Andrew Fortune points to the crowd as Tenango cruises home. (Candiese Lenferna Photography).
The Gr 2 Golden Horse Sprint at the Festival Of Speed meeting at Hollywoodbets Scotsville on Saturday gave Canford Cliffs a Gr 2 winner on the heels of his first Gr 1 winner and it was of a race that only lost its Gr 1 status this year.
The Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Ian Longmore homebred gelding Tenango, who is part-owned by Mark Bass, gave Andrew Fortune a second stakes win since his comeback in March, the other one being in the Gr 3 Champagne Stakes at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on this same horse.
There were concerns beforehand about Tenango’s high draw of 16 in the Golden Horse Sprint. On the other hand the inside going was a touch cut up. As it happened the strong horse Surjay broke well from draw 15 and travelled well throughout, so Andrew Fortune was able to get a nice tow from him. Tenango showed a tremendous turn of foot to hit the front. It was vintage Fortune in the closing stages as he came home pointing at the crowd and licking his lips. The four-year-old gelding cruised in by 1,20 lengths from O’Tenikwa with pacemaker King Of The Gauls beaten 2,70 lengths in third and Truth and Cruise Control next best.
Tenango was one of the most impressive winners of the day and the Gr 1 Mercury Sprint over 1200m around the Hollywoodbets Greyville turn is likely to be next on his agenda.
Since having a successful wind operation the gelding has had seven starts for five wins and two seconds.
ANDREW FORTUNE : “I woke up this morning and could just see God everywhere. I knew that in this comeback there would be a Grade 1 or 2 in it. I just knew and it’s coming. You’ve got to turn up for yourself … if you want to achieve in life, you’ve got to turn up. You’ve got to do things. Some mornings I’m tired and I don’t want to do it, but I go to work. Aldo has allowed me to take over the ride on this horse. There’re a couple of people who I thought would support me, but they’ve not, but the Bass’s were there to say, ‘ja, we’ll give you a go’. And look at this!”CANDICE BASS-ROBINSON : “I don’t have a lot to bring up to Durban as mostly have a lot of young horses. It’s nice to have a horse like this, especially with the way he’s improved over the last couple of months. Everything has just gone perfectly for him. Ever since he’s had a wind op, there’s been no stopping him. He’s improved with every run. That last feature race that he won in Cape Town, he did with such authority that I thought we had to bring him up to Durban. He hasn’t been to Scottsville, but he’s a consummate professional … he’s got a wonderful temperament and just takes everything in his stride. He’s got a wonderful turn of foot and couldn’t be happier with him. To Ian and Debbie … I had offers to sell him earlier on and I said to them, please not to sell him. Thank you to them for keeping him on. He definitely won’t stop where he is now. Andrew rode a perfect race on him. Earlier in the week I was worried about being drawn out wide, but he had a perfect horse to follow … he sat on him beautifully and produced him at the right time. Well done to everybody … it’s a great team effort. It’s a wonderful day here today.”IAN LONGMORE : “It’s definitely luck. I have to thank Syrilla Stud who gifted this mare to me. There was a toss up between Canford Cliffs and Potala Palace … so the flick of a coin it was Canford Cliffs. So it is luck and I’ll take it with both hands.”MARK BASS : “I think Ian is the luckiest owner. The only reason I‘m standing here today is because we played a round of golf a few weeks ago and Ian said, ‘why don’t you join the ride with me?’ So thank you Ian and Debbie. Well done to Canford Cliffs … I’ve always been a big fan of his and he’s had a Group 1 and 2 today.”