First Wish makes it five from five for Fourie and clinches a four-timer for Alan Greeff (Pauline Herman Photography).
Richard Fourie won the first five races at the Fairview poly meeting on Friday and finished third when going for a possible SA record i.e. the winner of six successive carded races. Piere Strydom rode the Pick 6 once, but lost a match race that was carded in between the P6 races and which did not count for the P6. There have almost certainly been six successive rides and maybe more to have been won before, but pundits will need to search the results archives to see whether six successive carded races at a meeting have all been won by the same jockey before.
In the first race Fourie was aboard the original favourite, the Alan Greef-trained Gimmethegreenlight first-timer filly WalkOnTheWildSide, and in this 1200m event she flew up from nowhere with impressive long strides to pass the favourite Her Royalty late and win going away by 0,75 lengths at odds of 9/4.
In the next race over 1600m he took the race by the scruff of the neck on the Justin Snaith-trained 56/100 favourite Noodsberg (Vercingetorix) and she went further and further clear to win by 5,50 lengths from the battling maiden Accumulate.
In the third race, the Guineas Plate over 1600m, Fourie’s Greef-trained Fire Away colt My Best Shot has shown a lot of ability and had won four from nine, but was up against it on the form of his last start as he was 6kg worse off with Sakurajima despite having been beaten by 1,50 lengths by the latter over this course and distance. However, My Best Shot bounced back to his best and won by 3,25 lengths at odds of 18/10 from Play Act with Sakurajima only managing third.
In the fourth race over 1600m he took the Alan Greef-trained topweight Arabian Red (Heavenly Blue) to the front and kept her going to win by an easy 2,75 lengths at odds of 3/1.
In the fifth over 2000m the Greeff-trained First Wish (Master Of My Fate) had caught the eye when most unlucky two runs ago in a handicap over 1600m and had then finished a good fourth at 50/1 odds in the Fillies Guineas Plate. Fourie had her well back from a wide draw in the early stages but moved up appraoaching the final turn and she ran on well to win by a cosy half-a-length at 28/10 odds.
Fourie was then out to make it six carded races in succession, a feat which might not have been achieved in SA before, although this is just a guess.
Alas, the Alan Greeff-trained Heart Stealer (Time Thief) stayed on well at odds of 15/10 in the 2000m event but could not reach the easy winner, the Cliffie Miller-trained Roll Of The Dice, and was outstayed too by Harold The Duke.
