“If that didn’t give you gooseflesh, I don’t know what you were watching!” enthused 4Racing’s Nadine Low Ah Kee in response to three-year-old Golden Palm’s breath-taking win in the Listed Racehorse Owners Association Stakes over 1600m at Fairview.
Race caller Naqeeb Munshi exclaimed, “You can’t put a price on perfection!”
They were both 100% right. Every individual on course, and racing fans at home, expected Golden Palm to deliver another noteworthy performance, but this was even better than expected. She displayed her trademark lightning turn of foot and sped away to win by 6.75-lengths, wholly unextended. She is the real deal, for sure, so good she’s scary, and trainer Alan Greeff’s post-race assessment that he ‘knows what he has left to work with’, means that he is yet to get to top end of this 12-cylinder racing machine.
Jockey Richard Fourie was as complimentary as English in its well-spoken form allows. He said: “Golden Palm was breath-taking, scintillating. She’s a star. I don’t have much more to say.” He noted that she was still green and “looking around at everything”, but professional all the same, suggesting that he was tempted to put the pedal down when she changed gears at the 250m-mark, but chose to take a soft hold in favour of enjoying his already thrilling ride.
Greeff confirmed that Golden Palm was Cape-bound, with the Grade 1 Fillies Guineas on the rader, and expressed the hope that he could pick the right races so that he can keep Golden Palm and his other two champion fillies, Direct Hit and Anotherdanceforme, apart.
Racing is known for being the great leveller, and many a word has been eaten by many an expert, but Golden Palm could be a filly of a lifetime, and every minute spent watching her will make a memory etched in pure gold. Long may these great moments last that we are privileged to witness.
Photo: Pauline Herman.
