Morning Rolands Song, see this mornings racing express and comments.
JACK MILNER
There are very few pundits in this country who do not extol the riding ability of Piere Strydom. It’s a bit like Manchester United scoring two goals in injury time when being down 1-0. It happens too often for it to be a fluke.
How often has it happened that a stride before the line and a stride after Strydom’s mount is beaten – but on the post, where it really matters, the nose is in front. Fans saw it on Private Jet and Bedloe’s Island on Champions Day, and watched the same thing happen on Echo Of Thunder at Turffontein on Saturday.
Strydom, who deputised for Johnny Geroudis who couldn’t make the weight (``probably having too many breakfasts,’’ quipped Strydom), sent Echo Of Thunder to the front from the off. Red Lucifer and Anton Marcus sat second ahead of Killaridge, who had been supported from 14-1 to 5-1, Connoisseur, well-backed favourite Zorba’s Tale with Urban Reason one from last and Aussie’s Captain at the back.
With 300m to go Red Lucifer and Killaridge moved up to tackle Echo Of Thunder and with 150m to go, Red Lucifer blew up and Killaridge looked all over a winner. But try as he may Willie Uys could not get past Strydom and at the line Echo Of Thunder had a short-head victory.
``Piere’s a phenomenal rider,’’ said trainer Sean Tarry. ``I really do like to have him on my horses.
``When he starts to study form and he tells you he’s studied the race, then my ears go flat back. But as a rider, he’s very, very good.’’
That proved to be the case in Race 7, where Strydom brought home 5-1 shot Mitra for Geoff Woodruff. His first comment to Dave Mollett after the race was: ``I never gave her a chance in this field. She was out at the weights. ”
That was not how the race turned out. Waltzing Home led the field from Farah, Bluebell Dancer, with 14-10 favourite Thin Red Line some three lengths back, while Mitra gave the leader some six lengths start.
When Thin Red Line hit the front she looked a winner but at the 300m pole Mitra began to run on under a hands and heels ride and then waltzed away to win by 2.75 lengths.
``We were just going to ride her to see if she stays but I couldn’t believe how quickly she moved up,’’ said Strydom. ``Fair horses normally move up like that.
``Unfortunately I tried to sit as long as I could but I had to go at some stage so I hit the front a bit early. But if you give them another breather that late in the race sometimes they don’t pick it up, so I had to go and she stayed on.
``I was shocked. I literally went past the whole field on the bit and I couldn’t believe it when I went past the favourite as well but I thought it might come back and fight us off.”
And then Strydom added the pivotal comment. ``Maybe this filly is better than we think. ”
The Woodruff stable has had a tough season with many of the runners performing below par. Suddenly everything has come to form and Woodruff may be in the healthy position where the handicappers have not seen the best of his horses.
Woodruff brought four runners to the course (two in the same race) and came away with three winners. ``I scratched Norquinco in Race 4 who I thought he was my only solid chance on the day and meanwhile we’ve had three winners.’’
Speaking about Mitra, Woodruff added: ``After her last dismal attempt at the Vaal, I sat with Alf (owner Alf Dickerson) and we were just chatting about it and we thought why not try her over a mile, her dam won over a mile and here we are. Thanks to Piere, wonderful ride. We need to have a rethink about her future. Maybe we need to find a little Listed race for her somewhere.
But while all this is happening, spare a thought for Mark Khan who is sitting at home until the end of June, nursing a broken scapula. He was there for all the tough times but has to watch from his armchair as the stable winners continue to flow.
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