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Last year’s injured J&B Met winner Past Master is continuing his recuperation after a change of environment following the onset of an infection.
Photo by Gold Circle
Past Master won the Met for Darryl Hodgson but broke down in his near foreleg last November.
He was then sent to Mike Stewart at Noordhoek so that his leg could benefit from a daily immersion in sea water. All went well until he started coughing leading to a move to the hills above Hermanus.
Stewart said: “I don’t know whether it was something in the air or what but he could hardly breathe at one stage. He went away to be treated but a week or two after his return he began coughing again so he was moved to the Hemel N Aarde Stud.
“He is doing well and he is looking good. It’s too early to tell but we are going to give him as much time as we can.”
The Dennis Drier-trained stars Beach Beauty and Schiffer made their Cape Sizzling Summer season intentions clear in no uncertain terms with impressive wins at Clairwood last week when returning from layoffs.
Beach Beauty won a Conditions Plate for fillies and mares over 1600m and had to carry a welter burden of 61kg but won easily by 4.5 lengths.
Beach Beauty, a five-year-old mare by Dynasty, was probably the unluckiest horse of last season’s Cape Sizzling Summer Season . She also had a tough weight to carry when ninth in this year’s Durban July.
The probable chief missions of her Cape campaign this season will be the G1 Paddock Stakes over 1800m and the J&B Met over 2000m.
The Met is basically a weight for age event except for a once off G1 penalty. With the consequent female allowance she will have a better chance at the weights than she did in the July, especially if she goes into the race as a non-G1 winner.
In last year’s Met she still managed to run fifth, just 1.85 lengths behind Igugu.
Schiffer, a three-year-old by Var, won a Novice Plate over 1000m by three lengths against a field that included two G1 placed horses and may be the stable's replacement for sprint star Val De Ra, a former Equus Sprinter of the Year.
Schiffer is a paternal half-sister to Val De Ra and her blistering early speed and ability to kick in the final stages makes it easy to draw comparisons but they are poles apart in temperament. The Drier stable has devoted a lot of time and effort in getting the wayward Schiffer to where she is now.
She has now won both her 1000m races comfortably and in her only other start she finished third in the G1 Golden Slipper over 1 400m on July day.
The obvious races for her in Cape Town will be the G2 Southern Cross Stakes and the G2 Diadem Stakes over 1000m and 1200m respectively and if she proves herself good enough a tilt at the G1 Cape Flying Championship over 1000m, won by Val De Ra last year, could be on the cards.
Drier’s string leaves for Cape Town this week.