Persian Rug, ridden by Weichong Marwing, holds on well to beat Fly Phillippa (Muzi Yeni) at Turffontein in May last year. Mike de Kock’s charge will be competing in Race 4 at Scottsville today and looks the stand-out bet on the card.
Mike de Kock has always believed Persian Rug was looking for a bit of ground and now, as a four-year-old, this daughter of Ideal World is proving him right.
It has taken until 2017 for her to finally win a race over 2000m when she cruised to victory on the Greyville Polytrack in January, beating Killer Woman by 2.25 lengths.
Not only has she won a race, but her good form over the distance has continued. She cast a shoe and hurt herself in her next start over the same course and distance but then ran a 2000m race on the Greyville turf track where she was a fast-finishing runner-up behind Celtic Captain in the umThombothi Stakes (Non-Black Type).
She took on the colts on that occasion and the winner, who beat her 0.50 lengths, went off as the 8-10 favourite.
Persian Rug returns to Scottsville today where she will race against her own sex in Race 4 a FM 94 Handicap, this time over 1950m.
One has to go back almost two years to find the only time she raced at this course but it proved to be a winning visit in which she beat Lauderdale by 1.75 lengths over 1400m.
The runner-up then reversed the form in their next meeting which was in the Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes over 1600m at Greyville, beating De Kock’s charge by 0.50 lengths although Persian Rug had a wide draw.
Anthony Delpech could have taken either of Dean Kannemeyer’s runners but he has selected to ride Persian Rug.
Princess Varunya was also a promising three-year-old and trainer Kom Naidoo brought her to Turffontein last year to contest the Triple Tiara. Her best run was a 2.05-length fourth behind Juxtapose in the Grade 1 SA Fillies Classic and she has not won a race since.
She has been getting better and with a small merit rating drop and an apprentice allowance of 1.5kg, the Australian-bred daughter of High Chaparral looks the main threat to Persian Rug.
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