There is a theory among breeders that one should never buy the first offspring of a dam, no matter how talented that mare might have been when racing.
Like all hypotheses, there are always the exceptions to the rule and one of those is Naval Guard. He is the first issue of Imperial Empress, who is by Toreador, an Irish-bred son of Danehill.
When he first started to run most people may well have believed that theory. With the exception of his second outing, which was a promising second, his other two were very ordinary – and that is being polite.
After those runs he was gelded and given a seven-month break. He made his comeback on New Year’s Day, and it marked the start of a promising career.
Racing over 1400m at Turffontein, he was well supported in the betting, opening at 6-1 and going off at 2-1. He won easily and followed up with two places—over 1450m and 1500m respectively.
Then trainer Paul Peter pushed him up to 2000m and that saw the four-year-old son of Elusive Fort raise his game to another level. He won that race in a canter by 2.25 lengths and in his next outing scored an even easier 4.10-length victory over 1800m.
On Sunday he is one of five horses from the Peter stable carded to line up in Race 6, a merit rated 92 Handicap over 2000m on the Turffontein Standside track and he will take some beating.
Naval Guard is very highly regarded by his stable and they certainly have bigger fish to fry with this gelding.
He will be ridden by Warren Kennedy who has an excellent record on him, having ridden him four times for all three wins and a close-up second. He also has the benefit of jumping from No 1 draw.
If one is looking to take Exactas, Trifectas and Quartets the horse to look at are Flashy Apache, Kaptein and Grimaldi.
Clive Robinson
