THE READY TO RUN AND THE CANON GOLD CUP

Winning Leap
(Photos : Summerhill Stud) 

THE CANON GOLD CUP
26 June 2010 

The events of this past week, and the anticipation of next weekend’s national stayers championship, the Canon Gold Cup (Gr.1) are a poignant reminder of the potency of the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale. No fewer than nine graduates of the sale occupied racing’s most valuable piece of real estate, the Number One box between Monday and Sunday, including a four-timer at the Vaal, and a stunning debut by Ridethebreeze for Joey Ramsden. For some, that’s a six month tally, yet it happened in a week here, and all from a single sale (we’ve listed them at the bottom of this note).

They may have rescheduled the Gold Cup to a spot with which this historic event is completely unfamiliar (26^th June, as opposed to the first Saturday in August), and while that may have played some havoc with the programmes of a number of entries, its nonetheless quite a field, headed up by last year’s Champion Stayer, Mokaro. He’s not at the top of the boards though, as that honour belongs to Santa at 3-1, followed by three joint favourites, Ancestral Fore, Thanks John, and the three year old Summerhill-consigned Ready To Run graduate, Winning Leap.

Not too many three year olds are entered for these marathon events, yet this fellow already has the Gold Bowl (Gr.2) on his C.V, which he won as long ago as the first weekend in April. But here, in the Gold Cup, he’s bidding to rewrite the history books, as the first and only three year old to win the event. No doubt, the bookmakers know that history is against him; otherwise he could well be clear at the top of the boards, given his recent record. What they seem to have forgotten, is where he came from!

Winning Leap was an R85,000 graduate of the 2008 Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale, a somewhat angular, gawky individual at the time, but a horse with an immaculate pedigree and his father, Labeeb’s economy of movement, as well as his style.

There’s no doubt he has the stamina: the question is, the 55.5 kgs he has to carry against the nation’s best stamina runners. Can it be realistically expected of a three year old, that he can lump such an impost to victory?

We’ll bring you more news of Winning Leap’s march to the Gold in the course of the week.

Winners Monday 14 June 2010 - Sunday 20 June 2010

#	Horse	Trainer
1st	BELLAGIO	Mark Dixon
1st	UBIZO	Glen Kotzen
1st	RIDETHEBREEZE	Joey Ramsden
1st	KRUGER GOLD	Heather Adamson
1st	MANNEQUIN	Paul Matchett
1st	WATCHFUL	Michael Azzie
1st	MYSTIC	Sean Tarry
1st	ETERNAL GLORY	David Niewenhuizen
1st	CHEN YIN HO	Coerie Lensley

CANON GOLD CUP : SATURDAY 26 JUNE 2010

Winning Leap - 3000m Gold Bowl (Grade 2)
(Photo : JC Photographics / Summerhill Stud)

LE COUP D’OR : CONFUSION REIGNS

For the first time in living memory, the two Gold Cups that really count are being staged within the same week. Yesterday saw the running of the Royal Ascot version, highlight of the greatest week in European racing, and for the past four years, domain of Solskjaer’s younger brother, Yeats. Because of the upheaval the World Football Cup has imposed upon local racing, our own Gold Cup (sponsored by Canon), is to be staged on the 26th June, as opposed to the first Saturday in August, where it’s been since time immemorial. It is the staying championship of South Africa, and its winner is almost invariably crowned the Equus Awards Stayer of the Year. This year’s renewal is remarkable for the fact that for the first time (ever, as far as we can make out), there’s the potential of a three year old winning it.

There was a time when the English Derby, staged over 1,5 miles in June, was considered the sternest of tests for a three year old, and it was never thought advisable to run a horse much further in his classic year. More recently, the Australians have taught us it’s possible to run three year olds in their greatest staying race, the Melbourne Cup as early as November.

And so it’s happened that this year, we have our own top three year old engaged in the event in the form of Winning Leap. Ordinarily, we’d be concerned about his ability to get the trip, being the son of a world class miler in Labeeb, out of a Northern Guest mare descending from one of the Aga Khan’s oldest families, the one which produced Nasrullah and Royal Charger as well as the flying filly, Mumtaz Mahal. Another really good sort to come from this family was the European Champion Miler, Kalamoun, like Nasrullah and Royal Charger an outstanding stallion in his own right, but unfortunate to die prematurely.

Winning Leap’s credentials over the trip are well known, as he charged off with the laurels in Johannesburg’s Gold Bowl (Gr.2), over 3000m in May, so there’s every reason to expect that he’ll get the trip next Saturday, unless the handicapper has “fixed” him with weight once and for all. Winner of his last three starts by a combined 9.75 lengths, he is up there at the top of most bookmaker’s boards, as matters stand.

We quote from a recent article posted by Charl Pretorius on Racingweb.

His trainer, Dominic Zaki said “He’s not much to look at - he resembles a little camel, but he’s got a big stride and some acceleration and he stays forever and a day. He’s improved with maturity and there is much more to come. We’ll restrict him to long distances; there is no reason to change what is clearly his game. Yes, the Gold Cup is his mission, he’s a top horse and we may go for the Gold Vase on 3 July over 2800m on his way to the Cup.”

“Another impressive graduate of the winner factory at Summerhill Stud, Winning Leap fetched R85,000 at the 2008 Ready To Run Sale. Breeder Mick Goss would call him a horse “stolen” from the sales ring”.

