Majmu’s trainer Mike de Kock said the big grey filly would likely just be given a few days off due to the temperature she was found to have had on Saturday morning and she would then continue her preparation for the July.

The 14/1 shot Smart Call benefitted from a change of tactics in the Woolavington and showed a smart turn of foot at the top of the straight under Weichong Marwing which enabled her to fetch the De Kock-trained Pine Princess close to home.

Pine Princess won the Gr 1 Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks, so it was not surprising to see her go to the front from a wide draw under Anthony Delpech, although she was then allowed to dictate.

Alec Laird never had any doubts about Smart Call’s stamina due to her pedigree. In her previous starts she had tended to do the donkey work, so her ability to quicken had never before been evident. However, it was displayed in no uncertain terms on Saturday and Laird believed she had undoubtedly been the best horse on the day.

“She is a smart horse,” he said. Laird said he had always believed Smart Call would be better as a four-year-old and it was likely that she would now be given a deserved break until next season. However, he did say that she had gone down to the start like a July horse, so the big one might still have been in the back of his mind, but he then added, “I don’t think it’s worth it. She will be better next season and the July might be the ruination of her.”

Laird has always had a concentration of colts and geldings in his yard and described Smart Call as the best filly he had trained since Mill Hill, who was one of the best of her generation in the late 1980s. The win was a milestone moment for an ecstatic Jessica Slack of Mauritzfontein Stud, who own and bred Smart Call. Jessica revealed that this was Mauritzfontein’s first Gr 1 win since she had taken over the reins from her late great grandmother Bridget Oppenheimer. It was also the first Gr 1 winner for Mauritzfontein’s new sire Ideal World and it augurs well for the stallion’s future that Smart Call is from his first crop.

Jessica was fittingly wearing her grandmother’s broach, which is of a horse with a rider aboard wearing the famous yellow and black Oppenheimer silks. Jessica had even remembered to point the horse slightly upwards as her grandmother had always done. She reminisced, “Grandma was such a favourite of everybody.” Bridget, known as the Queen Mum of South African racing, had an obvious influence on the pedigree of Smart Call as the latter’s dam is by the great Horse Chestnut and is a half-sister to Greys Inn, who won the Daily News 2000 and the July for the Oppenheimer’s in 2004.

The ultra tough Tarry-trained Trophy Wife managed her fifth big race place of the year by running third, while the Neil Bruss-trained Zante expectedly relished the 2000m trip and finished fourth. The hot favourite Inara found little extra after taking a bump in the straight and could only manage fifth. It was clearly not her run and the Tarry-trained Tamaanee also disappointed by running ninth.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Majmu (Liesl King)