Tienie Prinsloo’s recent Tote Gr3 Strelitzia Stakes winner Quickstepgal made it three wins on the trot as she opened the Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge day feature programme with a smart victory in the R200 000 Ridgemont Listed Devon Air Stakes on Saturday.
Quickstepgal (Kabelo Maysunyane) heads home solo (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
In the face of plenty of support for Dean Kannemeyer’s impressive recent debut winner Educator who went off at 7-10, Vercingetorix’s daughter Quickstepgal was easy to back at 11-2 and didn’t put a hoof wrong as she soared past pacesetter Vanakkam and drew away to register an eye-catching win, clocking 86,78 secs for the 1400m.
The Prinsloo powerhouse under regular pilot Kabelo Matsunyane beat Sean Tarry’s Tina Lovelace (25-1) by 2,60 lengths, with Captains Envy (11-2) shading the favourite Educator out of the Place Accumulator.
A R450 000 KZN Yearling Sale graduate, the winner is raced by KZN owner Rakesh Singh and was bred by the Greenacres Trust. She is by SA Champion sire elect Vercingetorix (Silvano) out of the three-time winning Jet Master mare, Victoriana.
Now a winner of her last 3 races from 4 starts, Quickstepgal took her stakes earnings to R344 376.
The day opened in thrilling fashion when the two Highveld raiding betting-board toppers Blizzard Quest (Craig Zackey) and Matcha Mint (Richard Fourie) went head to head in the 1600m SABC Maiden Juvenile Plate opener. The Sean Tarry-trained Blizzard Quest, a Lammerskraal Stud-bred son of Querari (Oasis Dream) got the neck verdict from the gallant Gimmethegreenlight filly.
In the second race and Bipot opener, the SplashOut Class 3 over a mile, the two biggest outsiders in the eleven-horse field fought it out with Nicholas Patel getting the Boland Stud-bred 7yo Wylie Hall gelding El Dante up at R28 the win for MJ Odendaal. Go Grayson Go was second, with the consistent Rich Folks Hoax a head away in third. Due to an issue with the commingling partners, the TabGold Bipot failed to show the minimum dividend and tickets situation.
The third race was the Place Accumulator opener, the JC Le Roux Class 4 over 1900m and in steep contrast to the Bipot first leg, this was a favourable result with Raymond Danielson lifting Michael Roberts-trained Chill In The Air into top stride late to beat Villa Vicosa and the long-time pacemaker Bombers In The Sky.
Serino Moodley steers Tony Peter’s Gimmethegoodlife to a smooth victory in the Pick 6 opener (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
The fourth race opened what looked set to be a tricky Pick 6 – sadly with no carryover boost but the pool nevertheless reached in excess of R1,7 million. The East Coast Radio Class 4 1200m delivered a victory for the visiting Tony Peter team when Winning Form-sponsored Serino Moodley got Gimmethegoodlife home at 8-1 ahead of recent debut winner Position Of Power. Dennis Bosch saddled the winner on behalf of the Highveld yard.
