The Real Prince digs deep to repel Questioning (Picture: Wayne Marks)
The sectional timing of the L’Ormarins King’s Plate appears to show that the horse who could be deemed to be the true pacemaker, Sail The Seas, went at a pace that allowed the best horses in the race to run to their best. The best were also fitter than they had been in the Gr 2 Ridgemont Green Point Stakes and that also helped.
The reason Sail The Seas can be deemed to be the true pacemaker is that in both the Gr 2 Ridgemont Green Point Stakes and the Gr 1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate the bulk of the field were stacked up behind him and there was a gap ahead of him to the leaders.
Sail The Seas’ first six 200m sectional times in the Green Point Stakes were 14.65 seconds, 11.76 seconds, 12.48 seconds, 12.35, 12.14 and 11.58.
In the King’s Plate his first six times were faster in every instance and were 14.27, 11.53, 12.08, 11.77, 11.61 and 11.32.
He paid the price for going faster, because in the Green Point his last two sectionals were 11.53 and 12.42 whereas in the King’s Plate they were 11.90 and 12.62.
Every single one of the The Real Prince’s sectional times were faster in the King’s Plate than it was in the Green Point, meaning trainer Dean Kannemeyer had him tuned to perfection and he was able to run a highly efficient race and win it.
His most notable sectional time was his quickest one between the 600m and 400m, a time of 11.15 seconds, which shows his exceptional turn of foot.
He had many lengths to make up at that time and Craig Zackey made the correct decision to start chasing.
The Real Prince managed to run every single section in the King’s Plate at a faster than average time (except for the first sectional when eased back on to the rail), showing just what an efficient race Craig Zackey rode and what a good horse the Gimmethegreenlight gelding is.
A sectional that reads 90% is exceptionally fast as it is 90% of the average time for that section.
A sectional that reads 100% is identical to the average time and if it is above 100 it is slower than average.
The Real Princes’s sectional times in the Green Point and his percentages were 15.07 (120), 11.99 (95), 12.67 (101), 12.22 (97), 11.90 (94), 11.32 (90), 11.47 (91) and 12.55 (100).
His sectionals in the King’s Plate were 14.95 (119), 11.39 (90), 12.07 (96), 12.00 (95), 11.66 (93), 11.15 (89), 11.37 (90) and 12.43 (99).
It is interesting to note that Dave The King’s time for the Green Point, in which he more or less shared the lead and just held on from a blanket of fast-finishing horses, was actually slower than his time in the King’s Plate, where he finished a 9,50 length 13th.
He went fast in both races, so was going to pay the price in the straight.
However, in the King’s Plate he went significantly faster than he had in the Green Point, so his sectionals in the entire straight were going to suffer.
However, the key is that Sail The Seas had maintained more or less the same gap to him than he had in the Green Point, so had also gone faster, and this meant the best horses could come into the straight with some momentum and their superior engines were going to have an impact as opposed to sprinting after a horse who still had some reserves.
To highlight Dave The King’s race when winning the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge his percentages were 118, 93, 95, 98, 99, 96, 92, 98.
His sectionals in the Green Point were 91, 96, 98, 94, 92, 96, 104.
However, his sectionals in the King’s Plate were 90. 91, 90, 93, 94, 101, 111.
It is clear jockey Ryan Munger went too fast and Dave The King was a sitting duck in the straight for top class horses.
The biggest disappointment of the race, Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas winner Jan van Goyen, sat in joint second behind Dave The King, a few lengths behind, but found little in the straight.
His Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas percentages were 111, 89, 98, 99, 101, 92, 92, 99.
His King’s Plate percentages were 114, 90, 94, 93, 91, 91, 99, 110.
It is clear he also went at fractions that were going to be difficult to maintain and he finished a 9,10 length 12th .
The question though is why was the lowest rated horse in the race, the 113-rated Legal Counsel, able to produce better sectionals in the straight than the twice Gr 1 winner Jan Van Goyen despite them having been together in the running.
The country’s most traveled trainer Corne Spies once observed, “Going from the altitude to the sea is advantageous due to the increased oxygen content of the air. However, if the horses stay at the coast after their runs they tend to go flat. It would take six weeks to two months to acclimatise and they would then begin to thrive.”
So going too fast and being flat could explain Jan Van Goyen’s disappointing run.
Highveld horses going flat in Cape Town after their first outings has been seen before with all of Hawwaam, Malmoos, Tail Of The Comet, Queen Supreme and Buy And Sell being examples of horses who disappointed in their second Cape Town start and there must be plenty of others.
When raiding Durban, horses are able to return to the Highveld before their next Durban start to keep the advantage of training at altitude instead of going flat by staying at the coast, but obviously the same can’t be done from Cape Town due to the distance of the journey.
Questioning was a short-head runner up in the King’s Plate and his sectional times and percentages were 14.71 (117), 11.78 (94), 12.23 (97), 11.83 (94), 11.67 (93), 11.18 (89), 11.31 (90), 12.30 (98).
Vaughan Marshall had him in magnificent shape, especially considering his status of never having previously quite produced his best over further than 1400m. He was a neck ahead of The Real Prince in the Green Point, but was 2kg worse off in the King’s Plate.
He might have run an even more efficient race than The Real Prince, considering his stamina question marks and that he was faster than The Real Prince in the last two sectionals, although The Real Prince did have to negotiate some traffic.
The Real Prince’s stamina capacity might have enabled him to find the extra necessary to repel Questioning.
The fastest final sectional was third-placed See It Again’s 12.08 (96) with seventh-placed Gladatorian second fastest in 12.18 seconds.
They join The Real Prince, Sail The Seas and Eight On Eighteen, who finished a 4,25 length eighth in the King’s Plate, as lively candidates for the Gr 1 WSB Met.
