Ratings, draws are relevant
As the field went into the turn it was clear Hawwaam was not making life easy for Lerena.
HEALTHY. Shukamisa has proven fitness on his side and that could make him hard to beat in Race 8 at Turffontein tomorrow, a Pinnacle Stakes over 1600m on the Inside track.
In his weekly column jockey Piere Strydom always explains the relevance of a good draw on the Turffontein Standside track with regards to races over 1400m and 1600m.
He also explains why one should follow the best handicapped horses in fixed-weights races.
So on Saturday, while many of us were extolling the virtues of Hawwaam in the Grade 2 Gauteng Guineas, Strydom made the following observation.
“The Gauteng Guineas is for all the top three-year-olds and they carry the same weight. For that reason, your highest merit-rated runner should win.
“Based on that Hawwaam and National Park are the obvious choices. Hawwaam has a bad draw again which means he will come from off the pace, but from what I’ve seen he is a difficult ride because he tends to fight with the riders when he over-races. His danger should be National Park who is drawn No 1, which should put him on top to win this race.”
Strydom was spot on! Port Elizabeth raider National Park won his second Grade 2 race on the Highveld when he motored home under Richard Fourie to win the R1-million Gauteng Guineas, and the first leg of the SA Triple Crown, by 2.70 lengths from 1-1 favourite Hawwaam, who Gavin Lerena brought from near last, to run second.
The tactic which had worked so well in the Dingaans, failed on Saturday purely because National Park jumped from pole position.
He reversed a 7.40-length defeat in November by 10 lengths.
Carl Hewitson, father of champion jockey Lyle and assistant to trainer Yvette Bremner explained.
“In the Dingaans he was wide and a lot of use had to be made of him to overcome that draw and he tired late.
“He stayed up on the Highveld after the Graham Beck win but things didn’t go proper (sic) for him.
He’s turned it back around now a er nine weeks at home. He had a lovely prep before he came up here and he’s shown how good he really is today.
“This was a quality a field and I’m sure there were some hard-luck stories behind us but you can do nothing but win. “We’ll now discuss whether he will stay up here and go for the second leg (the R2-million SA Classic (Grade 1) over 1800m on 2 March).
Both Hawwaam and Barahin were drawn wide and both were dropped out at the start to run at the back of the field while National Park was perfectly positioned by Fourie in third place on the fence behind another De Kock runner, Arlingtons Revenge, who made the pace.
As the field went into the turn it was clear Hawwaam was not making life easy for Lerena.
Once in the straight the fi eld moved to the outside but Fourie was sitting with a handful.
“When we came into the straight he wanted to go but I held him back for a while and then let him go at the right time.”
This son of Gimmethegreen-light pulled clear of the field while Hawwaam and Barahin with Anton Marcus up, started manoeuvering their mounts through the field but by the time they appeared on the scene the bird had flown.
“Hawwaam pulled for 70m on the turn,” explained Lerena.
“The winner had the run of the race but give me half a draw and this horse never loses.”
The De Kock stable were clearly disappointed with the outcome but it will be a diff erent story in the SA Classic with the extra 200m and, hopefully, a better draw for once.
But there was some consolation for the yard in the R750,000 Wilgerbosdri Gauteng Fillies Guineas when Nafaayes fought tenaciously to beat Running Brave by a short head.
Ridden by Warren Kennedy and going off 28-10 favourite, the Australian-bred daughter of Exceed And Excel moved up smartly with 300m to run.
She hit the front but Running Brave under Devin Habib would not go away and they went nose-for-nose to the line with Nafaayes getting the verdict by a 0,05-length margin.
De Kock was very happy with the performance, especially as she had not been out since win-ning the Grade 2 Ipi Tombe Challenge on 1 December.
“She won’t go much further but we’ll definitely go for the Wilgerbosdri SA Fillies Classic, but not the SA Oaks.”
The unlucky horse in the race had to be Celtic Sea who lost three lengths at the start but still man-aged to finish third.
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