The brothers Marwing opened the Turffontein Saturday feature programme with the decent Silvano filly Zafira outstaying her rivals to score an easy victory in the R135 000 Sun Chariot Handicap.
Weichong Marwing steers Zafira to a smooth win (Pic – JC Photos)
The 2450m non black-type feature was the first leg of the Pick 6 (nett pool of R2 150 755) and while only six runners lined up, it looked a trappy race on paper.
The 4yo Zafira was taken all the way to Cape Town for a tilt at the Gr2 Cape Stayers on Sun Met day, but things had gone awry when the infamous ‘Cape Crawl’ came into play, turning the 2800m race into a canter and sprint.
While Zante did not set the world alight as she led from the break on Saturday, the astute Weichong Marwing always had Zafira in contention.
Into the 350m he took her past the tiring pacesetter, and a change of legs was all that was required.
She stayed on well at 2-1 and held off the late attentions of the 18-10 favourite Patchit Up Baby by 1,60 lengths in a time of 155,50 secs.
Another Ideal World in the 5yo Zante stayed on a neck back in third
The Maine Chance Farms owned and bred Zafira is a daughter of the evergreen Silvano out of the Fort Wood mare, Zahira – who won four races from 1400m to 1800m.
Gr3 placed over ground, she has won 4 races with 6 places from 13 starts for stakes of R441 875.
She looks to have every chance of earning some black type into the season.
