Can the Hollywoodbets Durban July winner The Real Prince add the prestigious Gr 1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate to his already impressive record? (Picture: Wayne Marks)
Dean Kannemeyer will be out to add to the yard’s success in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate and has a good chance of doing so with The Real Prince.
The Kannemeyer yard won the prestigious weight for age mile twice with Free My Heart in December 2000 and December 2002 respectively and they won it again in January 2014 with Capetown Noir, who like The Real Prince was owned by Lady Christine Laidlaw’s Khaya Stables, although he was bred by Lammerskraal Stud.
Dean said about the Khaya Stables homebred Gimmethegreenlight gelding The Real Prince, “I have had to prepare him and strip him in a very different way to how I did it for the July, where we were avoiding racing him to avoid all penalties. It all worked out for us in the July and then after he was beaten into second in the Champions Cup I gave him a rest. I did enough work with him to run a nice type of race in the Green Point. But I knew I had to leave something to work with, because I still had the King’s Plate and of course The Met coming up. I was very happy with his performance in the Green Point. It was a little bit of an odd-run race from the point of view of the pace up front. The winner Dave The King is a very good horse, but it all went his way. When you take him out of it, suddenly they all finish in a line together. The Real Prince was only beaten 2,50 lengths and is now 2kg better off than some of the horses in that race.”
The Real Prince will face Dave The King on the same terms, but will be 2kg better off with Garrix for a 2,20 length beating, 2kg better off with See It Again for a 2,15 length beating, 1kg better off with Sail The Seas for a 1,75 length beating, 2kg better off with Sugar Mountain for a 1,35 length beating, 2kg better off with Jet Force for a 0,60 length beating, 2kg better off with Questioning for a neck beating, on the same terms with Cosmic Speed whom he beat by 0,45 lengths and on the same terms with Gladatorian whom he beat by 0,75 lengths.
Furthermore, he would have come on well from the race.
Dean added, “I took him to Kenilworth last Tuesday and galloped him over 800m. I just had to give him a bit of short fast work just to sharpen him up, because he was pretty ring rusty when he went into the Green Point Stakes. He’s lost the speed he used to have when he was a younger horse and I’ve just sharpened him up a little. So, I think he’ll come on with that gallop. So, all is good with him. He’s looking very well and he’s doing well. And then, of course, his next race after Saturday will be the Met, but if all goes well, he’s had plenty of work to run a big race on Saturday.”
The Real Prince is drawn six out of the 14 runners and Dean said he would always prefer “to be closer to the paint”.
He mentioned Jan van Goyen , Eight On Eighteen, Sail The Seas, See It Again and Garrix among the opposition and said, “It’s going to be a wonderful King’s Plate.”
He might have left out the like of Gladatorian, Fire Attack and Cosmic Speed when singling out the opposition, but he concluded by saying, “Bad horses don’t win the classics and bad horses don’t win Gr 1 weight for age races. Bad horses don’t win the King’s Plate.”
Dean has three runners in the Gr 1 Cartier Paddock Stakes, 119-rated Red Palace (Potala Palace), 105-rated three-year-old Keukenhof (The United States) and 108-rated Give Me Everything.
He said about Red Palace, who was the runner up in this race last year to the champion Double Grand Slam, who is once again the favourite, “Red Palace was travelling exceptionally well in her last race, but she stopped to nothing. It was her second run back after a rest, but it was nevertheless a very disappointing run. We did suspect that something had gone wrong, but we trotted her out after she had cooled down and she was beautiful. We could not find anything wrong with her. So, I’ve just kept her fresh since that run.”
He said about the up and coming Keukenhof, “If you look at all her form in Durban and in Cape Town, she’s always flying up. In the early parts of the race she is just out of her ground and then flying up. And I think what didn’t suit her last time (in the Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas) is that it was a very slow-run race. I said to Callan just commit and drop in, because I don’t want to chase her in case they go. And he actually had her three-quarters of the way back, but they were slowing it down and he didn’t want to go around three wide. So it became a sprint up the straight and she suddenly got going in the last third of the race, so she finished it off well. On what I saw last time she’ll get the 1800m trip and she’s nicely drawn (two). Her last few runs have been good and she’s knocking on the door. If she’s going to be good enough in the Paddock Stakes class, we’ll see, but she does get her weight for age allowance and only carries 54kg.”
He said about Give Me Everything, “She needed her last two starts. If you look at the weights and the ratings, she’s a bit out, but she’s earned her stripes and we’ll also put it to the test and see how good she is.”
He runs the crack three-year-old filly Princess Of Gaul, whose five career starts include two Gr 2 victories, in the Gr 2 Cartier Sceptre Stakes over 1200m.
He said, “In the Cape Fillies Guineas they went slow and she quickened well and 300 out looked like she was going to win it, but then she went up and down the last bit. I think she’s more of a 1200m-1400m filly. It’s a very competitive race, but I think she’s going to love the 1200 at Kenilworth.”
He was full of praise for his Gr 1 World Pool Cape Flying Championship (1000m) runner Outlaw King, who defended his crown in the Gr 2 Splashout Cape Merchants last time.
He said, “This weight for age sprint is a different ball game and he would be more comfortable over 1200m, nut he is as tough as nails and you can never exclude him.”
