Trainer Johan Janse van Vuuren and jockey Gavin Lerena provided the thrills to round off the feature billing at Turffontein on Saturday.
Starting favourite, the Duke Of Marmalade filly True To Life showed her class in the Laurence Wernars silks as she flew late to win the R150 000 Wilgerbosdrift Tommy Hotspur Handicap.
It wasn’t a victory that mimicked the style of the great Tommy Hotspur, the unsound equine bullet, who burned the turf to win his first 8 starts on the trot, and 10 races in total, including the Gr1 Computaform Sprint.
But Lerena particularly would have felt pleased after going so close to upstaging Malmoos forty minutes earlier in the Guineas.
After a stampede down the 1000m track, where anything had a chance in the final 200m, True To Life (33-10) grew wings from a few lengths off the pace and stormed through to nab Winter Stories (7-1) on the line, recording a nippy 56,51 secs.
Just meters before the line as Gavin Lerena puts his head down on True To Life with Bohica (Bling Khumalo) still there down the inside (Pic – JC Photos)
Bohica looked a winner inside the final 75m, and was just a quarter length back in third.
With a fraction over 3 lengths separating the top eight, the NHRA team of handicappers would have been patting themselves on the shoulder.
The Northfields-bred winner was offered by Lammerskraal Stud on the 2018 National Yearling Sale where Greenstreet Bloodstock signed the slip at R180 000.
She is out of Zim and SA seven-time winner Mina Salaam, who won the Zimbabwe Guineas, Queen Of The Sand and Bloodstock SA 2000 and achieved her victories from 1200m to 2000m. She is a Medaglia D’oro daughter of ten-time winning Equus Champion, Circle Of Life.
The 4yo True To Life has won 6 races with 6 places from 15 starts for stakes of R607 375.
