The Gareth van Zyl-trained Money Heist carried 2,5kg overweight in his race on Sunday and lost by a hair’s breadth.
“He’s a serious horse,” said part-owner, the International Racing Club’s João da Mata following Money Heist’s narrow defeat at Greyville on Sunday.
“Let’s put it into perspective. He ran a cracker carrying 2,5kgs over. Piere didn’t punish him. The time of our race was faster than the other 1600m races on the card.”
Trainer Gareth van Zyl Racing commented: “He moved up, looked like he was going to win the race and then just tapped off a fraction of a percentage to get beat on the line. Piere said Money Heist gave him two kicks, ordinary horses don’t do that. So I’m sad but also happy, he would have won by 2-1/2 lengths on paper if he didn’t carry over the allocated weight, and this would have looked all the more impressive.”
Joao, Gareth and part-owner Krish Nagendran made a decision for Piere Strydom to ride Money Heist 2,5kg over – since he will be partnering the Gimmethegreenlight colt during his Cape campaign, with the Concorde Cup a possibility into the Grade 1 R2.5 million Cape Guineas. This was a good start for Striker to get the feel of him.
