Main Defender easily winning the Gr 1 Wilgerbosdrift HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes over 1600m, but will he see out the 2000m trip of the Betway Summer Cup. (JC Photos)
Main Defender has drifted in the Betway Summer Cup betting and is not getting much airtime from the pundits and it has all got to do with him having stamina doubts.
The same is not being said about his close relative Atticus Finch and it also must be remembered that his paternal half-brother Royal Victory was thought at one stage to have stamina limitations, but is now a twice Gr 1 winner over the tough Turffontein 2000m trip.
Main Defender’s detractors are pointing at him hitting the front in the Gr 3 Betway Victory Moon Stakes over 1800m and then being overtaken again by the horse he passed, Greeting My Master.
However, he was giving the latter 11kg and would not have been at his absolute peak with the Summer Cup still to come.
He had traveled like the Main Defender of old in the running, supremely relaxed and had moved up exceptionally well.
He was enitled to need it a touch and failed to beat a progressive horse to whom he gave 11kg.
However, he gave last year’s Victory Moon winner Atticus Finch 8kg and a three length beating.
In the Summer Cup he will give Atticus Finch only 4kg and it is only over an extra 200m, so he should confirm the form.
Will he stay as well as Atticus Finch, who proved he stays the trip with a second place finish in the Hollywoodbets Durban July consolation race, the Gr 3 Splashout 2200?
Well, Main Defender is actually out of a half-sister to Atticus Finch and furthermore that half-sister, whose name is Alessia, is by the stamina influence Judpot. Alessia only had eight runs for two wins over 1600m and her full-sister, Expedite, won up to 2000m and was a close up third in the Listed Jamaica Handicap over 2000m.
Main Defender is by Pathfork, whose son Royal Victory won last year’s Summer Cup and added the Gr 1 Premier’s Champions Challenge over the same course and distance and finished third in the July. Royal Victory is of course won of the favourites for this year’s race too.
Royal Victory’s dam is by Kahal, which would suggest some speed, but this mare, who won up to 1800m, is in turn out of a mare by the stamina influence Coastal. So Pathfork coupled with a mare that has the influence of Coastal can be compared to Main Defender’s combination of Pathfork and a mare with the stamina influence of Judpot.
Main Defender beat the Gr 1 SA Classic and Gr 1 SA Derby winner Purple Pitcher by 3,50 lengths in the Victory Moon and will be only 3,5kg worse off in Summer Cup, which puts them together on paper.
Main Defender is one of the class acts in the Summer Cup field and if he does prove to stay then he is a massive runner from a plum draw of three.
