Nick Jonsson leads in See It Again after Piere “Striker” Strydom had ridden the Michael Roberts-trained son of Twice Over to Gr 1 Daily News 2000 victory (Candiese Lenferna Photography)
Prolific owner Nick Jonsson has taken the decision to geld his dual Gr 1-winning Twice Over star See It Again and he has the R6 million Gr 1 Betway Summer Cup as his first big race target, while his other dual Gr 1-winning Twice Over star Double Superlative has been retired.
He spoke about some of his other good horses at present too.
He said about the Michael Roberts-trained See It Again, ” He took his gelding well, it seems, and he’s back at work already and we’re hoping that it’ll do the trick. He wasn’t himself and he’s still got a lot of ability, he’s sound, he’s a great racehorse and we want to win big races with him, so let’s have a go.”
Nick was asked whether he believed See It Again would be suited to the Turffontein Standside course with its long straight.
He said, “I’m undecided whether he will or he won’t, he’s got quite a turn of foot, but let’s see. It’s a big race, so why not have a go. I think if things go his way he could win it.”
Regarding the rider for the Summer Cup he replied, “We haven’t got that far yet, but I don’t see any reason why Striker shouldn’t ride him. He’s running in Johannesburg and frankly, unless Striker retires between now and then, I think it would be foolish to not put him on the horse. I haven’t spoken to him and don’t know what his plans are, but Turffontein is his home ground.”
Nick’s Justin Snaith-trained Gr 1 Cape Guineas and Gr 1 WSB Met winner Double Superlative, who is now a six-year-old entire, was largely disappointing in three races in Durban at the end of last season. Those runs formed something of a comeback, because his retirement with the view of sending him to stud had been announced after his Met win.
Nick said about Double Superlative, “I haven’t planned anything at the moment, I haven’t worked it out yet, but he’s just having a rest. But he’s retired, he’s not going to run again.”
Nick said he had some promising three-year-olds and mentioned the Snaith-trained quartet Great Plains, Roman Agent, Eight On Eighteen and Powerandtheglory.
He said, “Great Plains won three in a row in KZN in the season (all over 1400m) and one of them was a Listed race (giving Danon Platina his first stakes winner). He is a nice horse.”
He continued, “Roman Agent has also won a Listed race. He was ahead of himself so we’ve gelded him. We tried him over seven furlongs, I don’t hink he gets it. So, we’re going to stick to the shorter distances with him, and I think he’ll have a good season.”
He added, “We’ve got the Lancaster Bomber colt Eight On Eighteen who won the Langerman. He’s a very nice horse.”
He said, “We have the Gimmethegreenlight half-brother to Double Superlative, the colt Powerandtheglory, who beat Stated second time out over 1400m by 2,75 lengths and Stated then came out and won by 6,25 lengths.”
He concluded, “We’ve got a few other nice horses that haven’t really done much yet and a lot happens between now and December.”
Nick had a good day on Tuesday at Hollywoodbets Durbanville with two winners, both trained by Snaith.
Rapidash (Danon Platina) had his first win since landing the R7,5 million Gold Rush on Met day earlier this year, but Nick did point out that although it was a good run (over 1600m off a 104 merit rating) he was getting 6,5kg from the shorthead runner up Pacaya (MR 115), although he added that Pacaya was a very nice horse.
Call To Unite (Vercingetorix) won well over 1800m off an 87 merit rating and Nick said, “A year ago we thought a lot of him and he just went off a bit. He had a long break and we’re hoping he will have matured and settled down a bit.”
He was very pleased with the run of the former Gr 3 Politician Stakes winner Rockpool, who finished four lengths behind Rapidash giving him 1kg. He said about the horse with the unusual action but whom has a huge stride, “He hasn’t run since January. He hasn’t had a grass gallop because of all the rain and Durbanville is not really his happy place, so it was a helluva comeback run.”
Rockpool was fancied a couple of season back to have a good Champions season, but he just did not like the tracks in KZN, and Nick said it had been the same for Mucho Dinero this season. He said the latter had been “flying” since returning to Cape Town.
