Princess Of Gaul was an impressive winner of the Gr 2 Western Cape Fillies Championship last time out (Picture: Wayne Marks)
Dean Kannemeyer has an enviable Cape Guineas record with six wins, but he has never won the Cape Fillies Guineas before.
However, he has a plethora of good three-year-old fillies this season and has four runners in Saturday’s Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas.
He said about the third favourite, the Vercingetorix filly Princess Of Gaul, “I think Princess Of Gail is a very good filly. The only time she got beat she couldn’t get a run in the Dianne Stakes. And then she won the Grade 2 Western Cape Fillies Championship. very, very well. There’s a lot of speed on her female line, so there’s a question mark on whether she will get a mile. But she’s a lovely filly and she’s doing very, very well. She’s well drawn and we’ll put her to the test. She has earned her stripes, but obviously there are some good fillies in the Fillies Guineas. The Fillies Guineas is always a good race, but you also need a lot of luck in it, the first 300 to 400m of the race can be rough. But Princess Of Gaul is in good shape.”
He said about The United States filly Keukenhof, “She been a bit of an unlucky filly. She was drawn wide in the Diana Stakes and only got into the race in the last 250m and was flying up on the outside. And in some of her Durban races she was flying up from bad draws. Now she has got the widest draw of all. But it is a long straight.”
He continued, “Tulip Fields (Vercingetorix) is running off an 88. It’s a big jump in class, so it is a big test for her.”
He said about One World filly Educator, “You can ignore her last race. She could ‘t get a run in the straight. She’s had a few bad luck races. She is off a 93, so it’s also a big test for her. But she is doing well.”
The general view of this year’s race is that with Golden Palm in the race everybody else is running for second.
However, if Princess Of Gaul does see out the trip she could be a threat and she is rated a 7/1 chance with the sponsor to do it.
She is drawn three and Craig Zackey rides.
Keukenhof is drawn 12 out of 12 with Callan Murray up and she is a 16/1 shot.
Her powerful finish has been eyecatching and she has a fine chance of running in the first three.
Educator has Luyolo Mxothwa up from draw six and she is a 35/1 chance. She represents value considering she had nowhere to go last time when beaten 5,70 lengths by Reet Petite, to whom she was giving 3kg. She might have finished right on top of the latter with a clear run and the latter is second favourite for Saturday’s race at 3/1.
Tulip Fields is drawn four with Muzi Yeni up and is the biggest outsider in the field at 70/1.
