KZN Breeders Chairperson Cathy Martin presents the beautiful trophies to Justin Snaith (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
SA champion trainer Justin Snaith maintained his 100% record in the R650 000 KZN Breeders Mile when the Blue Sky Thoroughbreds bred 3yo Legal Counsel beat a wide gate under the guidance of the top-notch Andrew Fortune to win the headline feature on the local breeders annual raceday at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday.
Snaith’s previous runner and winner in the non black-type KZN Breeders Mile was the Dynasty gelding Nexus, who won in the hands of Piere Strydom in 2022.
On Sunday, his winner was another son of a Durban July winner in the stable’s 2014 hero Legislate. His name is Legal Counsel and he looks progressive – winning rider Andrew Fortune suggesting, ‘he’ll just about win again on Hollywoodbets Durban July day!’
Whether the top yard decide to run Legal Counsel in a fortnight will depend on how the gelding pulls up, but he didn’t have a particularly hard race today.
Andrew Fortune guides Legal Counsel to a smart win – he could run on Hollywoodbets Durban July day (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Brought across from his wide gate by the astute Fortune, Legal Counsel (2-1) stalked the pacesetter Go Grayson Go (14-1) all the way around and when asked the question in the straight, he stamped his authority to register a 1,40 length victory in a time of 97,92 secs.
Cherry Ano (7-2), regarded as the right horse by many pundits, had every chance but had to be content with second. His winning turn in the holiday province looks overdue.
Frikkie Greyling’s Go Grayson Go stayed on a further neck back in third, with the Highveld raider Soldier’s Eye capping the quartet.
Sean Tarry’s Dantonfromsandton plodded into fifth and 4,55 lengths off the winner, appearing not to stay the mile.
Always full of chirps, Andrew Fortune, who rode a double on the afternoon, paralleled the winner on horse to human terms with his colleague, Grant van Niekerk.
“He causes havoc wherever he goes, but he’s a proper horse,” added Fortune.
Full of praise for his staunch owners, Justin Snaith’s words that his team would be buying more KZN-bred horses would have been music to the ears of local breeders enjoying their day in the new-look Durban View Room.
Raced by Jonathan Bloch, Etienne Braun, Tony Cotterell, Jessica Koster, and the Stonebridge family, Legal Counsel was bred by Blue Sky Thoroughbreds and is a son of Dynasty stallion Legislate out of the twice-winning Silvano mare, Imperial Wish.
A R450 000 BSA August 2yo Sale purchase, Legal Counsel has won 4 of his 8 starts with 1 place to his credit and took his stakes bank to R653 639.
