Charles Dickens gets up to win the Gr 3 Hollywoodbets Matchem Stakes in his seasonal reappearance. It was his 9th career win from eleven starts. (Picture : Wayne Marks)
It takes a gifted horse to be caught wide in South African racing and still win, but the Candice Bass-Robinson-trained superstar four-year-old Trippi colt Charles Dickens did it on Saturday in his seasonal reappearance in the Gr 3 Hollywoodbets Matchem Stakes.
South African horse are trained to suit the way we tend to race, which is to go along at a steady pace and then sprint for home. Horses who are caught wide without cover tend to over race and perhaps it is because they have learned that being switched outward into space in the straight is a signal that it is time to speed up.
Charles Dickens is not a difficult ride, despite a sometimes awkward head carriage giving the impression he is pulling.
His draw of three on Saturday was always going to be tricky, because the natural front-runner After The Rain was drawn one inside of him, while the 1/5 favorite’s chief rival Gimme A Prince was drawn in pole and was likely to hold his position.
However, Aldo Domeyer decided to have Charles Dickens up there. It looked initially to have been a good plan because Royal Aussie came around him from a wide draw and he was likely going to have to sit outside of After The Rain, thus providing cover for Charles Dickens.
But it did not pan out like that because Craig Zackey, maybe by design, allowed Royal Aussie to slot in front of him. This meant there was a line of three on the rail with Charles Dickens caught out wide.
However, Charles Dickens showed he has a champion temperament, on top of his ability, by remaining relaxed.
His head did come up a bit, but trainer Candice Bass-Robinson has said before that he does not pull and rather just carries his head a bit awkwardly in the running sometimes.
Charles Dickens is probably at his most effective if left alone for as long as possible, because his exhilarating turn of foot can make up lengths in a matter of strides and if used to soon it will require him to dig down in the latter stages.
Domeyer left Charles Dickens alone until about the 250m mark, at which point he must have spotted Gimme A Prince out of the corner of his eye making a run inside of him.
Charles Dickens duly took off but Gimme A Prince showed his class by going with him.
Charles Dickens always looked to have the latter’s measure though and prevailed by 0,30 lengths.
It was a weight for age (W-F-A) plus penalties race, but the pair faced each other on wfa terms, both being Gr 1 winners.
Charles Dickens did hang inward and carried Gimme A Prince in a bit, but it was not an incident worthy of an objection and none was forthcoming.
Charles Dickens was defeated twice last season, the first being a narrow one in the Gr 1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate, a race which is notoriously difficult for three-year-old’s to win and, without taking anything away from the winner Al Muthana, he possibly had a couple of excuses too.
His other defeat was over 2000m in the Gr 1 Splash Out Cape Derby, where the distance might have been a touch too far as a three-year-old.
However, an obvious aim will be to see him undefeated this season and he has made a good start.
He is not a certainty to be tried over 2000m again, but the WSB Cape Town Met will obviously be a big temptation for the connections.
