Mon Petite Cherie (far side) gets up under Richard Fourie (Picture: Wayne Marks)
Graeme Hawkins (Gold Circle)
Richard Fourie has won more Feature races than he can possibly recount but seldom are his mounts ignored in the betting market and allowed to start at 16/1. But such was the case on Saturday when he partnered the Brett Crawford-trained Mon Petit Cherie to a narrow victory over Beware The Bomb (25/1) in the R450 000 Western Cape Fillies Championship (Gr2) over 1400m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth. The shock outcome, coupled with a few earlier reversals, resulted in a massive Bipot dividend of more than R53 000.
Mon Petit Cherie lagged towards the rear as the field swung for home but, weaving a passage down the inside rail, Fourie timed his effort to perfection and the Ridgemont-bred 3yo daughter of Rafeef had just enough in reserve to hold out a late dive from Beware The Bomb by a whisker, with Symphony In White and race favourite Gimmie’s Countess both within half-a-length of the winner in a blanket finish.
Mon Petit Cherie is raced in partnership by Ridgemont and Hollywood’s Brand and Communications Manager, Devin Heffer, and Craig Kieswetter was on hand to greet their Grade 2 winner, whose dam by Galileo has already produced the dual Listed Stakes winner Capitana, former winner of the Laisserfaire Stakes which coincidentally was also featured on Saturday’s card. No doubt the Mon Petit Cherie team will be looking forward to the 1600m World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas (Gr1) on 7 December with great anticipation and excitement.
Beware The Bomb, a big strong well put-together daughter of Lancaster Bomber, was the standout in the preliminaries and her narrow defeat did not do her prospects of being a major force in the Guineas any harm. On the other hand, Symphony In White, who was beaten with every chance, appeared to have come to the end of her run inside the last 50m and the jury is out as to whether the Guineas trip will be within her compass.
As for Gimmie’s Countess, she was dropped out to the back of the field from her wide draw and turned for home with a mountain to climb. Whereas Fourie elected to go inwards on Mon Petit Cherie, Craig Zackey gave Gimmie’s Countess a clear path on the outside and the regally bred daughter of Gimmethegreenlight was closing hand-over-fist inside the final 200m, only to run out of real estate. Dean Kannemeyer will naturally be hoping for a kinder barrier position in the Guineas and the longer home stretch on the Summer course should also be in her favour.
Natural light-weight jockey, Josh Solomons, was seen to good advantage, getting his pace-setting fractions absolutely right and leading from pillar to post on the Justin Snaith-trained Daimyo (11/2) in the R225 000 Woolavington Stakes (Listed) over 2500m. Using his low mass of 50kgs to best advantage, Daimyo kept going resolutely in the home straight and was never in danger of defeat. Love Is A Rose and Holding Thumbs came out the chasing pack to fill the Exacta and Trifecta positions, with Call To Unite a rather one-paced fourth. The favourite and top weight Future Swing, conceding as much as 10kgs to the winner, was staying on from the back of the field without ever posing a threat. However, Future Swing remains on target for a crack at the R500 000 New Turf Carriers Western Cape Stayers (Gr3) over 2800m at the end of January, when the highly-rated 5yo son of Futura will be much better treated by the conditions of the race.
Miss Marguerite (16/1) had not won for 506 days but she made full use of a light weight to take out the R225 000 Laisserfaire Stakes (Listed) over 1100m following a protracted battle with Asiye Phambili (25/1) over the final 300m. Well handled by Ashton Arries and trained by Piet Steyn for a partnership which includes himself and Marsh Shirtliffe, Miss Marguerite was in receipt of a massive 10,5kgs from Asiye Phambili, but the latter gamely refused to go down without a fight and was only beaten a head at the post. Summer Lily, stepping back in trip and sporting blinkers for the first time, ran on strongly to finish a close third with both Nordic Quest and Southern Skies soundly beaten.
