All At Once finds a bit extra

All At Once belied her name when she found something extra to get her nose in front on the line in the Swallow Stakes at Turffontein on Saturday.

Trainer Lucky Houdalakis’ filly revealed herself to have plenty of toe and some real grit to go with it as she got the better of Grade 1 winner Mighty High in a stirring two-horse battle to the line in this 1160m Listed race.

Jockey Craig Zackey gets plenty of plaudits, too, for getting All At Once to dig down and rally magnificently after the Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained Mighty High and Gavin Lerena had galloped past them with 250m to go.

It was the same 1-2 result as the last time this pair of three-year-olds clashed – in an Assessment Plate over the same course and distance in mid-December.

On that occasion, All At Once came home by 0.75 lengths.

On both occasions Mighty High was conceding a massive 6kg to her adversary and the tables might well be turned when the duo clash on more even terms.

Mighty High, winner of Scotts-ville’s Alan Robertson Champion-ship as a juvenile, started as the 16-10 favourite on Saturday, aiming to land her fourth win in five career starts.

All At Once, going for three from four, was 3-1 second favourite.Toby Spies-trained Mazari dashed into an early lead, with Mighty High on her heels and All At Once not far behind.

With 500m left to run, All At Once forged into the lead, Mighty High responded and began to haul in the leader.

At the 100m mark, Lerena got his mount in front and most watchers reckoned that was that.

But it wasn’t, as All At Once refused to go away.The winning margin was 0.05 lengths, with 5.30 lengths back to the third horse, Blonde Vision, and 7.50 lengths to the fourth, Cordillera.

By Captain Al out of a Caesour mare, All At Once was bred at Varsfontein Stud and sold to Stone Hill Stud at the 2017 National Two Year Old Sale. She has already won three times her sale price of R80,000 and looks set to bring in a fair bit more revenue before heading for the paddocks.

Riding honours on the day were shared by Raymond Daniel-son and apprentice Luke Ferraris, while, among the trainers, Alec Laird and Sean Tarry had a brace each.

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