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SOUTH AFRICA: Gold Cup Glory For Bass And Fradd

3 minute read

It was third time lucky for outsider Jeppe’s Reef when he gave leading trainer Mike Bass his second win in the G1 Gold Cup over 3200m at Greyville on Saturday.

Mike Bass<br>Photo by Gold Circle
Mike Bass
Photo by Gold Circle

Jockey Robbie Fradd also landed his second win in the season ending feature when Jeppe's Reef stormed home at odds of 25-1 in the colours of his breeder Gaynor Rupert.

"This horse has run in the Gold Cup twice before and I think he won this time because he has been enjoying his racing and his Durban season,” said Bass, who won the race for the first time in 2006 with Diamond Quest.

“It's always hard to win a Group 1 but when I do I feel tremendous elation."

Fradd had the five-year-old handy throughout and sent him clear a furlong from home to beat Masai Warrior by a length and a quarter.

The Mike de Kock-trained Canterbury Tale was third, just in front of Knight To Remember.

Fradd had requested the ride and was thrilled at the result.

“He's a gutsy horse with a big heart and I chased the ride because I knew he would stay,” Fradd said.

“It worked out well. I got a bit worried down the back stretch when they started to ease up a little bit but I was happy with the position I had.

“My horse was hard against the steel and pulling my arms out. When I asked him, he quickened beautifully."

The Gold Cup was one of four G1 races on Greyville’s season ending Super Saturday along with the Champions Cup and two G1 features for two-year-olds, the Thekwini Stakes and the Champion Stakes.

Brett Crawford’s big gun Jackson (Sean Cormack) gained consolation for missing the Durban July with a plunge win in the Champions Cup.

Last year's Cape Derby winner was backed from 9-2 to 2-1 favourite before beating Joey Ramsden's 40-1 shot Silvano's Jet easily by a length and a half.

"We had to put him away after the J & B Met in February because he had a hard campaign in Cape Town,” Crawford said.

“He had a few issues that had to be sorted out.

“We set a plan aside and it’s worked out just beautifully. When he is at his best he is a tremendous animal and this is his third Group 1."

The topweight did not give his supporters a moments’ worry, with Cormack keeping him covered until a gap appeared 300m from home. Cormack set his mount alight and he had the race in the bag within a matter of strides.

Cormack said: "This horse is a champion and he has been feeling like a champion in his work at home.

“It was just a matter of him coming back to his best.”

Along Came Polly, trained by Gavin van Zyl and ridden by Brandon Lerena, emphatically reversed the Golden Slipper form with For The Lads when staying on strongly to win the Thekwini Stakes over the mile by a length and three-quarters.

Maidens are rarely allowed to run in the top feature races in South Africa but Along Came Polly has been a deserving exception, having placed second in both the Alan Robertson Championship at Scottsville and the Golden Slipper at Greyville.

The winner is by first-season stallion sensation Judpot and was bred by the Varsfontein Stud which stands the former Sir Henry Cecil-trained stallion.

Judpot, who met with an injury and did not race, now has two G1 winners from his first crop.

The Champion Stakes went to Kochka, trained by Alyson Wright and ridden by Glen Hatt.

Kochka overcame a bad draw when coming late to turn the tables on his Golden Horseshoe conqueror Forest Indigo to give Wright her first G1 success.

Forest Indigo had beaten Kochka by a short head in the Golden Horseshoe at Greyville on Durban July Day but this time Kochka got first run on him and he had no answer to the winner.

Kochka hit the front just under a furlong out and held on by three-quarters of a length as Kevin Shea brought Forest Indigo up the middle of the course where the going was better.

Willow Magic, winner of the SA Nursery in April, was an unlucky third after he was badly hampered when in full cry inside the final 200m.

He got going again to be only a neck away third.

Kochka is a son of Black Minnaloushe, winner of the Irish 2000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes for Aidan O'Brien in 2001.


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