Hierarchy wins comfortably under Callan Murray (Picture: Candiese Lenferna)
The Duncan Howells-trained Erupt filly Hierarchy was the most impressive winner at the Hollywoodbets Scottsville meeting last Sunday and both she and the runner up, the Gr 1 World Pool Moment Of The Day Premiers Champion Stakes winner Erik Dubois (Erik The Red), have feature race campaigns ahead of them.
The four-year-old Hierarchy was officially 5kg better off with the second best weighted runner and 8kg better off with the third best, so started at generous odds of 4/1 in the Progress Plate over 1200m.
The odds were particularly generous when considering she had finished just 2,65 lengths back in fourth in the Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint over the same course and distance, a race which was won by her Champion stablemate Asiye Phambili.
Hierarchy was running in a compression mask for the first time.
Duncan said, “She has tended to want to over-race. We had a problem with that in Cape Town and we’ve now got her learning to relax a little bit more in races. That is why I actually put the compression mask on, because I felt there was not a lot of pace in the race.”
He explained, “The headgear works on pressure points on the head and just gets them to relax a little bit.”
He continued, “What I found with her is she jumps out and them just wants to race. She is too small to race like that.”
He added, “In the SA Fillies Sprint she raced with a bit of cover and finished well. That run in the SA Fillies Sprint was her second run after quite a long break and she possibly needed it a bit. She is also not an easy horse to train, you have to go very slowly with her, but if you pick her races, she will do well.”
Duncan had discussed tactics with Callan Murray and they had agreed to not go inward, but to rather hold position from the wide draw of six out of seven. Murray took it to an extreme, by keeping her way wide of the pack and he said afterwards he had done this to prevent her from over-racing when next to other horses.
She relaxed superbly whilst going at a high cruising speed and then displayed a superb turn of foot when asked the question that quickly put the race to bed.
She went on to win by 1,70 lengths from a running on Erik Dubois with Banff (The United States), having his second run for Frank Robinson, proving he is a horse to follow by finishing a 2,20 length third.
Duncan said he had initially mistaken Hierarchy for being a precocious horse who would not train on, whereas what she had shown early was actually due to ability, so that had worked against her last season.
He said, “Unfortunately when training Group level fillies it is very difficult to place them, because there is only one weight for age Gr 1 race.”
He continued, “She has run fourth in a Gr 1 already but I feel on Sunday’s run it looked like she had improved on what she had shown before.”
He added, “I’ve always thought she was a very good filly. She does not have the substance of a horse like Asiye Phambili and she’s taken a lot longer to mature.”
He said there might be a race or two for her in Johannesburg and they “will play it by ear.”
Duncan’s partner Cathy Rymill does the selecting for him at the Sales and she spotted this Avontuur-bred filly at the National Yearling Sale and Duncan had purchased her on behalf of Heinrich and Hester Kuhn for R400,000.
She is out of a mare by Windrush, who is known as a speed influence.
The mare, A Daughters Legacy, was a three-time Gr 3 winner from 1600m to 1800m and Hierarchy is a half-sister to Gr 2 Debutante winner A Womens Way (Var).
Erupt by Dubai has a stamina pedigree, but a lot of his progeny in SA are sprinters.
Duncan said he had trained a number of Erupts and said, “I have never had one who is useless. They are hard-knocking, sound horses.”
Meanwhile, Louis Goosen was very pleased with Erik Dubois’ comeback run.
He said, “He lengthened his stride beautifully in the final stages.”
He said, “We’re going to nominate him for the Spring Challenge and should we not run there we will go for the Graham Beck. Then it will be the Dingaans and then the Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas.”
Louis said that due to the Dingaans and Guineas being close together he would likely keep him in Jo’Burg for his campaign and then travel down from altitude in Johannesburg rather than going backwards and forwards between Durban.
However, he added that the draws he landed would also dictate the plan.
