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Pietermaritzburg played host to the Golden Horse Casino Sprint Race day at Scottsville on Saturday, where four Group 1 races over 1200m headlined the card.
Photo by Liesl King
First up was the juvenile fillies in the R500 000, Group 1 Allan Robertson Championship, where Vaughan Marshall took the honours with All Is Secret.
Despite reports that All Is Secret regularly beat her stable companion, Valdivia at home, Valdivia was all the rage in the betting, starting a prohibitive odds of 15/4.
Franny and Richard Fourie led from the jump with All Is Secret under Anton Marcus sitting three wide in second and Valdivia, with M J Byleveld in the irons, on the rail in third. Marcus sat quietly on the daughter of Captain Al and waited until the 200m mark before asking the question.
The filly, who started at 9/2 in the betting, responded by surging into the lead to win going away by 1.25L in a time of 1.10.26. Franny finished second with Valdivia an unlucky third, a further 0.75L back, after being cramped for galloping room in the closing stages.
Owned by Messrs M J Jooste and G M Miller, All Is Secret recorded her third victory from four starts, her only defeat coming at the hands of Straight Set, whose trainer Corne Spies elected to bypass the Allan Robertson and take on the colts in the R500 000, Group 1 Tsogo Sun Medallion (1200m).
Straight Set went on to finish a solid second in the Tsogo Sun Medallion, but the day belonged to master trainer Dennis Drier, Potent Power and Kevin Shea.With his superstar sprinter, Val De Ra, recently retiring, Drier now has a new star in the making, as the colt came storming home after a disappointing run in the Group 3 Godolphin Barb Stakes(1000m) at Clairwood in early April.
Drier revealed that he thought the colt was perhaps choking up after surging into the lead only to fade abruptly. He decided to apply a tongue-tie to Potent Power and the colt responded by drawing clear to win going away by 1.25L in a time of 1.20.95.
Fly Me Over and Danseco missed the break as the diminutive My Jelly Bean took up the running on the inside tracked by Contador and Ziparana with Cape Royal hunting the pace on the outside tracked by the filly Straight Set.
As the field hit the bottom of Scottsville's infamous dip, My Jelly Bean and Contador went clear with Shea in behind biding his time on Potent Power, while Straight Set was still handy on the outside.
With 300m to go, My Jelly Bean was flat to the boards but 33-1 shot Potent Power was in full cry and went on to win comfortably. Straight Set (16-1) kicked on nicely down the centre of the track to snatch second by a short head from long time leader, My Jelly Bean.
Potent Power, by National Emblem out of Solar Galleon, recorded his third victory from five starts for owners Messrs E W Buhr, M A Currie, M Dally and the BHF Syndicate(Nom: Mr D S Pitman).