Brother and sister bubble and blossom

Equine siblings will grab the limelight at Durbanville’s Saturday meeting – the latest in Cape Racing’s burgeoning Spring Country Series and dubbed Bubbles & Blossoms.

Bred and owned by Khaya Stables and sired by champion stallion Gimmethegreenlight out of Trippi mare Real Princess, Gimme A Prince and Gimme’s Countess are likely to top the betting boards for the Grade 3 Kudu Matchem Stakes and the Grade 3 Baker McVeigh Diana Stakes respectively.

The reappearance of Gimme A Prince, one of the highest-rated horses in South Africa, is the main attention grabber.

Return to the track

It has been almost a full year since Gimme A Prince last competed – in this very Matchem in 2023, when he was runner-up to the revered Charles Dickens, since retired to stud.

By then, Dean Kannemeyer’s classy speedster already had two Grade 1 titles to his name – the Cape Flying Championship and the Golden Horse Sprint, no less – and had copped a merit rating of 130, which is just one off current top dogs Main Defender and See It Again.

The question, of course, is whether Gimme A Prince will be fit enough to dominate a lineup of worthy opponents after 357 days off the track. A strong hint that he could be up to the task is retained rider Craig Zackey’s decision to partner him over Kannemeyer’s two other runners.

At the weight-for-age conditions, Gimme A Prince is heavily advantaged – despite having to carry a steadying joint topweight of 61.5kg. His silverware performances have been over less than Saturday’s 1400m, but he has plenty of 1400m excellence on the CV.

Intriguingly, Gimme A Prince’s full sibling Gimme’s Countess holds the key to the accompanying feature on the Durbanville card, the Diana Stakes which is also over 1400m.

The three-year-old filly has the experience of just three races, with a solitary win, but has shown touches of class in two big races in which she had the misfortune to bump into champion juvenile Quid Pro Quo.

Zackey can’t get down to the 51.5kg allocated to Gimme’s Countess, so top lightweight rider Serino Moodley has been drafted in from KwaZulu-Natal by the Khaya-Kannemeyer team.

Zackey will, however, still be wearing Khaya’s yellow and black silks in the race, aboard Unconquerable Lady, an outsider from Candice Bass-Robinson’s stable.

THE FIELDS

No & draw, name, weight, MR, (jockey), trainer:

KUDA MATCHEM STAKES. Grade 3 – Open WFA. R300,000 1400m

1 Outlaw King 57 106 (Corne Orffer) Dean Kannemeyer
2 Zapatillas 61.5 123 (Luyolo Mxothwa) Brett Crawford
3 Zil Moris 55.5 102 (Gareth Wright) Brett Crawford
4 At My Command 61.5 119 (Richard Fourie) Brett Crawford
5 Look For Hounds 58.5 108 (Oswald Noach) Vaughan Marshall
6 Coastal Commander 60 111 (Sean Veale) Vaughan Marshall
7 Montien 61.5 116 (Anthony Andrews) Piet Botha
8 Gimme A Prince 61.5 130 (Craig Zackey) Dean Kannemeyer
9 Sugar Mountain 61.5 118 (Aldo Domeyer) Candice Bass-Robinson
10 Questioning 61.5 122 (Juan Paul v’d Merwe) Vaughan Marshall
11 Teflon Man 55.5 103 (Serino Moodley) Dean Kannemeyer

BAKER MCVEIGH DIANA STAKES. Grade 3 – F&M WFA. R200,000 1400m

1 Summer Lily 55.5 92 (Grant van Niekerk) Justin Snaith
2 Gold Poker Game 60 107 (Aldo Domeyer) Candice Bass-Robinson
3 Miss World 51.5 97 (Anthony Andrews) Greg Ennion
4 Princess Izzy 55.5 99 (Richard Fourie) Brett Crawford
5 Gimmie’s Countess 51.5 105 (Serino Moodley) Dean Kannemeyer
6 Dixieland Band 51.5 100 (Joshwin Solomons) Greg Ennion
7 Rainbow Lorikeet 55.5 101 (Juan Paul v’d Merwe) Candice Bass-Robinson
8 Unconquerable Lady 55.5 96 (Craig Zackey) Candice Bass-Robinson
9 Royals 57 103 (Denis Schwarz) Glen Kotzen
10 My Flower Fate 55.5 87 (Gareth Wright) Lucinda Woodruff