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Trainer Charles Laird and jockey Anton Marcus clearly hold a soft spot for Delago Deluxe and the three-year-old colt will be even more of a favourite with the pair after his victory in the G1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint at Scottsville on Saturday.
Photo by Racing and Sports
Jumping from the No 3 gate on a track that favoured the inside draws, the Australian-bred son of Encosta De Lago was handily positioned throughout the 1200m journey and drew away to record a 1.25-lengths victory.
In his post-race interview, Laird said: “It means a lot more to me, this win, than people realise.”
Marcus said: “It's amazing what Charles has been able to do with this horse, to get him to improve.
“I really enjoyed this one!”
The trainer and jockey comments were underlined by Derek Brugman, racing manager of owners Ingrid and Markus Jooste.
He said Delago Deluxe is “like one of Charles' children” and revealed that “Anton lost quite a bit of weight” in order to make the allotted 54kg.
Delago Deluxe has now won seven of 11 starts, including the G1 Tsogo Sun Medallion at this Festival of Speed race meeting a year ago.
Brugman indicated that the three-year-old colt has already been earmarked for a stud career, possibly in Australia.
Favourite What A Winter did not run any kind of race and finished 13th in the 16-horse field and nother fancied runner Link Man, obviously had problems and was tailed off last.
Princess Victoria, a 9-10 favourite for the G1 SA Fillies Sprint, disappointed by finishing seventh of 13.
Drawn unfavourably at No 11, she was steered up the middle of the track throughout the 1200m by jockey Sean Cormack, with the bulk of the runners dicing it out on the inside rail.Ebony Flyer powered away in the final 100m to win the R500 000 weight-for-age contest by a length from Welwitschia.
Before the race, trainer Justin Snaith said Ebony Flyer had recently undergone a second wind operation and this was intended as a “prep run” for the long KwaZulu-Natal season ahead.
Clearly the operation has worked a charm and if the four-year-old daughter of Jet Master comes on from this sterling effort she could wreak havoc with the winter season.
The G1Tsogo Sun Medallion for juveniles threw up a major surprise, with the Dennis Drier-trained Potent Power trotting up at 40-1 under veteran jockey Kevin Shea.
Drier commented that the result should not have come as such a surprise as the son of National Emblem had overcome useful opposition to win last time out but, given the strong field ranged against him here, “everyone forgot about him”.
Potent Power won by 1.25-lengths from Straight Set, the sole filly contesting the race.
All Is Secret put herself at the top of the juvenile fillies' tree by capturing the G1 Allan Robertson Championship for trainer Vaughan Marshall and jockey Anton Marcus.
Favourite Valdivia, unbeaten in three coming into this, could only manage third just behind Franny.