Owners go in One Direction

Some horses who look to have decent futures were seen in action at Kenilworth on Saturday and one of the best could be One Direction, winner of Race 2.

The son of Silvano was only having his second run and was the talk of the day. As a result he was sent off 1-5 favourite but for a while his backers had to sweat. He did not break that well and was lying near the rear of the field.

However, once in the straight jockey Richard Fourie asked for an effort and he responded immediately. He got to the front with about 100m to run. Fourie took it easy and let him coast home, the winning margin over Logan just 0.40 lengths.

Trainer Justin Snaith said he was keen to get a win under his belt before Western Cape racing moved to Durbanville. “He is a nice horse and it is not easy to run around this Kenilworth turn for the first time so I’m very happy with him.

He is a full brother to SA Derby winner Seal so he should enjoy that sort of distance.

One Direction is co-owned by Jack Mitchell and Michael Leaf, the two “protagonists” of the Legislate/Wyllie Hall Durban July objection. “We wanted to show everybody that as owners we can get over happened and still get on with one another. So we decided to buy this horse.” So, as Humphrey Bogart said at the end of Casablanca: “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”