3 minute read
Saturday, an exciting season of speed culminates in the Group 1 Cape Flying Championships at Kenilworth over a 1000m.
Photo by Liesl King
Last year saw an incredible contest with 2011 National Champion Sprinter Val De Ra taking on the two top boys, Cape Champion Sprinter What A Winter and International Sprint star J J The Jet Plane.
Val De Ra taught the boys a sprinting lesson on that occasion and this year it may again be the fairer sex, that takes the crown. Via Africa, a daughter of European Champion Sprinter, Var, has won four of her five starts by a combined 23.75 lengths. Her only defeat coming at the hands of another Var filly, Schiffer.
Despite being trained by Duncan Howells in KwaZulu- Natal, Via Africa is familiar with the Kenilworth straight, having won over it, when she added the Group 2 Southern Cross Stakes(1000m) to her trophy collection on December 8, in a speedy 56 seconds.
Alec Forbes has the ride and the three-year-old filly jumps from barrier four with a lightweight 54kg on her back. While she will meet her stiffest competition to date, she is super fast, recording 55 seconds over the Scottsville 1000m.
Competition is likely to come from the moody but talented Cape Royal from the Dean Kannemeyer yard. Having won his last three starts in a row, Cape Royal is a very speedy son of Royal Academy. Kannemeyer thinks very highly of his charge and the mere fact that he has thrown him in the deep end, suggests that he cannot be ignored.
Lastly, 2012 National Sprint Champion, What A Winter, who heads to stud at the end of the season, will not relinquish his title without a fight. With a merit rating of 124 versus Via Africa’s 118, he should have the race at his mercy, if on form. Regular pilot Bernard Fayd’Herbe has the ride.
He does however come off an unplaced finish in the Group 1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate over 1600m, a distance that was perhaps a tad too far in the twilight of his career. He won the Cape Flying Championship in 2011, before going down to Val De Ra in 2012. Trainer Mike Bass will hope that his star can recapture the title to finish off a magnificent career that included 11 victories.
