Picture : Silver Sword after earning a massive cheque at the York Ebor meeting with Greg Cheyne aboard (Rory Fraser Photography)
Former Summerveld-based Summer Cup-winning trainer Dylan Cunha continues to make waves in the U.K. where he has had eleven wins this season at a fine strike rate of 19%.
One of his winners has been the Charm Spirit gelding Silver Sword, who he has entered in a Listed race over a mile at Sandown on Wednesday (September 20) and this classy grey also holds an entry for the famous Bet365 Cambridgeshire over a mile and a furlong at Newmarket on September 30, which has a first prize of £103,080.
Dylan said, “He is flying. He’s come out of York well. I’ve got him in a Listed Race at Sandown on Wednesday. That is plan A if the ground stays good. If it rains we may look at the Cambridgeshire, but I’m not convinced it’s the right race for him.”
Silver Sword is an ante-post 20/1 for the Cambridgeshire, which has an entry of 75 horses and those odds make him the joint-seventh favourite.
Dylan has done wonders with this horse, especially considering he refused to race in both of his starts as a two-year-old.
First up as a three-year-old this season the grey cruised in by 3,25 lengths over a mile on the Southwell All Weather track under another South African ex-pat, Greg Cheyne.
He then ran a magnificent second in a big handicap over a mile and two furlongs at Epsom on Derby day, which earned him a cheque of £18,127.50.
He followed with another 3,25 length win over a mile at Pontefract.
He then finished seventh in a lucrative handicap over a mile and two furlongs at Goodwood.
Silver Sword then had his finest hour when winning a Heritage Handicap over a mile at the major York Ebor meeting, earning a massive cheque of £51,540 (R1,221,498).
His current official rating is 97.
Greg Cheyne has ridden him in all of his starts this season.
