Vaughan Marshall with his promising One World colt One Stripe (Picture: Wayne Marks)
It is over a decade since Vaugan Marshall won the Cape Derby with the 22/1 outsider Top Seller on Met day in 2011.
He also won the Cape Derby in 2021 with the top class Linebacker, although by that stage the big race had its own slot on the last Saturday of February.
He will come into this year’s Derby with a horse who, like Top Seller, also snuck under the radar on Met day and came close to causing a major shock.
Coastal Commader got in to the lucrative R7.5 million Gold Rush as a reserve runner and at odds of 100/1 jumping from draw 16 of 16 he was caught in the final stages and lost by a neck under a fine ride by Bernard Fayd’Herbe.
He will now be out to prove that effort was no fluke in the Gr 1 SplashOut Cape Derby at the SplashOut Cape Town Seafood & Jazz Racing Festival at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on February 24.
On the same day Marshall’s expensively purchased juvenile One Stripe will be out to earn black type before being put away in anticipation of big things as a three-year-old.
Vaughan was not surprised by Coastal Commander’s performance in the Gold Rush and described him as a very progressive type.
He said, “I thought he would run very well. The Derby has such a small nomination we will take our chances. We’ve just got to hope he goes the distance, I am sure he will.”
The one similarity he has with Top Seller is that he comes from a Northern Guest female line.
His dam Open My Eyes by Kahal won twice over 1600m and has produced four winners from five runners, including a stablemate by Pathfork called Look For Hounds, whose six wins have been from 1200m to 1400m, although he did place second in a Listed race over 1600m.
However, Coastal Command’s third dam Magnetic Field (Northfields) produced the Gold Cup winner Cereus, so there is some stamina in the female line.
Lancaster Bomber brings more stamina as a horse who won a Gr 1 over 2100m.
Coastal Commader’s run in the Gold Rush nearly turned in to the fairytale story of the season.
Durbanite Kenneth Pillay of Kestorm Investments bought a slot from one of the holders who did not have a suitable horse, because his promising Storm Brasco looked to have a chance.
Alas, the day before the horse was set to travel from Randjesfontein there was a confirmed case of African Horse Sickness in the vicinity and he was not allowed to travel.
This left Kenneth with no option but to make a deal with the owners of one of the three reserves.
Coastal Commander was the first reserve. Kenneth and Jane Truter were never going to consider buying the slot because the horse was going to inherit draw 16 out of 16 and he was also officially the lowest rated horse in the field.
However, an agreement was reached on a cut of the stakes that was fair to both parties.
In the race Coastal Commander was wide in the running but settled well and ran on well down the outside in the straight and hit the front 200m out. However, Rapidash caught him 100m out and stayed on strongly to consign the Marshall yard to second place in the lucrative race for the second year running.
It was a fine day for Marshall and Fayd’Herbe, because they also went close to landing a shock win in the Met with Rascallion.
Vaughan said Rascallion would not be traveling to KZN to have another crack at the July.
“We’ve had two cracks and that’s enough,” he said.
He will instead run him in the Cape Racing winter series, which is open to all horses these days.
Vaughan’s eye for a horse had been proven time and time again, but it is unusual to see him involved in the purchase of a seven figure horse at the sales.
He landed the sales topper at the Cape Racing Sales Ready To Run and Unbroken 2YO Sale last October, going to R1.4 million to buy a colt called One Stripe, who is by the horse he trained to Met glory, One World.
He said about the purchase at the time, “He’s a very nice mover and a very nice specimen. He certainly did the best work I’ve ever seen at a Ready To Run.”
His intuition looks likely to be correct again because One Stripe, after a satisfying debut over 1000m, won by six lengths second time out over 1200m.
He is now going for the Gr 3 Cape Of Good Hope Nursery over 1200m at the SplashOut Cape Town Seafood & Jazz Racing Festival.
The exciting thing about One Stripe is he has plenty of speed despite there being a lot of stamina in his pedigree.
His dam Silver Stripe is by stamina influence Silvano. Her three wins were from 2200m to 2450m, including the Listed Spook Express Handicap.
Furthermore, Silver Stripe is a full-sister to Gifted For Glory, who won the Gr 3 Winter Derby over 2400m, beating the classy subsequent Gr 1 Gold Challenge winner King Of Pain who also later won the Gr 3 Chairman’s Cup over 3200m.
Gifted For Glory also won over 2800m.
So the pedigree looks stout at first sight.
However, there is also plenty of speed in the female line of One Stripe. His second dam is Badger’s Gift (Badger’s Drift), who won the Gr 1 Paddock Stakes but was also precocious and quick enough to win over 1200m as a juvenile and again over that trip as a young three-year-old and she won three times in her career over 1400m.
There is also the like of Matrchem Stakes winner Emcee in the pedigree and also Superior Service, who won the Listed Somerset Plate over 1200m as a juvenile and later finished second to Flight Alert in the Cape Guineas.
Furthermore, One World might have won the Met, but he was by the great Marshall-trained speed influence Captain Al. One World was in fact ultra effective over 1400m and won three races as a juvenile, including the Listed Langerman over 1500m.
It is exciting times for the Vaughan Marshall yard and for the owner of the Drakenstein Stud-bred One Stripe, Rikesh Sewgoolam.
