Suddenly, South African horseracing has a new superstar. Eventuail’s victory in the Summer Cup in December was a performance that moved him right into the top echelon of horses to race in this country. He looks a blinder to add the R1-million grade one J&B Met, to be run over 2 000m at Kenilworth in Cape Town on Saturday, to his rapidly growing list of honours.
Having proven conclusively over the much tougher Turffontein 10 furlongs that he stays the Met distance, the Argentinian-bred charge of leading trainer Geoff Woodruff shapes up as the bet of the year at 14-10.
The four-year-old son of Candy Stripes simply seems to have everything going for him: racing over his best distance, an excellent draw, proven ability, devastating recent form and a top-class trainer-jockey team.
Eventuail’s rider Kevin Shea has regular pilot Piere Strydom to thank for his feature-race plum: Striker has been engaged on second favourite Angus (2-1) since getting that one into the runner-up spot in the July.
Strydom’s regret at having made the agreement is almost palpable when he concurs now that Eventuail is ‘the horse to beat”.
Of course, when Striker was shaking hands on the deal with Angus’s connections, Eventuail seemed just another promising miler with the prospect of a Summer Cup-Met double surely the furthest from anyone’s mind. As the experts say, that’s racing.
Strydom can at least bag the runner-up spot, though. Five-year-old Angus is a consistent sort with above-average ability, as the son of Northern Guest proved in the July and more recently when a runaway odds-on winner in the Premier’s Trophy four weeks ago.
Jeff Lloyd has come to town for the ride on Mike Bass’s improving African Lion and this pair should have a big say in the places.
Queen’s Plate winner and reigning Horse of the Year Free My Heart should also be in the pack behind Eventuail. Although he never seems to produce his trademark devastating finish over the Kenilworth 2 000m, the seven-year-old son of champion sire Jallad is all class, as evidenced by his having to concede Eventuail 0,5kg!
A nice ‘roughie” for the quartet could be Woodruff’s second-stringer, Special Parade, the only filly in the race.
While she has yet to meet a field quite of this class, she does have good form, a nice draw and the advantage of bottom weight.
Trainer David Ferraris expects good runs from his pair Fiery Fred (Rhys van Wyk up) and Set Afire, who has log-leading Anthony Delpech in the saddle. Ferraris’s opinions are always taken seriously.
The likes of Ultrasound, Red Badge, Roman Charger and Sugar Daddy can upset calculations, but none seem likely to threaten Eventuail, who is a confident selection to win and push his earnings beyond R2-million from only 13 starts.
The supporting feature is the R200 000 grade one Fancourt Majorca Stakes for fillies and mares over 1 600m, in which Woodruff sends out four runners.
Most interesting here is that Strydom has chosen four-year-old Raining Roses above smart Argentinian-bred three-year-old Paraca, which again goes to Shea. ”Roses” did run an excellent fourth in the Queen’s Plate, but Paraca has had valid excuses in her last few runs and is a lively contender at best.
But Mike Bass’s Crimson Palace could leave both of these eating dust. The daughter of Elliodor has won four of her five races and is clearly on the upgrade. She was most impressive in winning a fast-run Paddock Stakes at her last start and any sort of improvement will make her hard for her rivals to cope with. Significantly, she has retained the services of her big race-winning rider Lloyd.
Two nice bets come up at Turffontein’s new course on Sunday. Mike de Kock’s South American-bred Bullet streaked to a nine-length win at his second start a fortnight ago and looks set to follow up in the fourth race, an allowance plate over 1 600m.
In the eighth, a maiden plate over 1 800m, Jacaranda Land can go one better than his front-running second at Greyville last time. The R225 000 Badger Land gelding has veteran rider Willie Uys up for trainer Charles Laird and should start recouping his hefty price tag.