Isivunguvungu has never got out of the habit of taking a strong hold in his races, which is why he has always been at his most effective over 1000m and this was despite the efforts of his first trainer Peter Muscutt to teach him to settle. Graham Motion has obviously known of his antic and likely took measures to get him to settle too.
There were a few who were critical of jockey Christophe Soumillon for not taking advantage of Isivunguvungu’s good start by siezing the inititiative, as the horse has enjoyed doing over 1000m in the past. However, settling him in behind the leading line rather than trying to lead all the way with a horse who takes the aforementioned strong hold looked to be the thinking. In his last start in America he settled fairly well off the pace, but that was over 1000m where the pace is naturally faster.
As it happened on Saturday the writing was soon on the wall for Isivunguvungu because the Hollywood Racing-owned stalwart soon started overracing after slotting in behind Marbaan, who was facing daylight and was prominent.
Isivunguvungu duly found nothing late and trailed in last of the ten finishers.
In retrospect it might have been better to let him go to the front, because he did settle well in the front in the Gr 1 Mercury Sprint over 1200m in July 2023 when fighting back late to get up under Richard Fourie.
However, the Mercury Sprint was around the turn and is a whole different ball game to leading from start to finish over 1200m down the straight against some of the world’s best.
Nevertheless, Motion said afterwards, “He was quite sharp on the day and perhaps in hindsight it might have proven a better option that we should have let him go on. He didn’t seem to appreciate being taken back. He had to check a little bit and emptied out after that. He will be very competitive back home.”
Christophe Soumillon said, ““I was in a good position but he didn’t quicken.”
They will have both had it confirmed for them that Isivunguvungu is better over 1000m and prefers having daylight in front of him.
Considering his Breeders Cup run and this run it also has to be questioned whether he is quite up with the world’s best.
J J The Jet Plane was in a class of his own back in South Africa before going on to win races like the Al Quoz twice and the Gr 1 Hong Kong Sprint. He won the Golden Horse Sprint with topweight as a three-year-old by 2,25 lengths and won the Mercury Sprint by four lengths.
Isivunguvungu’s SA form just can not compare to that.
Another SA-bred who won the Al Quoz, Shea Shea, also departed for Dubai on the top of some scintillating form, winning the Computaform Sprint by 2,25 lengths despite the field containing the like of champion What A Winter.
On the other hand Isivunguvungu did not have adequate preparation time between quarantine and the Breeders Cup Sprint and he was unlucky in that race too, so he might yet prove himself up with the best in the world.
He couldn’t be in better hands if he is to still find improvement.
