Bolero wins in commanding fashion (Picture: Wayne Marks)
The Candice Bass-trained Rafeef colt Bolero was out at 33/1 at one point on Wednesday morning before shortening all the way in to 4/1 for the first race over 1200m, so it was not surprising Brandon Bailey’s words as he stretched past the line 0,75 lengths clear were, “And the gamble has been landed.”
However, he was actually a good form choice and as the old adage goes “form is always the best guide.”
This horse looked over-priced at opening odds of 14/1 and it is a wonder he drifted to such long odds, because a quick look at the form showed him to have finished an eight length fourth over 1200m on debut but his time was more than a second quicker than what Rust Never Sleeps ran on the same day over the same distance. Yet, the latter was priced up as the second favourite in the opening betting. Furthermore, Bolero had beaten a horse called Havoc by six lengths and the latter had gone on to run two decent races, finishing fourth and second respectively.
Bolero jumped well on Wednesday in his second career start and never really looked in danger of defeat as he used his big action in a relaxed manner under Athandiwe Mgudlwa to sit just off the pace before showing a fine turn of foot late and stretching past 25/1 longshot In The Air Tonight (Canford Cliffs) with 50/1 chance Cardinal King (What A Winter) next best.
The well-bred first-timer Wreath Of Snow, who is by Vercingetorix out of the top class Snowdance, started favourite at 9/4.
He should come on from his fourth place finish, in which he just pipped another first-timer Workingclasshero (Elusive Fort).
There was something wrong with the on course sound at the time of the interviews, so the words of Candice Bass after the race could not be heard,
Andrew Harrison of Race Coast wrote the below report on the meeting:
Athandiwe Mgudlwa does a lot of work for assistant trainer Terry Fripp in the Candice Bass satellite yard at Summerveld and he got the call-up for the stable at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth yesterday and got off to a flying start.
Bolero, backed in from 16-1 to 4-1 before the off, landed a gamble in fine style. Settled off a strong early pace, Mgudlwa was sitting with a double handful approaching the final furlong and once asked for maximum, Bolero strode clear to win comfortably with In The Air Tonight, always up with the pace staying on for second. Stable companion to Bolero, Cardinal King, blew the start by three or four lengths but finished strongly for third.
The regally-bred first timer Wreath Of Snow was in a somnambulist mood going to the start but showed good early toe and a mile and further could see the best of him.
Wreath Of Snow is a horse to follow and Justin Snaith stepped out another cracker in the form of Over My Shoulder in the second. A full sister to Eight On Eighteen, the word was out that she could run a bit and with Gavin Lerena getting the call-up, the writing was on the wall.
The filly appeared to be heady and over-racing in the early exchanges but Lerena has great hands and clarified post-race that she has a soft mouth, hence the impression that she was not settled. She is obviously a filly with some scope but the two who chased her home, Winter Blossom and Sabre Wing, were not disgraced with the balance of the field well beaten.
It was a boat race in the betting and a boat race on the track – the only difference was in the result of the first leg of the Pick 6. African Wild Dog was a short-priced favourite ahead of It’s Good It’s Nice but given that there was less than a neck separating them when last they met the betting did not tell the full story with African Wild Dog in the red and It’s Good It’s Nice easy to back around 3-1.
There was nothing in it again as the two fought out a protracted finish with It’s Good It’s Nice turning the tables and this time a head to the good.
Odds-on favorite African Wild Dog got ‘run over’ in the third but Lerena and Snaith were back in the winner’s box as short-priced favourite Odds And Evens had no trouble putting the opposition to bed in the fourth. Smartly out of her inside gate, Lerena took Odds And Evens to the front and was not for the catching as the filly stretched away from her rivals at the top of the straight to win as she liked.
After yesterday’s double for Candice Bass, Athandiwe Mgudlwa is likely to be a more frequent visitor to the Western Cape as he rode a driving finish aboard South Of France to edge out apprentice Dezahn Louw and Gin Palace. The pair came together a furlong out with South Of France appearing to be going the better and get her head in front. However, Gin Palace was not done and fought back and the photo rested on a nod of the heads. Mgudlwa has now fully recovered from his bad fall some months back and given that he can ride near the bottom of the handicap he would be a valuable asset to any stable.
Robert Barrett has only had his trainer’s brief for a few months but is already showing that he has what it takes to make it in a tough sport. Gold Index is a seven-year-old that won like a three-year-old as replacement rider Gavin Lerena got the gelding well placed from a wide gate and kick on to win comfortably for Lerena’s third winner of the afternoon.
There were a couple of hefty blows landed against the bookies yesterday, Bolero in the card opener and the Piet Botha-trained Avignon in the Class 5. In from 9-2 to start 14-10, he led all the way under an enterprising apprentice Dezahn Louw who was jointly led into the winner’s enclosure by his mother. Runner-up was the Snaith-trained Vericat with Lerena hunting his fourth winner of the afternoon.
Snaith had another productive afternoon as Lyrical Gangster rounded off a stable treble in the last. The result was up in the air over the final 200m with Cork Bay clinging to his lead with Gold Dust challenging hard but once Lyrical Gangster saw daylight between the two he quickened through to win going away from Gold Dust and Cork Bay.
