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The in-form Andre Nel can strike again with yet another lightly-raced horse at Kenilworth on Wednesday when Riverboat Queen bids to make amends for her odds-on flop a month ago.
Aldo Domeyer’s mount was only beaten half a length in an admittedly modest-looking maiden early last month but she was ominously reluctant to load when heavily backed a fortnight later and she beat only one home.
Although nothing showed up at the racecourse Nel found her to be slightly sore on her left-fore the next morning and that evening she was running a temperature. The following morning she was lame on both front legs and still had a temperature. The vet recommended no exercise for ten days.
She opened at a tempting 9-2 for the Itsarush.co.za Maiden yesterday with World Sports Betting who had obvious form choice Golden Wine favourite at 22-10 with I Lived (13 lengths in front of Riverboat Queen) on 7-2 and Seattle Silva the same price.
The Brett Crawford runner is interesting as she also flopped last time although it was her first race for nearly three months and she lost ground at the start. “I think the 1 400m was too far for her,” says her trainer. “She is back to 1 200m, is working well and should run much better.”
Nanna Anna may just be good enough to warrant 2-1 favouritism in the first – she was unlucky not to win first time and was then fifth when Anthony Delpech rode her in the Met day Listed race. “I think she will be hard to beat,” says a back-to-form Paul Reeves.
However watch out for Casual Diamond and, in particular, fellow 22-10 chance Believethisbeauty. The R525 000 Captain Al newcomer is the first foal of the Winter Oaks winner Cause To Believe. “This 1 000m may be a bit short for her but she shows a lot of speed and she is talented,” says Vaughan Marshall.
Apollo Star is very short at 7-10 in the other two-year-old race half an hour later. The Joey Ramsden runner was fourth to Bold Respect in the R1 million Kuda Sprint so is hard to oppose.
Richard Fourie’s mount Royal Marine (11-2) is a son of What A Winter and apparently could make the frame at the first time of asking. “”I brought him to Kenilworth to gallop and he worked very well,” says Greg Ennion who, however, cautions: “He might just need it.”
Ennion, incidentally, expects Meaningful Look to go well against Riverboat Queen – “she has improved a lot from her first run.” But stable companion Mangrove, as short as 15-10 for race five, has an outside draw to contend with and so Redeemer is preferred despite not being much of a price.
