Andrew Fortune salutes after converting his confident predictions into victory (Picture: Chase Liebenberg)
Wish List, Quickstepgal Stay on 117 and 116 Respectively, Keukenhof 115, Princess Of Gaul Unchanged 115, Beach Verse 110
Andrew Fortune was confident of success on the Justin Snaith-trained Wish List in the Gr 2 WSB Fillies Guineas at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday.
The dual Gr 1 winner seemed a bit short in the market at odds-on, as the trip was on the sharp side and she had a wide draw, and she duly drifted out to 13/10.
However, she has transformed since her early three-year-old year from a hard knocker into a filly of true class, who just gets better and better, and she won cosily.
Fortune had her covered up near the back in the running.
Fortune complained afterwards about an apprentice rider getting in his way during the race, but the stipendiary stewards report only mentions Blaine Marx-Jacobson’s mount Daisy Jones running on to and clipping the heels of Keukenhof at the 1300m mark.
However, Wish List did get close to Daisy Jones at about the 800m mark and Wish List had to check slightly. Perhaps it was due to the latter dropping back on to him, but there was no mention of it in the stipes report.
Fortune got the gap he was looking for between Limitless Sky and Daisy Jones as they approached the straight as Marx-Jacobson opted to switch out and follow Keukenhof.
This enabled Wish List to accelerate coming into the straight and build momentum on the heels of Princess Of Gaul.
However, Wish List’s run did not appear to be making enough progress as they approached the 200m mark.
She looked in danger of defeat as the WSB Cape Fillies Guineas winner Quickstepgal was going well in front and so was the main challenger Keukenhof.
However, Fortune knew otherwise and was just reserving his mount.
At the 150m mark he switched inward, aiming for a gap between Princess Of Gaul and Quickstepgal, and the Legislate filly took off.
Another reason for going inward, might have been to keep the filly away from the Grandstands, which can be intimidating to a young horse who has not experienced them before.
Wish List burst through the gap and Fortune was able to pose for the last stride, winning by 0,30 lengths from Quickstepgal with Keukenhof, Princess Of Gaul and Beach Verse next best.
Wish List has stamped herself as a dominant force and will be a factor in the Hollywoodbets Durban July, for which she is now a 10/1 shot in the sponsors’ ante-post betting.
She has stayed on a rating of 117 as she and the 116-rated Quickstepgal presented themselves as obvious line horses.
Keukenhof being raised from 110 to 115 and Beach Verse being raised from 97 to 110 were the only changes to the merit ratings.
There will be no allowance for females in the July this year so she will not have an easy task carrying 53,5kg as things stand and giving weight to some of the best Highveld three-year-olds males.
Wish List, bred by Maine Chance Farms, is owned by Jonathan Bloch together with Nancy Hossack and she has earned R2 023 738 in stakes.
