Turn It Up Absent From Gold Medallion Entries, Haute Couture’s There

Haute Couture impressed on debut at Turffontein Standside on Sunday and is duly an entry in the Gr 1 Gold Medallion

The most notable absentee among big race entries for the Hollywooodbets Scottsville Festival Of Speed meeting to take place on May 23 was the crack Sean Tarry-trained colt Turn It Up, although the horse viewed as his chief protagonist, the Vaughan Marshall-trained Rich Man’s World, was among the entries and so was the new kid on the block, the Mike and Mathew de Kock-trained Haute Couture, who was ultra impressive on debut at Turffontein Standside on Sunday.

The Rafeef colt Haute Couture ran out a 10,5 length winner under Callan Murray in a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1000m and he looks the part.

Haute Couture comes from the family of the Mike de Kock-trained Equus Horse Of The Year Ilha da Vitoria. He himself is out of a one-time-winning Var mare called Isle De France, who is in turn out of Ilha da Vitoria’s Gr 2 SA Oaks-winning daughter Ilha Bela.

The way he won it was no surprise to see him as an entry in the Gr 1 Gold Medallion for which first entries were today (Monday).

The Gold Medallion is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated races of the season with the exciting Rich Man’s World being among the entries. However, it was most disappointing to not see the crack colt Turn It Up among the entries. Nevertheless, Haute Couture’s entry keeps the race interesting as a contest.

Also from the Turffontein Sunday meeting, the De Kock-trained Rafeef filly Flower Island is now unbeaten in two starts after winning the 4Racing SA Sales Cup for fillies over 1160m under Callan Murray by an easy two lengths from the Mano Pandaram-trained Kavady.

Both horses are among the Allan Robertson entries at the Festival Of Speed meeting, although that race is now a Gr 2. They join the like of the Sean Tarry-trained Gr 3 Pretty Polly Stakes winner Get Up among the entries.

The Fabian Habib-trained Gimmethegreenlight colt Gimme Some Luck beat the Bo Ngcobo-trained SA Nursery winner Better Never Ends in the 4Racing Sales Cup over 1160m on Sunday, ridden by Muzi Yeni. The favourite Heath House did not quite see out the trip, not surprisingly considering his exceptional speed, and he lost his unbeaten record in third place. Only Better Never Ends is among the Gold Medallion entries of the first three in that race.

Meanwhile, champion mare Double Grand Slam is entered in the Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint and will try and exact revenge on title holder Mia Moo after suffering terrible luck when unplaced in last year’s race.

The Gr 2 Golden Horse Sprint has a number of interesting entries, including Gr 1 winner Cosmic Speed, useful three-year-old One Eye On Vegas and last year’s winner Tenango.

The entries are shown below: