CAN THEY TIE THIS KANGAROO DOWN
TRAINER Gary Alexander looks to have found a decent horse in Kangaroo Jack as the three-yearold gelding strode away from his rivals to win the Grade 2 Post Merchants over 1 200m at Greyville on Friday night.
This win did shock quite a few punters as although the Querari gelding had won three of his last six starts it was a huge step up in class after beating Danza by 0.40 lengths on the Turffontein Inside course in May.
Kangaroo Jack had also been the recipient of some hefty penalties for his recent wins.
He got eight points for his penultimate win over Barbel Run and then seven for the win over Danza.
It was a brave ride from Craig Zackey aboard the three-year-old as he was quick to send him clear into the straight and it proved the right move as Kangaroo Jack was unchallenged to win from a running on late Fly By Night, with Asstar third and Ferrie fourth.
The disappointment of the race was Red Ray who may have been undone by the dreaded second run after a break syndrome.
Jockey S’manga Khumalo and trainer Sean Tarry (not for the first time this year) caused a major upset in the Grade 3 Track And Ball Oaks over 2 400m at Scottsville yesterday by winning with Witchcraft.
It was another great ride from the soon-to-be South African Champion jockey Khumalo as he was quick to realize the slow early pace of the race would make it very hard for the horses to come from behind to win.
Witchcraft kept fighting off all challengers bravely to beat the Neil Brusstrained pair of Flying Ice and Deputy Ryder who were not disgraced in finishing second and third.
The well-backed Nightingale disappointed in only finishing fourth but she did run on late and was clearly not suited to the slow pace.
Nightingale will win more races and may be better over a bit less ground.
Witchcraft had overturned the 3.10 lengths she had run behind Nightingale in the Daisy Fillies Guineas, and the win showed threeyear-old fillies are not as bad as what some may believe and it certainly franked the form of Bela-Bela.
The Grade 3 Track And Ball Derby over 2 400m also went to a three-yearold in the form of the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Anthony Delpech-ridden Cape Speed.
Like Witchcraft it was Delpech aboard Cape Speed who made the first move into the home stretch and this seemed to be a telling move as the Ideal World gelding fought off Deputy Jud to win well.
It was yet more feature race success for the Delpech-Kannemeyer combination.
Deputy Jud looked a bit of an unlucky loser as he did seemed to suffer some interference from the winner and did well to run second.
Three Balloons did good work late to grab third place.