Delighted members of the Turf Talk Syndicate lead in Garden Of Eden after she had won on debut and she now goes for the Gr 2 Western Cape Fillies Championship on November 9 at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth (Picture: Wayne Marks).
The Turf Talk Syndicate were confident of a good run from their Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein-bred Querari filly Heritage Ridge at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on Tuesday and she duly ran something of a miraculous third, considering how badly the race panned out.
The good news is two horses acquired at the Cape Racing Sales Breeze Up And Two-year-old Unbroken Sale on Saturday at Hollywoodbets Durbanville will be joining the Turf Talk Syndicate. Those two are in addition to the William Longsword filly in whom shares are available (see the advert below and read about her after the analysis of Heritage Ridge’s run below).
Trainer Paul Reeves turned Heritage Ridge out in superb condition on Tuesday for a Maiden for fillies and mares over 1000m and she was duly backed in to 5/2 favourite in the fixed odds market.
The first thing that went wrong was she missed the break, although she did end up in a midfield position with cover and looked to have a fine chance turning for home as she was travelling well.
On Saturday, the jockeys had tended to be drifting to the outside rail seeking better going and by the end of the meeting the whole field was going out there.
This must have been the thinking behind the jockey on Tuesday deciding to take Heritage Ridge all the way to the outside rail.
It immediately became apparent it was the wrong tactic. The bulk of the field were sticking to the inside and in fact Heritage Ridge hampered a horse outside of her when making the beeline for the outside, beacause that horse was also wanting to go the shortest way home. Furthermore, Heritage Ridge was not only taking a long time to reach the outside rail, and losing ground in the process, but she also ended up being all on her own.
Being a young inexperienced horse she did not enjoy being on her own at all and duly drifted all the way back in again. By the time she had reached the 50m mark she was together with the rest of the field again.
So all in all her path down the straight looked a bit akin to a Grand Prix driver taking a pit lane penalty!
To still only be beaten 2,75 lengths was a fine effort by the young three-year-old filly.
The sectional timing showed the winner Priscilla Maisey to have travelled a distance total of 998.68m, the two length runner up Call Me Jane travelled a distance total of 996.37m and Heritage Ridge travelled a distance total of 1000.11m, which says it all.
Heritage Ridge should be a warm order next time out.
Meanwhile, Reeves is preparing the Turf Talk Syndicate’s impressive winner on debut, the Riethuiskraal Stud-bred Duke Of Marmalade filly Garden Of Eden, for a crack at the Gr 2 Western Cape Filles Championship over 1400m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on November 9. She has always been held in high regard and it was only her ability that got her home on debut because she was very green.
Heritage Ridge and Garden Of Eden came in a package together and the syndicate members have had a lot of fun so far and excitement is building for the Gr 2 engagement on November 9.
The Turf Talk Syndicate horses are all chosen by Grant Knowles, one of the country’s most experienced and astute bloodstock agents, who has a knack for earmarking worthwhile horses and then landing one or two of them for value prices.
The Turf Talk syndicates’s William Longsword filly in whom shares are available (see advertisement above) will also be trained by Paul Reeves.
This filly is out of a six time-winning twice Listed-placed Bankable mare called banking April. That makes her a half-sister to the talented Brett Crawford-trained Donna Mo, who has had 17 starts for two wins, four seconds, five thirds, one fourth and one fifth and she is Gr 3 and Listed-placed and is merit rated 96.
William Longsword is one of the best value sires in the country at present, considering he has the like of Gr 1-winning Dyce and the exciting Gr 2-winning Back In Business running for him, as well as plenty of other hard-knocking sorts such as the promising 91-rated twice winner from four starts Willy Meet Again.
