Andrew Harrison

If Sunday’s three-year-old features at Hollywoodbets Scottsville  were a dress rehearsal for Saturday, May 31, they were more like scattering the pieces of a thousand piece puzzle than providing any solid pointers to the possible outcomes of the Gr1 Gold Medallion or the Gr1 Allan Robertson Championship.

Some mitigation was that the going was posted as soft and the usual ‘highway’ up the inside rail appeared to be a touch softer than the rest of the track.

When Corne Spies raids Hollywoodbets Scottsville it is always worth taking notice and the fact that he decided to let Elegantrix take on what looked to be a strong contingent of males in the Gr3 Tote Godolphin Barb Stakes should have rung some warning bells.

Spies has always rated his filly in spite of drawing blanks in two Highveld features but on Sunday she showed plenty of pace under Gavin Lerena and kept finding to the line to hold off a determined challenge from Good For You with the blinkered Malmesbury Missile a well-beaten third.

Favourite Military Command showed early pace before dropping back while both I’m A Fireball and Fortress Of Fire seemed to show an aversion to the ground on the inside rail. All three runners were subject to veterinary scrutiny but nothing untoward was detected.

Quickstepgal is a filly with a lot of class about her. She was all over the place on debut, finishing down the field behind Polar Light, but smashed them second time out, strolling home by nearly six lengths. That transformed into an excellent victory in the Gr3 Tote Strelitzia Stakes and Tienie Prinsloo will surely have her sights set for the Allan Robertson. 

Game in defeat was the strapping Mike Miller-trained grey Captain’s Envy who pushed the winner all the way to the line and the extra 100m of the Allan Robertson will be right up her alley. 

Disappointments in the race were Wild Wild Green and Keukenhof. Dean Kannemeyer’s filly showed early pace before fading out of it and Wild Wild Green, who went off favourite, never got in a blow. Both fillies raced up the inside rail and both jockey’s reporting something amiss and not persevering. The course vets found nothing out of the ordinary.

Mai Sensation rounded off the afternoon features as JP van der Merwe threaded Lucinda Woodruff’s filly through the traffic to catch the smart Asiye Phambili a few jumps before the line. It was an excellent win by Mai Sensation as she had it all to do getting past horses with the field bunching up the centre of the track as they shifted away from the inside going. It was also a superb effort from Asiye Phambili, back with Duncan Howells after a successful Cape raid, who gave the winner all of 8.5kg and Sean Veale getting this reins tangled. The two will possibly meet again in the Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint which is run at WFA so there will be a big turn around in the weights. 

Earlier in the day a gamble on the Andre Nel-trained O’Tenikwa was landed, albeit by the narrowest of margins. Supported in from an opening call of 16-1 to start 33-10, it was a three-way dash to the line with O’Tenikwa squeaking home a nose ahead of the tremendously game and consistent Fastnet Filly with Luhamba Phambili a further short-head back in third.

Favourite Teflon Man may well have been another victim of the going as he failed to quicken with stable companion Outlaw King finishing fourth. A runner who may be worth following is fifth-placed King Of The Gauls  who showed vast improvement on his Cape form. With this run under his girth a crack at the Gr2 Golden Horse must be on the cards.