Picture: Beach Bomb makes it a fourth win and a second Gr 1 in just her sixth career start (Image: Wayne Marks)
Turf Talk
The Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Drakenstein Stud homebred Lancaster Bomber filly Beach Bomb is outdoing her famous five times Gr 1-winning mother Beach Beauty.
After just six career starts she is already a twice Gr 1 winner having added the Cartier Paddock Stakes on Saturday to her victory in the WSB Cape Fillies Guineas.
The Beach Beauty fairytale story is well documented, but probably not so well known is that she was a five-year-old mare when cracking her first Gr 1 victory.
Beach Beautry’s first crack at the Paddock Stakes turned out to be a nightmare for trainer Dennis Drier and connections.
The scratching of the mighty Igugu had left a field of just six and Beach Beauty started 9/10 favourite.
However, an absolute crawl in the early stages led to her fighting for her head and she was ultimately beaten half-a-length by the Brett Crawford-trained Thunderstruck. The time of that race told the story … 117 .74 seconds.
Beach Bomb’s time on Saturday at 113.16 seconds was not a fast time, but was still more than four seconds faster than that 2012 snail-paced debacle.
Beach Beauty’s first Gr 1 win was in fact in the 2013 Paddock Stakes as a five-year-old and she recorded the second fastest time in the race this century of 109.76 seconds.
She also won the 2014 Paddock Stakes.
On Saturday three-year-old Beach Bomb, in a history-repeating-like scenario, also faced a field of just six runners.
However, they included the Equus Horse Of The Year Princess Calla.
In her previous start she had come from a mile back to land the Cape Fillies Guineas, a result which had looked impossible when they turned for home.
However, on Saturday her feat of coming from last was probably an even greater accomplishment.
Bass-Robinson said, “The race didn’t suit her, they went so slow, so that was a very good win because she would have preferred a pace. Yet she still managed to go and peg Princess Calla back.”
She added, “She’s a very impressive little filly. For the little thing that she is, she’s very good that filly.”
Princess Calla started even money favourite.
Richard Fourie decided the pace was too slow in the early stages and took Princess Calla, who had thrown her head up early, around Love Is A Rose into second place where she sat one out and one back behind the slow fractions set by Royals.
At the 400m mark Fourie’s move looked likely to pay dividends because she was stretching nicely out in front and still looked to have a bit in hand.
However, Beach Bomb’s resolute effort took her within striking distance and Happy Chance was also making inroads on the inside.
Beach Bomb tended to hang inward away from the stick, which meant JP van der Merwe had to continually straighten her.
However, when she had finally drawn alongside the big mare he was able to give her two or three telling cracks late in the race and that saw her surging to get up by 0,30 lengths.
The new question was whether Fourie should have made that early move instead of keeping Princess Calla behind Love Is A Rose? She had also thrown her head up a little when last going over this trip in the Gr 1 HKJC World Pool Champions Cup, but the pace had been faster that day which allowed her to get cover and into a rhythm. Time will tell whether the six-year-old Flower Alley mare is in decline or not. She is entered in the WSB Met as well as the Gr 1 wfa Majorca Stakes over 1600m on the same day.
Beach Bomb will not follow in the footsteps of Drakesnstein Stud homebred Oh Susanna, who was trained by Justin Snaith to win the Met as a three-year-old.
Candice Bass-Robinson said she would run in the Majorca, although Drakenstein’s racing manager Kevin Sommerville said it had not been confirmed yet.
The Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas first and third Snow Pilot and Hluhluwe were beaten 5,90 lengths and 6,20 lengths respectively in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate. That confirmed the general opinion that the Cape three-year-old male crop is a touch below par this season and one wonders whether Drakenstein will also be eyeing the Gr 1 Splashout Cape Derby for Beach Bomb?
