Andrew Harrison
LYLE HEWITSON gave the opposition a mountain to climb in the UmThombothi Stakes at Hollywoodbets Scottsville yesterday and it proved just too high for the favourite Share Holder who finished a game but well beaten second.
Matterhorn had not been out since October last year but Alyson Wright had him stripped for this and Hewitson gave him a ride that one would expect from a jockey who took Japan by storm.
With only 53kg to shoulder and stable companion Flichity By Farr setting some rather sedate early fractions, Hewitson set off for the lead approaching the home turn. He then careered into the straight and went for broke.
Serino Moodley had it tough as Share Holder, as is his want, pulled hard in the opening exchanges and as such the early pace will not have suited him and he never really settled.
The Aussie-bred made up plenty of ground on Matterhorn up the home stretch and although Matterhorn was looking for the line over the last 50m, he found it in the nick of time.
“He’s a 2400m horse and I should never have got beaten last time,” confessed Hewitson.
This was Matterhorn’s fourth win from just eight starts and we could well see him lining up in the staying features during South Africa’s Champion Season.
Luke Ferraris, two months out of his time, has made a superb start to his professional career with the Cape Town Met and the WSB Gauteng Guineas already safely in his locker. He is fortunate to come from a family steeped in the sport but it still takes talent to have achieved what he already has.
His judgement was to the fore again on the Yogas Govender-trained Filippo in the opening leg of the PA. Although 3.5kg worse off in the weights with hot favourite Traces given their last meeting, Filippo was never in danger of defeat. Ferraris had Traces stone cold a long way out and won as he liked with Traces a well beaten second.
Marcus took Traces over to the rail early crossing Candy Galore but Warren Kennedy’s objection was rather hopeful given some of the recent stipendiary decisions.
Corrine Bestel does not have a big string but like Ferraris she comes from a family steeped in racing. Her mother Eileen was a top trainer in her day, the record-breaking galloper Sabre possibly her best horse. Well supported by Peter and Jenny Blythe of Clifton Stud, Bestel has her fair share of winners and the Clifton-bred Flying The Star sauntered to an easy win in the second.
Suzette and Basie Viljoen have taken the racing world by storm over the past couple of years with hardly a race going by without their familiar silks in the field. It was the turn over Legislate’s Dance yesterday as Serino Moodley got him up close home to collar long-time leader Secret Is Ours. Although winning, the vet will be called in shortly and his next start is likely to be as a gelding.
Well fancied at his last start, Serino Moodley was given the third degree by many a grandstand jockey made worse by the fact that stable companion Fat Cigar had won the race. But as he explained yesterday, Legislate’s Dance was still an entire and was not the easiest ride that day getting all his wires crossed in the race.
According to Moodley, Legislate’s Dance was still looking to shirk the issue yesterday and had one ear back and the other forward over the final furlong, a sure sign that he was not giving of his best.
Jackinapot, having his first outing since October last year, landed the odds with a smart win in the fifth. A full brother to SA Derby runner-up Rocketball and a half-brother to Blackball, both useful stayers, Jackinapot won well enough to suggest that he is a horse than can pay to follow.
“He has been off for a while so we brought him back to a mile,” explained Gavin van Zyl and from a seemingly hopeless position, he raced home through the traffic to deny Sonjador and Jacob’s Ladder.
The well-bred debutante Broadway was making late progress finishing just out of the money and is one for the notebook.
