Great finale for Sean Tarry

If trainer Sean Tarry was looking for an indication his stable was in tip-top condition going into the KwaZulu-Natal Champions Season, it came at Saturday’s Championship Finale at Turffontein.

He came away with five wins and two seconds on the 10-race card and three of his winners were ridden by Richard Fourie.

“This was a fantastic day for the yard, I couldn’t have wished for anything better,” said Tarry. “I’m very happy for my owners, my team and for my family who are here to enjoy it with me.

“Nothing could ruin this day.” But one of the highlights for Tarry was Lucky Lad’s victory in the Grade 2 Jehan Malherbe Senor Santa Stakes over 1160m, which he described as “mind-blowing”.

Whatever could go wrong did, but the son of Gimmethegreenlight still managed to come from last to beat I Am Giant by 0.40 lengths.

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“This horse had a wind op, so you can put a line straight through his run at Greyville,” said Tarry.

“Not too many horses come back from that.

“This horse ran second to Sandringham Summit in his last race, he wasn’t quite right, and today he’s come from last down the worst going.

“This was a mind-blowing win.”

Fourie described how the race panned out.

“He didn’t have a very clean path in the running. He jumped a bit clumsily and the horses were on top of him.

“I had a wall of horses (in front of me), I was five to six lengths off, never really latching on, so the first thing I wanted to do was get him into daylight and see what he would do.

“He looked beaten for a long way out, but he has a phenomenal turn of foot. He’s the type of horse you never stop on him. You keep going and going and eventually that engine just erupts.

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“It was a fantastic win!”

The day got off to a flying start for Tarry, winning four of the first five races on the card.

Opening up the day was Legend Of Arthur who went off at 11-10 and won by 4.75 lengths. A race later it was well-supported World Of Alice, who shortened from 18-10 to 11-10 at the off.

However, jockey Craig Zackey had to work really hard to get the daughter of One World home but she managed to get the better of Brett Crawford-trained and Piere Strydom-ridden Fatal Flaw by 0.20 lengths.

Race 3, the Grade 3 Protea Stakes for two-year-olds, was deemed to be a two-horse race between easy first-time winner Buffalo Storm Cody and well-performed maiden Winds Of Change, but there was steady money for Tarry-trained Proceed who was perfectly ridden by Fourie.

There was bit of bumping at the start between Proceed and Winds Of Change but Fourie got to the front at the right moment and went on to beat the latter by 1.30 lengths with Buffalo Storm Cody holding on for third.

It was back to Tarry and Zackey in the Grade 2 Camellia Stakes over 1100m as 17-2 shot Mrs Browning kept running to hold off Time Fo Orchids by 1.15 lengths.

Three-year-olds came to the fore in both the Grade 2 TAB Igugu Stakes for fillies and mares and the Grade 2 TAB Colorado King Stakes, both over 2000m.

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There were two three-year-olds in both races and in both cases, they fought out the finish.

Stuart Pettigrew-trained Beating Wings (5-1) and 15-10 favourite My Soul Mate from the Candice Dawson yard came home well to get the better of long-time leader Bellevarde, who was only beaten a length at the finish.

There was some question about the strength of the SA Derby form after fifth-placed Taxhaven finished unplaced in a Maiden Plate last Tuesday but three-year-olds Pure Predator and Hotarubi, second and fourth respectively in the Derby, fought out the finish of Colorado King Stakes.

In the end, they reprised their positions in the Derby as Fanie Bronkhorst-trained Pure Predator (17-10) got the better of Tarry’s charge by 0.75 lengths. However, this time it was Fourie on the Bronkhorst runner