King Regent cruises to an easy victory in the Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge 1200 (Pauline Herman Photography)
The Glen Kotzen-trained Ridgemont-bred five-year-old Dynasty gelding King Regent was a runaway winner of the Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge 1200 and looks to be a candidate for the R250 000 bonus for any horse who can win all three legs of the 2024 Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge.
Glen Kotzen said last season about King Regent that he had a problem at the starting stalls and it all depended on how late the hood was removed, because if removed too early he “bunny hops” out of the gates and it was costly. However, he added, “He is very, very talented.”
Today he jumped well from a good draw of four.
He has only ever won over sprints, but he has gone close over 1800m before and is in fact a full brother to Gr 3 Gold Bowl (3200m) and Consolation Durban July (2200m) winner Crimson King.
Having only his second run on the all-weather, after finishing third as a 14-10 favourite behind Perfection and Port Louis in the 2023 Listed East Cape Guineas, King Regent (14-10) was given a confident ride by Denis Schwarz from the box seat, before lengthening away at the 300m to win unchallenged in a time of 67,81 secs.
The Gavin Smith duo of Ledell’s Echo (8-1) and Slim Jannie (16-1) completed the trifecta, with defending champion Prince Of Fire (40-1) rounding the quartet.
Now a winner of R1 074 813 with 5 wins and 7 places from his 15 starts, King Regent is raced by longstanding former UK and now Cape residents Martin Wickens and Gisela Burg, and cost R225 000 at the Cape Yearling sale of his year.
He is out of the three-time winning Mogok mare, Cup Of Rubies.
A bonus of R250 000 will be paid to the connections of the horse that manages to win all three legs of the Poly Triple Crown.
If no horse manages to win all three legs, a R50 000 bonus is payable to the horse that runs in all three legs and accumulates the most points. Points are allocated up to sixth place of every leg.
The second leg of the challenge is the R175 000 Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge 1400 to be run at Fairview on Friday 27 September 2024.
The third and final leg is the R175 000 Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge 1600 to be run on 18 October.
