Gimme A Prince has his second run after a layoff of nearly a year on Saturday. (Picture: Wayne Marks)
Dean Kannemeyer has a proud record in the Cape Summer season, which is now officially called Cape Racing’s Cape Summer Festival Of Racing, and his Gimmethegreenlight trio of Green With Envy, Gimme A Prince and Gimmie’s Countess will be the trio he will chiefly be looking at to bring the yard more Gr 1 silverware.
All three horses are homebreds of Lady Christine Laidlaw’s Khaya Stables.
Green With Envy, who was the Equus Champion Three-year-old male last year, has not run since finishing a disappointing 2,60 length seventh in the Hollywoodbets Durban July.
The race panned out terribly from draw five and he got caught too far back, so had little chance of making up the deficit through traffic.
Dean backed off him after the July and “just played with him and kept him ticking over”.
He will come back in the WSB Green Point Stakes over 1600m on December 7 before lining up in the L’Ormarins King’s Plate and the WSB Met.
Dean said Green With Envy had been doing very well and confirmed, “All is good with him.”
Gimme A Prince has his second run after a long layoff on Saturday at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth in the Gr 3 Cape Mile. He is merit rated 130 and carries 60kg, meaning he is easily best in at the weights. However, just like Gimmie’s Countess had to do last Saturday, he has to overcome the widest draw of all in the ten horse field.
Dean said, “Gimme A Prince is flying. I’m testing him over a mile on Saturday from a bad draw. He’s never gone a mile before, but he’s only ever run five times before over 1400m and they were all great runs. I ran him over 1400m the other day and he had only been back in training for not even two months and he ran a great race (following a layoff of just under a year). The only thing is I said to Jehan Malherbe and Lady Laidlaw of Khaya Stables, I’m going to run him in this race on Saturday because I think he will go a mile, but the race will tell. And the reason is I want to set him up for L’Ormarins King’s Plate. If he doesn’t stay then I can scrap the King’s Plate and concentrate on the sprint races. So that is what I am doing with Gimme A Prince. I’d like to have been better drawn, but he is well in at the weights, so the race should still tell whether he stays the mile or not. He’s a very good horse, he’s amazing. His legs always need a little bit of attention, that’s why he’s lightly raced. But I remember when giving Keagan (De Melo) a leg up for the Golden Horse Sprint a couple of seasons ago, saying to him, ‘This is a tough race!’ and he said to me, ‘Don’t worry this is the best horse in South Africa,’ and he duly gave Thunderstruck 6kg that day and beat him.”
Gimme A Prince lost out on the Equus Champion Sprinter award that season to Isivunguvungu, whom he beat when winning the Gr 1 Pongracz Cape Flying Championship, but then lost to him in the Gr 1 Mercury Sprint.
Thunderstruck was the Equus Champion Sprinter last season, which shows just how good Gimme A Prince is when at his best, considering he gave him 6kg and a beating.
Gimmie’s Countess is a full sister to Gimme A Prince.
She had a wide draw (12 from 12) to overcome last Saturday in the Gr 2 Western Cape Fillies Championship over 1400m and she failed by only 0,55 lengths to get up after producing a strong finish for an unlucky fourth place.
Dean said, “She ran a very good race, the winner went down the inside and she had to move out. The mile would probably be her maximum distance. Hopefully, she will draw well in the Cape Fillies Guineas and then we’ll see, but that will be the maximum trip she will go.”
The WSB Cape Fillies Guineas is on December and 7 and Gimmie’s Countess will be one of the favourites.
