Mocha Frappe holds on under Kaidan Brewer (JC Photos)
There were no races of a high class at the Vaal today (Wednesday), but one horse who could progress in to a decent sort is the Alec Laird-trained Nick Jonsson-owned The United States colt Mocha Frappe.
He made his fourth career start today in a Maiden Plate over 1400m.
He had caught the eye as a juvenile, beaten 3,75 lengths on debut over 1160m in a race won by Pure Predator with Barbaresco second, two horses who are now rated 116 and 109 respectively.
In his next start he caught the eye staying on to be beaten 1,05 lengths over 1450m having jumped from a wide draw.
However, he was then laid off for ten months.
He likely needed his comeback over 1400m, but was still disappointing as he did not make much progress from off the pace and was beaten 9,25 lengths over 1400m by Salute The Flag, a former Cape horse who is no slouch.
Laird decided to put a pair of blinkers on today obviously to help him get into the race quicker.
The headgear saw him taking a good hold and after a slowish start he pulled himself into the leading line without overdoing it.
He stayed on well after hitting the front a long way out.
Kaidan Brewer confirmed they had always held him in good regard and hoped he could now go on to better things with the win out of the way.
He is unlikely to be punished for the half-a-length victory in a moderate field so might be able to go through the divisions if living up to his potential.
Mocha Frappe is out of a Western Winter sprinter, so it is not clear how far he will go, but The United States is by Galileo and won a Gr 1 over 2000m and a Gr 2 over both 1600m and 2500m, so he will likely get middle distances.
Jonsson is the most successful individual owner in the country and lies third on the national owners log behind Drakenstein Stud and the Hollywood Syndicate. He also owns horses in partnerships, including R7.5 million Gold Rush winner Rapidash. If all the horses he had in partnerships were included in his total stakes earnings he would not be far off the owners championship leaders Drakenstein Stud.
Jonsson is a horseman in his own right and seldom seems to have one who doesn’t have the potential to progress into something either top class or decent.
He also has the useful Listed-runner up Silvano filly Sukhumvit with Laird. However, she did unforunately have to be scratched from the recent Wilgerbosdrift Bridget Oppenheimer SA Oaks.
