Snow Pilot beats One Stripe by a length (Picture: Wayne Marks)
The conditions of a Progress Plate event allowed the 120 merit-rated Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas winner Snow Pilot to receive weight from his three time-winning 101-rated stablemate Underworld and also from the three time-winning 112-rated three-year-old One Stripe, as Snow Pilot himself was only a two-time winner.
The race was supposed to be only for three-year-olds, but the latter event did not hold up and that gave the Drakenstein Stud- homebred colt Snow Pilot an easy seasonal reppearance opportunity.
Richard Fourie made no mistake over a distance the Justin Snaith-trained Lancaster Bomber four-year-old is very effective over as he has good early pace and the ability to kick on.
Snow Pilot, having his first run since a 4,20 length ninth in the Gr 1 Mercury Sprint, was taken straight to the front from draw five and had opened a six length lead by the time they turned for home with 600m to go.
The Vaughan Marshall-trained One Stripe, a twice Gr 3 winner as a juvenile, then steadily closed the gap in his first run since winning the Gr 3 Winter Nursery on May 5.
He was thus returning from a five month layoff and it was also his first run around the turn and first run beyond sprint distances.
One Stripe was only one length shy at the line, a fine run considering the conditions in which he gave Snow Pilot 1kg meaning he was 7,5kg worse off than weight for age and 11,5kg worse off then he would have been in a handicap.
The Marshall-trained Master Of My Fate colt Talk To The Master ran a decent 3,25 length third carrying 56kg and giving Snow Pilot only 2kg. He could also be a three-year-old classic contender.
The well regarded Snaith-trained four-year-old Underworld was beaten 8,50 lengths into fourth and the Lunga Gila-trained Zoomie was just behind him.
One Stripe was considered by most to have been the best two-year-old male in the land last season, even if he did not land an Equus Award having not travelled to KZN for the Champions Season.
The son of Marshall’s former Met winner and now sire sensation One World will likely be out to emulate One World’s sire, the Marshall-trained Captain Al, by winning the Cape Guineas.
On Saturday’s performance he will be the one to beat in that prestigious race, which is set to be run on December 14 at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth.
One Stripe’s next race is likely to either be the Gr 3 Cape Classic over 1400m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on November 2 or the Gr 2 Punters Cup over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on November 23.
Snow Pilot’s next option looks to be the Gr 2 WSB Green Point Stakes over 1600m on December 7, where he will face a much sterner test than he did on Saturday.
