Husband and wife combination of Alec and Lezeanne Forbes were in top form at Greyville yesterday and possibly set something of a record for a husband and wife team, winning three races. Their meeting got off to the perfect start as Toonani returned from a break of over a year to run out an easy winner of the first.
The five-year-old has faced stronger than what he met yesterday but it is seldom that horses returning from such a long break come back fit enough to win. But not only did Toonani win, but he defied his 14-1 odds and drew off to win as he liked.
Jay Jay’s Girl was even more impressive in the Child Protection Maiden Plate although there was no guessing this time as she started 5-4 favourite. The daughter of Jay Peg revelled over the extra ground and scooted home by six lengths.
The couple rounded off their afternoon with the consistent Tanami winning the second race of her career in which she has only finished out of the money once in nine starts. She too started favourite in the Candy Pop Entertainment Handicap, beating home a useful field and holding off Vogue Idea and Velvet Wind.
It was a good afternoon for punters with a number of favourites obliging. The Alistair Gordon-trained Andermatt (1-3) looked hard to beat in the second and she duly obliged although Anton Marcus was forced to earn his riding fee.
Similarly, Paul Gadsby’s runner Patroclus (15-20) finally got his act together and won at cramped odds with the Forbes-trained Sweet Refrain kicking on strongly for second.
The Gr1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas is the highlight of the weekend and although Palladium and Marshall That are not up to that class, the two three-year-olds were expected to give a good account of themselves in the Children’s Christmas Wishes Handicap over 1600m.
Both were a spent force shortly after entering the straight leaving Capel Top and Silver Spring to fight out affairs with Capel Top (9-1) getting the upper hand close home under Morne Winnaar for Dean Kannemeyer.
Anton Marcus cut into Greg Cheyne’s lead on the national jockey log with a treble. He started his run on Andermatt and then finally got Air Chief Marshal (5-2) to break his run of beaten favourite tags as he produced Candice Bass-Robinson’s runner with a telling late run to beat home a fast-finishing First Apostle and The Poet.
Marcus rounded off his afternoon with a smart ride on Gareth van Zyl’s runner Calabash (14-10). Up with the pace throughout, Marcus made his move on the turn, skipping clear of Shine Up, who on form looked his biggest danger. However, Shine Up was soon a spent force and Calabash drew off to win as he liked.
Andrew Harrison
