Azzie reaches for the line

The usually ebullient Mike Azzie chose to exercise some caution when discussing the chances of his Potala Palace gelding Reach For The Line in Saturday’s Grade 2 Dingaans on the Turffontein Standside track on Saturday afternoon.

He ran an absolute cracker in the first ever no-whip race, finishing only one-length behind the Mike de Kock-trained Hawwaam, with whom he will renew rivalry on Saturday, and Azzie expects a different result with new-kid-on-the-block apprentice Luke Ferraris aboard.

“Reach for The Line is a very, very smart individual,” he admitted.

“We rate him highly and were pleased with his no-whip race. He hit the front and was only caught flat-footed once joined by De Kock’s runner Hawwaam. But he picked it back up again smartly and finished well. It was a great run.

“And I see De Kock has also entered his runner into the race. We’re not just running our horse here, we actually think he has a real chance.”

When asked whether he felt the three-year-old’s debut second would’ve panned out differently had whips been used, he didn’t hesitate: “Absolutely. If that race had whips I think he would’ve gone close to winning. He was only caught late. Now he proves himself.”

Reach For The Line will be going against hard knockers like Soqrat and National Park in the 1600m event and interestingly, the big names don’t faze Azzie at all.

“We’ve opted to run him against a field this strong because well, what do we really have to lose?” he asked.

“If he doesn’t win he can run in another maiden contest,” he laughed.“This happens all over the world. In Australia, United States and even England. ”Horses run once and then go straight into Graded feature races. Why can’t we? We South African’s should do the same,” he advised.

But as for our horse. He’s running because we rate him. Hopefully he goes close.”

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