WSB Gold Rush Ticket Holder Rikesh Sewgoolam has two good Gold Rush horses, Time Fo Orchids and Ensuing, but their trainer Vaughan Marshall indicated the latter is likely to stick to his winning distance of 1200m.
Ensuing, a Laurence Wernars-bred William Longsword gelding, won well over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth yesterday carrying 61kg off an 84 merit rating in a MR 74 Handicap under Corne Orffer.
He sat off the pace at a good cruising speed and used his long stride to stay on well.
He has now won three of his last four starts.
The wins have come over trips of 1200m to 1250m.
In May he ran a 1,20 length second to the smart Royal Victory in a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Greyville, despite the blinkers being on.
However, Marshall said after today’s win that the yard appear to have found his right trip, as opposed to the 1400m and 1600m he had been tried over earlier.
Time Fo Orchids is in any case merit rated way higher than Ensuing and on 107 is at the top of the Gold Rush log.
The question is whether she will stay the Gold Rush 1600m trip, with her form indicating that 1400m is her best trip.
She did fade after moving up well in Saturday’s Grade 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas, but the Gold Rush will not be as strong and she should be able to be sat on for longer in that race.
The second and third horses behind Ensuing, the Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Charlie Malone (Querari) and the Gavin van Zyl-trained Quandary (Vercingetorix), are also eligible for the Gold Rush but have a mountain to climb to be considered as runners by any ticket holders.
