Stars young and old descend on Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday 2 December for a 10-race card that is laden with quality and littered with feature events, headlined by the Grade 1 World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas (Race 7), complemented by a pair of Grade 2 contests and a Listed stayers’ race.
The 1600m three-year-old fillies’ classic, run this year for a stake of R1.25 million, has been won by seven different trainers and eight different jockeys in the last 10 years – trainers Brett Crawford (twice) and Justin Snaith (three times), as well as jockeys Richard Fourie and Anton Marcus (twice each) in the last decade.
And that list of different winning trainers could be added to this year, as neither Sean Tarry nor Glen Kotzen has won the race in that time, while Candice Bass-Robinson has not won the race in her own right either since her father, legendary Cape conditioner Mike Bass, saddled Silver Mountain in 2015.
On the jockeys’ front, however, adding a new name to that list of winners is unlikely, although it’s not impossible as Gareth Wright rides a lively contender in Bass-Robinson’s charge Distant Winter, but the widest No 14 draw could put paid to their chances.
Fourie (Mrs Geriatrix), Aldo Domeyer (Beach Bomb) and Craig Zackey (Rascova), on the other hand, have all tasted success in the race over the last 10 years and they partner fillies with the strongest winning credentials in the 2023 renewal.
Tarry-trained Mrs Geriatrix lost her unbeaten record in the 1400m Grade 2 Western Cape Fillies Championship last time, in what was her first Cape Town outing. She endured a torrid trip on that occasion, racing wide without cover throughout before failing to muster a finish in that race won by re-opposing Rascova, who dictated her own fractions from the head of affairs before quickening clear to win by an impressive 3.50 lengths.
While there are stamina doubts in her pedigree in her first attempt at 1600m, Mrs Geriatrix is undeniably capable of better than that last start suggests. This daughter of Vercingetorix, and Fourie for that matter, will need a little luck from a No 13 gate but last season’s Equus Champion Two-Year-Old Filly and her regular pilot are good value to bounce back and avenge their recent defeat.
Last-start conqueror Rascova was making her belated seasonal reappearance when landing that Grade 2 in the lead-up to her third tilt at Grade 1 glory. She shot out the gates like a bullet from a gun and showed her rivals a clean pair of heels under Zackey, who was riding this Lancaster Bomber filly for the first time.
Kotzen’s charge is 2kg worse off with Mrs Geriatrix and is unlikely to have things her own way in front this time around, with several other proven frontrunners in the lineup, but she can only improve with the benefit of that comeback outing under her belt and from a tidy No 5 stall.
Bass-Robinson sends out a trio of runners in her bid to add the Fillies Guineas trophy to her mantlepiece and her two best chances of victory were unfortunately drawn very wide. Red Palace fared best of her three runners in the barrier draw but this daughter of Potala Palace will need to improve significantly and produce a career-best effort to be competitive.
She has, however, won both of her outings over 1600m from the front (and done so with aplomb), so there’s little reason to suggest she can’t do so again. Whether she makes sufficient progress to compete at this level, though, remains to be seen.
Stablemates Beach Bomb and Distant Winter mixed it with the best of their generation as two-year-olds before confirming their form and well-being on their reappearances this season. The well-bred former, a Lancaster Bomber filly out of multiple Grade 1 winner Beach Beauty, won the Listed Irridescence Stakes over 1500m in her final start last term, before running on to finish an eye-catching second over 1400m on her comeback under Domeyer, who was obviously pleased enough with that comeback as he retains his partnership aboard Beach Bomb instead of Distant Winter whose credentials would’ve been enhanced by the subsequent victory of her last-start conqueror Enemy Territory.
Distant Winter, who won the Grade 3 Winter Nursery during a productive juvenile campaign which also included a Grade 2 fourth over 1400m behind Mrs Geriatrix and a Grade 1 third over 1600m, conceded 3.5kg to Enemy Territory when running on to finish second on her reappearance, so the latter’s recent win bodes well for the chances of Distant Winter despite the widest draw of all.
Boxing Mrs Geriatrix, Rascova, Beach Bomb, and Distant Winter in Swinger, Exacta, Trifecta and/or Quartet bets is the way to play.
The Grade 2 Green Point Stakes (Race 6) has attracted a small but stellar field of eight runners and this traditional L’Ormarins Kings Plate warm-up promises to be a humdinger!
South Africa’s reigning Horse Of The Year Princess Calla suffered a shock defeat in her Cape summer pipe opener over 1250m last time but Tarry’s charge will strip fitter and have more to offer with improved fitness on her side in the 1600m supporting feature.
However, she will need to be at her best if she is to lower the colours of exciting ‘boom’ horse Charles Dickens, a Trippi colt who has won nine of 11 his starts and finished second in the other two outings – both at Grade 1 level, over 1600m and 2000m.
He made a winning return to action in the Grade 3 Matchem Stakes over 1400m eight weeks ago and would’ve come on appreciably since that outing, so is the one they’ll all have to beat.
Familiar foes See It Again and Royal Aussie reoppose once more but are unlikely to turn the tables on their arch-nemesis, although are worth including in Trifecta and Quartet bets.
The Grade 2 Southern Cross Stakes (Race 5) is a wide-open 1200m sprint in which a case can be made for most of the 14 runners. However, it could pay to side with Bass-Robinson and Domeyer who are represented by another of Trippi’s progeny, October Morn.
This well-related three-year-old filly was very unlucky when chasing home re-opposing Baltic Beauty last time, as she was forced to switch at a crucial stage before rattling home under Fourie to finish second, beaten just 0.30 lengths at the line. She renews rivalry on 2.5kg better terms so is weighted to turn the tables.
Clive Robinson
