KHUMALO CALLS THE SHOTS AT TURFFONTEIN
Five winners in a row
FOLLOWING his dazzling history-making performance at Greyville on July Day, talented jockey S’manga Khumalo stole the show on Saturday at Turffontein where he rode five winners in a row on the nine-event card.
Khumalo started his winning blitz in Race 4, the first leg of the Pick 6, aboard Kom Naidoo-trained Our Folly. Going off at 10-1, the four-year-old stormed through from off the pace to win decisively, despite hanging inwards in the final stages.
Partnering Sean Tarry-trained Tiger’s Retreat (4-1 joint favourite) in Race 5, the main event, he brought the four-year-old through from midfield to score a clear-cut win.
Teamed up with threeyear-old Isobar (5-2 favourite) from Weiho Marwing’s stable in Race 6, Khumalo dashed the gelding into the lead 400m out and, fully extended, kept going to win by almost two lengths.
However, Khumalo did followers of the money no favours in Race 7 when he swooped on Marwing-trained Here Comes Billy (5-1) and outgunned 5-4 favourite Duty Dance by two lengths.
Khumalo again had the course buzzing with excitement when he scored on Marwing-trained 16-10 favourite Uptothemoon in Race 8. He had the fouryear-old filly well placed but had to give her a punishing ride before snatching victory from under the nose of 10-1 chance Cat’s Game.
His hopes of clinching a sixth win in the Pick 6 were dashed in Race 9 when his mount Mesmerising Melody (7-1) faded after leading until 300m from home.
The in-form stable of Justin Snaith appears to hold a winning hand in Race 6 at Arlington today, a R84 000
Pinnacle Stakes. They send out Icemberg and African Alliance.
Four-year-old African Alliance makes more appeal than Icemberg in this 1000m contest because, due to Heavelon van den Hoven’s apprentice claim, the gelding will receive 6.5kg from his stablemate. Van den Hoven was aboard African Alliance for the first time in the gelding’s most recent outing, when a fast-finishing close third to London Perfect and Jella Loochee in a Pinnacle contest over this course and distance.
A similar effort should see this consistent sprinter rewarded with an overdue fifth career win.
Despite carrying 62kg, nine-time winner Icemberg merits respect in attempting to make it three wins in a row over this distance, with Muzi Yeni aboard again. The six-year-old showed courage in his last two races when carrying similar weights. In the first he won fluently over this course and distance and followed up with a gutsy, hard-fought win over the same distance at Fairview. The gelding did not pick up a penalty for his last win and racing with 62kg again, must rate a strong contender.
The pick of the rest are London Perfect, Galileo’s Destiny, Protest Song and Jella Loochee.