Romance In Rome
Sire sentiment is not easy to understand, but it seems they are more vulnerable to being proverbially axed by breeders than are Premiership football managers by club owners.
A few amateurs on the sidelines might therefore have begun to be concerned for the Mauritzfontein-based stallion Danon Platina as it could not have been said he was exactly firing after his first few runners.
However, it has all changed now.
The Mike Miller-trained Danon Platina gelding Romance In Rome took three runs to win his maiden and was then given a layoff of two-and-a-half months.
In his comeback he was stepped up in trip to 1400m in a Maiden Juvenile Plate at Hollywoodbets Greyville on the turf on March 26.
He and a filly were the only previous winners in the ten horse field, so he had to give the entire field 3kg.
However, after going handy, he relished the extra distance and galloped away from them to win by three lengths under Tristan Godden.
Sterling Miller said, “He was ultra impressive as it is not often you see two-year-olds giving weight to the whole field like that and winning easily. I can’t fault the Danon Platina’s we have, they do tend to be on the small side but are precocious.”
They also appear to need a bit of ground.
Romance In Rome will be aimed at the Listed Gatecrasher Stakes over 1400m on June 10 and depending on how well he goes there the Grade 2 Durban Golden Horseshoe over 1400m on Hollywoodbets Durban July day and the Grade 1 Premiers Champion Stakes on Gold Cup day might be options too.
A horse that might well be seen on July day and Gold Cup day is the Mike de Kock-trained Danon Platina filly Platina Princess, who could well have been the most impressive two-year-old of the season when winning at Turffontein Inside on Tuesday.
She was in a maiden against older fillies and mares over 1450m having stayed on well for second on debut in a Juvenile Plate over 1200m.
In the maiden she only received 4kg from the rest as opposed to the 12,5kg allowance two-year-olds would get from four-year-olds at this stage of the season over this trip in a weight for age race and as opposed to the 10kg they would get from three-year-olds.
Yet she annihilated them by 6,20 lengths under Craig Zackey.
Zackey got her into the box seat from a good draw and switching in at the elbow she quickened smartly and then galloped away from them.
The grey filly was rather reminiscent of a De Kock-trained and Oppenheimer family owned-and-bred SA Oaks winner called Ilha Bela in her looks and style.
In between the aforementioned victories the Candice Bass Robinson-trained grey Danon Platina filly Unconquerable Lady won from start to finish at Hollywoodbets Durbanville over 1000m. She displayed a telling kick from the front in her third career start under Keagan de Melo.
Then in Thursday’s first race Danon Platina’s Stuart Pettigrew-trained filly Betula scraped home second time out in a 1450m maiden juvenile plate.
Thursday’s win took the Japan-bred Deep Impact sire to four individual winners of five races in total from 17 runners, but, more importantly, four of those wins have come in the space of nine days.
The Mauritzfintein Stud-based Fire Away has had the most winners of all the new season sires, six individual winners of eight races from 15 runners, but Danon Platina could soon be challenging him.
