The Kumaran Naidoo stable registered the second leg of their Flamingo Park hat-trick of winners on Saturday, when the mostly formless Roy’s Marciano put his best hoof forward to win the R135 000 RA Sprint.
Rpy’s Marciano (Eric Ngwane) finishes too powerfully for In Full Regalia (Craig Zackey) for a good win (Pic – JC Photos)
The long trip inland was certainly worthwhile as the Naidoo team struck three times in the ten races – and also enjoyed a winner at home on the Greyville polytrack.
In a field loaded with speed, that included raiders from Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth, a competitive race was always on the cards. PE raider Thayer proved stubborn at the start and he became a casualty before the race started with the field reduced to 13 runners.
They were fanned out across the track with Easy To Please, Roquebrune, In Full Regalia and Rock A Bye Baby showing plenty of pace.
At the 400m Roy’s Marciano on the outside and In Full Regalia down at the rail looked to be going best of all.
Despite drifting in dramatically under a left-handed whip from Eric Ngwane, the 20 to 1 Roy’s Marciano stuck gamely to his task and straightened nicely to beat In Full Regalia by 1,25 lengths in a time of 58,03 secs.
Another longshot in the Gauteng visitor Salute The Sun was a further 1,75 lengths in third.
The local speed queen Rock A Bye Baby had her on-couurse supporters clad in red and white, buut she failed to kick on and faded out to 9 lengths off.
Bred by the late Greg Royden-Turner, the 5yo gelding Roy’s Marciano is a son of Toreador (Danehill) out of the twice winning Rambo’s Love (Rambo Dancer).
A R70 000 National Yearling Sale purchase, Roy’s Marciano has won 5 races with 4 places from 21 starts for stakes of R344 175.
