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Lily Theresa is a big price at 5-1 for the opening R80,000, Maiden Juvenile Fillies (1000m) at Kenilworth on Wednesday considering the way Joey Ramsden has been dominating the Cape Town two-year-old races.
True, she was beaten over six lengths when only sixth on debut but 12 ran that day and this R1.2 million purchase (she is by Var out of a half-sister to the Golden Horse Casino winner Contador) seems sure to have improved.
Strictly on the book Regal Ruby has her measure – she finished three and a half lengths in front of her in that January race which is still best remembered for the eclipse of the much-touted Miss Frankel – but it was her second run so she does not have the same scope for improvement.
World Sports Betting makes Regal Ruby favourite at 3-1 and has the Justin Snaith newcomer Angel’s Trumpet sharing 5-1 second spot with the Ramsden filly while the Glen Kotzen first-timer Heart Of Legend is next on 6-1.
All but two of the 16 runners are appearing for the first time and it is worth noting, particularly in the absence of any market move of note, that all the last nine two-year-old races at Kenilworth have been won by a horse who has already had a run.
Seven of the 13 in race two, the R80,000 Maiden Juvenile Plate (1200m), are newcomers and Ramsden is responsible for two of them – Bayeto (an Oratorio half-brother to Nocturnal Affair who won the Byerley Turk and also the Portland Handicap at Doncaster in Britain) and True Words, a R2 million Byword colt whose dam was second in the SA Fillies Classic.
“They are two really nice horses but I couldn’t prefer one above the other,” says Ramsden. “Their chances depend on what else is in the race but it is hard to win over six furlongs first time at Kenilworth.”
Why Wouldn’t Yew, fourth to Al Mariachi and Kasimir on the second of his two starts, has the best form and opened joint favourite at 7-2 with Brett Crawford’s newcomer Captain Ram and Justin Snaith’s debutant Fritz Nobis. True Words is on 11-2 and Bayeto on 7-1.
However the one that makes the most appeal is Strategic Power. This 8-1 chance carries the Mayfair colours and started third favourite when ridden by Anton Marcus on debut in January. He managed only 11th of 15 but the reason soon materialised – “he pulled up very shin-sore,” explains Vaughan Marshall.
Emerald Gal, 4-1 for the Racing Association Maiden, wears blinkers for the first time and this should enable her to finally get her head in front. Bookmaker prices suggest she should not beat Lindleys Lane (5-2) or Le Claire (28-10) who was a head in front of her last month but the Darryl Hodgson filly makes real appeal.
Race Four, the 1400m maiden, is wide open and you can find valid reasons why each of the seven runners should not win. Strikeitlikeamatch was far from disgraced in the Sophomore and, with Aldo Domeyer on board, he gets a wholly tentative vote.
