner Paddy O’Reilly running a dismal race to finish stone last.
Hot Ticket is a son of Silvano out of the unraced Sportsworld mare, Hot Number. He was bred by Digteby Stud and looks a great buy from the National Yearling Sale at just R180 000.
This was his third win with 5 places from 12 starts for stakes of R328 955.
He is one for the summer notebook!
