Holding Thumbs progressed again on Saturday with a fine front-running victory. (Picture: Wayne Marks).
Graeme Hawkins (Gold Circle)
Holding Thumbs, an imposing 17-hands son of Vercingetorix, is maturing into a serious performer and KZN-based rider Sean Veale has struck up a solid partnership with the Glen Kotzen inmate. Sporting the black and white colours of Gary Player, Veale sent Holding Thumbs into the lead shortly after the start of the seventh race, the R185 000 Paarl Diamant Cape A Stakes over 2000m, and the well-supported favourite galloped resolutely all the way to the line to score comfortably. Call To Unite held on to second just ahead of an improved Nebraas to give Vercingetorix a stallion’s Trifecta.
Holding Thumbs, bred by Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein, has now won six of sixteen starts and his victory at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday boosted his career earnings to close on R600 000, with the prospect of more to come as the late developing 4yo gelding continues to go from strength to strength.
The opener, a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1000m, saw an impressive debut performance by Spacebound, a 2yo son of freshman sire Declarationofpeace, who raced away from his eight rivals to score emphatically by four lengths. Ridden by Richard Fourie for trainer Peter Muscutt, Spacebound (9/4) was a second juvenile winner for new owner Jordie Daniels, whose attractive purple and pink colours were carried to victory by Jordash a few days earlier.
The impeccably bred Dreamworld, trained by Vaughan Marshall, was sent out a firm 15/10 favourite to make a winning debut in the second race, a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1200m, and the 2yo son of One World showed good resolve to hold out the more experienced Good For You (20/1) by a little less than a length. The pair joined locked horns approaching the 400m marker, and it was only inside the final 75m that Dreamworld asserted his superiority under Sean Veale. Dreamworld races in the familiar blue and white silks of Ken Truter and was bred at the Avontuur Thoroughbred Farm.
Punters were again on the mark when Lhasa (8/10) ran out a comfortable winner of the third race, an Open Maiden (F&M) over 1200m, for the Candice Bass-Robinson/Aldo Domeyer combination. Lhasa was never in danger of defeat and had more than a length to spare over runner-up Cape Captain at the winning post.
Bass-Robinson and Domeyer were back in the winner’s enclosure 35 minutes later after Bright Gold fought (28/10) back bravely to deny Wehaveasituation (13/10) by a neck in the fourth race, an Open Maiden (F&M) over 1600m. Owned and bred by Drakenstein Stud, Bright Gold was full value for her win but will need to show further improvement to make her mark beyond the maiden ranks.
The scratching of firm ante-post favourite Victor Hugo threw the fifth race, a Maiden Plate over 1400m, wide open and it came as no surprise to see a minor upset as Bel Canto Dream (16/1) quickened well early in the stretch under Grant Van Niekerk and put the race to bed 300m from home. It was left to Konnichiwa (9/4) to do the chasing, but the substitute tote favourite was still more than two lengths in arrears at the line with the balance well beaten.
December Dawn, attempting four wins on the bounce, topped the betting boards for the eighth race, a Class 4 Handicap (F&M) over 1200m, but the rise in class proved her undoing and the well-supported Back At The George (5/1 into 28/10) was produced with a strong finishing effort by Craig Zackey to get the better of Shesgotclass and third-place dead-heaters, Little Miss Pink and Dark Winter. Zackey followed up in the ninth race, a Class 5 Handicap over 1200m, producing the Adam Marcus-trained Tambourine Man (5/1) with a well-timed finish to collar Trippi’s Silk (16/10) in the final few strides.
Empire State closed out the race meeting with a classy win in the tenth race, a Class 4 Handicap over 1100m, to complete a treble for Candice Bass-Robinson and Aldo Domeyer. Widely regarded as the nap-of-the-day, Empire State was sent off at the prohibitive odds of 5/10 and under a confident ride the 3yo son of Rafeef got the job done with a minimum of fuss.
