With the Summer Festival Of Racing fast approaching, Western Cape trainers are turning the wick up and readying their ‘big guns’ ahead of an assault on Cape Racing’s spectacular eight-meeting feature-race bonanza beginning on 23 November.
The bumper 10-race card at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday 16 November is a case in point and could reveal key pointers to several big Grade 1 races in the coming months.
Dual Grade 1 winner Gimme A Prince, second to resident Drakenstein Stud stallion Charles Dickens in last year’s Matchem Stakes, returned from a year’s absence to finish a staying-on fourth in the 2024 edition of that 1400m Grade 3 at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on 28 September.
On the evidence of that encouraging reappearance, there is every chance the Dean Kannemeyer-trained gelding will be as effective over 1600m, which he tries for the first time, in the Grade 3 Cape Mile (Race 7).
The sparingly six-year-old son of Gimmethegreenlight has only finished outside of the Quartet positions once in 13 appearances. He has won six times (two at Grade 1 level), finished second four times and fourth twice – including his Matchem Stakes comeback.
However, those top-level successes came in weight-for-age sprints, over 1000m in the Cape Flying Championship and 1200m in the Golden Horse Sprint. In four starts over 1400m, Gimme A Prince won twice and finished second in Grade 2 and Grade 3 races before finishing fourth in his Matchem return.
Kannemeyer has a legitimate reason to test the waters with Gimme A Prince over 1600m as it could open the door to a potential tilt at bigger races over the trip such as the Grade 2 Green Point Stakes and ultimately, the Grade 1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate both over 1600m on Kenilworth’s Summer course.
Given his undeniable class and potent acceleration, the introduction to 1600m on the Winter course with its shorter 450m run-in as opposed to the 600m straight of the Summer course, seems a shrewd move by Kannemeyer and jumping from the widest No 10 gate should suit his charge whose running style suggests he will be dropped out and produced late by jockey Craig Zackey.
Gimme A Prince could start at inflated odds, given his wide starting berth and venture into the unknown over 1600m, so represents an attractive betting proposition. He is the highest-rated runner on the card and best-weighted of the 10 Cape Mile participants.
Montien, runner-up in the Matchem Stakes, is 1kg worse off with Gimme A Prince but is a three-time winner over the distance. He is a proven frontrunner who ensures a true pace that will test the stamina reserves of Gimme A Prince but could also set up the race for him.
Returning Royal Aussie is not taken lightly on his return from a 111-day absence, as he is a proven high-class miler with an impressive record racing fresh after a break. This five-year-old Royal Mo gelding finished third in last year’s King’s Plate won by Charles Dickens and will be using this seasonal pipe-opener as a stepping-stone towards that Grade 1 goal in early January.
Clive Robinson
