Flying PE start for Our Icon

Most horses who continue their racing careers in Port Elizabeth tend to need a run or two before acclimatising so there was a lot to like about the way Our Icon took to his new surroundings on his Fairview debut.

This five-year-old son of Dynasty joined Alan Greeff’s yard from Dean Kannemeyer’s Cape Town stable and made a winning debut over 1300m on 31 December. Not only was it his first run in the Eastern Cape but it was also his first on the Polytrack and showed a clear liking for the surface.

Ridden by Charles Ndlovu, Our Icon proved a little stubborn to load up but once he took to the track it was a different story. He ran on strongly to easily beat Imperial Guard by 2.25 lengths in a Progress Plate. It clearly was no fluke as he attracted some solid betting support and shortened from 14-1 into 7-1.

Some of his best runs have been over 1600m, a distance to which he will revert when he lines up for Race 7 today, a MR 87 Handicap.

Our Icon was penalised 2.5kg for that victory and could still be reasonably well treated by the handicappers. He raced against some top horses in Cape Town and just two runs back finished a 2.15-length fifth behind useful Icy Trail in a MR 96 Handicap over 1800m.

Ndlovu has retained the ride.

Once you look beyond him this race looks very open.

At the bottom of the weights sits Inviting Lily who has been in good form lately. In eight runs on the Polytrack he has won three and placed in another three so he has been incredibly consistent. Champion jockey S’manga Khumalo takes the ride and with just 52.5kg to carry must be a lively threat to Our Icon.

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