Questioning wins the Gr 3 Kuda Matchem Stakes under JP van der Merwe. (Picture: Wayne Marks)
Cape Racing
Top class QUESTIONING stayed a perfect four from four at the course after out-duelling another Hollywoodbets Durbanville specialist, MONTIEN in the Kuda Matchem Stakes, a GR3 over 1400m.
On a chilly Saturday afternoon, AT MY COMMAND stayed on to snare third spot with GIMME A PRINCE, needing the run after an injury enforced layoff of a year, belatedly getting underway with a zippy come home sectional of 21.75 seconds for fourth.
Vaughan Marshall’s charge, QUESTIONING, who won the Cape Classic over this track and distance in October 2023 from subsequent Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas victor Snow Pilot, was backed into 9/4 to get the job done and raced handy from a wide draw (10) to track leader MONTIEN and pace presser, COASTAL COMMANDER before asserting himself within the final 200m.
This was a finely executed tactical steer by jockey JP van der Merwe, with trainer Marshall afterwards graciously acknowledging a “super ride.”
QUESTIONING is a son of Querari out of Captain Al mare, Wheredowego and this is a sixth score from 12 starts for an extremely smart sort, deadly over extended sprints. Marshall will now target big sprints over 1200m during peak season. The winner’s time was 84.11 seconds, and he closed it out in 22.25 seconds.
For his part, MONTIEN emerged with great credit on his comeback after 175 days off track. The resolute gelding put up a sterling fight and it took practically the whole of the 600m straight for QUESTIONING to wear him down.
AT MY COMMAND and GIMME A PRINCE rounded out the placings, and both will come on for the benefit of these outings. GIMME A PRINCE is arguably the best horse in SA when all parts are in working order, but trainer Dean Kannemeyer has to handle him cautiously given a history of knee problems.
A race earlier, Gimme a Princes’ full sister GIMMIE’S COUNTESS flashed past rivals to take out the Baker McVeigh Diana Stakes (GR3) and confirm the extremely high opinion held of her by Kannemeyer.
Sired by Gimmethegreenlight ex Real Princess, she was a victim of bad trips in successive KZN features, but Serino Moodley made no error here on the 17/10 favourite, swooping from midfield to win going away.
Given the difficulty of making up ground on a firm surface with a pumping tail-wind, this against-the-track bias performance should be upgraded. After ROYALS and UNCONQUERABLE LADY had cut out the early fractions, the winner’s final time for the 1400m trip was posted at 83.98 seconds.
SUMMER LILY, backed from 12’s into half those odds, got first run after a rail-hugging steer and entering the final furlong looked to have landed the plunge. But she was totally overwhelmed by GIMMIE’S COUNTESS’S rocket-propelled finishing burst of just 21.5 seconds for the last 400m. Quipped Kannemeyer post-race, “thankfully the jockey didn’t panic; only the trainer.”
The minor places were filled by PRINCESS IZZY (beaten with every chance) who nudged GOLD POKER GAME into fourth. But none of the older fillies could withstand lightly weighted, GIMMIE’S COUNTESS’S surge who now leaps right back into the reckoning for upcoming fillies classics during the Summer Festival of Racing.
