Gold Cup champ is the ‘Present Pearl’

All-conquering jockey Richard Fourie reckons only a wide draw prevented Gold Cup hot favourite Future Pearl winning the recent Hollywoodbets Durban July.

The four-year-old was the fastest finisher in the July, rocketing forward from 12 lengths off the pace on the turn, then eight lengths off at the 400m mark, to finish just two lengths behind winner Oriental Charm at the line.

It was the sort of performance you’d expect from last season’s Equus Stayer of the Year, who’d waltzed to that honour by landing the difficult “Golden Triple” of staying races – Gold Bowl, Gold Vase and Gold Cup.

The July is over 2200m, the World Pool Gold Cup over 3200m, so Fourie had little hesitation in opting to switch from his disappointing July ride, Future Swing, to Future Pearl for South Africa’s premier endurance race, which will have its 103rd running on Super Sunday at Greyville this weekend.

Building fitness

Some pundits harp on Future Pearl’s 11 months in the racing wilderness following his victory in the 2023 Gold Cup. After that demolition job, the son of Futura was given a three-month break before being sent out to charge around with speed horses in the Charity Mile – an assignment he showed no interest in whatsoever.

Trainer Sean Tarry got the message and let the fellow smell the daisies in a paddock for another five months.

The gelding returned to the racecourse in a 1400m Pinnacle Stakes. Again, near-zero effort.

Higher-level outings over 2000m followed, but the champ was still away with the fairies. All the while, though, he was building fitness.

A breath of sea air on a trip to his favourite course in mid-June for Greyville’s 2400m Tabgold Derby did the trick. Future Pearl came gliding up from nowhere to mow down classy opponents on a loose rein and announce he was back.

“I was shocked,” declared Fourie this week when discussing the rapidity of the horse’s form turnaround on a discussion panel this week.

After that win, Tarry commented: “Obviously he’s a horse that went off the boil a bit. But we were never really worried about him; we just wanted to bring him back in our own time.”

That time is now, with a barrier draw of 6 and a more-than-fair weight of 59.5kg.

Three wins in five at Greyville

With long-distance races, proven stamina is always a critical factor and none of Future Pearl’s opponents on Sunday have proven more resilient over ground than him.

Add to that a record of three wins from five visits to Greyville and it’s hard to argue against ante-post odds of 13-10.

Experts in the panel discussion came up with very few potential dangers, with one even describing Future Pearl as “the best staying horse in a decade or more”.

Nonetheless, it should be borne in mind that the Gold Cup has been known to produce upsets. If Future Pearl doesn’t successfully defend his title, absolutely anything could win – which is good news for punters as a R5-million Quartet pool is predicted.

SELECTION:

6 Future Pearl, 15 Shoot The Rapids, 13 Raiseahallelujah, 5 Nebraas

QUARTET:

Banker 6, with 1,5,11,13,14 and 15 boxed