CANON GOLD CUP (Grade 1)
Greyville, 3200m, 26 June 2010
Final Field 

#	Horse	Kg	MR	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	MOKARO	60.0	112	17	R Fourie	Stephen Page
2	OMAHA BEACH	57.5	105	16	B Fayd’Herbe	Joey Ramsden
3	SANTA	57.5	105	5	A Marcus	Ormond Ferraris
4	STRATEGIC NEWS (AUS)	57.0	103	1	J Geroudis	Herman Brown
5	ANCESTRAL FORE	56.0	108	12	K Shea	Mike de Kock
6	VERTICAL TAKEOFF	56.0	101	8	P Strydom	Sean Tarry
7	SPEED FOR GOLD	56.0	100	6	A Forbes	Dennis Drier
8	WINNING LEAP	55.5	106	14	B Lerena	Dominic Zaki
9	GOLDEN PARACHUTE (NZ)	55.5	99	9	K Neisius	Mike Bass
10	ROBINSON CRUSOE	55.0	99	11	I Sturgeon	Glen Kotzen
11	STARZENE (USA)	55.0	99	20	G Lerena	Weiho Marwing
12	SANGRIA GIRL	55.5	98	4	R Danielson	Greg Ennion
13	THANKS JOHN	55.0	9	18	M Byleveld	Mike Bass
14	BOLD WONDER (AUS)	54.5	96	13	S Randolph	Duncan Howells
15	REFINED IN FIRE	54.5	96	7	P Whitmore	Yvette Bremner
16	HOSPITALITY	53.5	93	19	F Coetzee	Mike Stewart
17	LA FOCE	52.5	91	3	A Delpech	Mike de Kock
18	PREDESTINATION (AUS)	52.0	89	10	K Teetan	Joey Ramsden
19	SPORTS FACTOR	52.0	89	15	*A Domeyer	Paul Lafferty
20	RECONCILE	52.0	88	2	D Daniels	Glen Kotzen

SO THE TRIPLE CROWN REMAINED ELUSIVE...

Winning Leap - Gold Bowl (Grade 2)
(Photo : JC Photographics / Summerhill Stud)

SUMMERHILL and the READY TO RUN…

So the Triple Crown remained elusive.
And we may not have won any of the Classics.
But we gave it a damn good crack!

…ONE SOURCE : ONE SALE.

Position	Horse	Race	Trainer
1st	WINNING LEAP	R500,000 Gold Bowl (Gr2)	Dominic Zaki
2nd	PIERRE JOURDAN	R1,500,000 SA Derby (Gr1)	Gary Alexander
2nd	SALUTATION	R750,000 SA Oaks (Gr2)	Stuart Pettigrew
2nd	HAVASHA	R500,000 KRA Guineas (Gr2)	Mike de Kock
3rd	HIS AFFIDAVIT	R500,000 The Nursery (Gr2)	Charles Laird

For more information please visit :
www.summerhill.co.za

or call

Linda Norval
033 263 1081

Kerry Jack
082 782 7297

WINNING LEAP : GUTS AND DETERMINATION OF A TRUE STAYER

Winning Leap - Gold Bowl (Grade 2)
(Photo : JC Photographics / Summerhill Stud)

WINNING LEAP
GOLD BOWL (Grade 2)

It’s no easy task for a 3 year old to take on older rivals over 3200m and that is probably why Winning Leap was the only representative in this event of his generation. The ground was soft and it rained throughout the race, but despite all, the Summerhill-bred son of Labeeb came through with his head held high, writes Steve Furnish for Sporting Post.

The classy Santa, a runner up in this race last season, was always at the top of the bookmakers’ boards and after finding good support on course he eventually left the stalls at 2/1. Mike de Kock’s only representative Wild Kodiak was also fancied. He shortened into 6/1 from 10’s, whilst all of Chico Azul (10/1 into 8/1, touched 7’s), Saltwater Girl (10/1 into 8/1) and Winning Leap (20/1 into 15/1) were all nibbled at in the ring.

They set off on this two mile trip rather slowly and were seemingly still in no hurry to get out of the rain as they passed the winning post for the first time. As they moved into the long back straight though the confirmed frontrunner Chico Azul raised the tempo and the field quickly began to string out. The unfancied Dancing Red sat second whilst the eventual winner Winning Leap raced close up in third. Racing in fourth was another outsider Carnoustie. The favourite Santa raced alongside Saltwater Girl in fifth and only five lengths off the pace at that stage they were perfectly positioned to mount a challenge. The order changed very little as they moved up the back straight and it was only when the pace began to slow again rounding the home turn that things began to change. The rain began to pour as they entered the home straight and with Chico Azul now battling to quicken, Winning Leap, under replacement rider apprentice Juan Paul Van Der Merwe, swiftly took up the running. Santa also quickened very nicely at the top of the straight and when he moved up to tackle Winning Leap 500m from home it looked as if he would go on to land the odds. Just as he had done when winning in a lowly MR71 Handicap last time out though, the rapidly improving Winning Leap found extra. The pair then fought out a protracted battle with both horses and riders giving their all. Behind them meanwhile the fancied Starzene had steadily been making headway and within a length of the duel 300m from home, he too joined the fight. Surprisingly, it was the recent Racing Association Stakes winner Santa who was the first to crack. Running out of gas 150m from home. That didn’t make things any easier for Winning Leap though as Starzene was plugging on determinedly. Answering every call from his up and coming rider though, Winning Leap dug deep below the distance and in the style of a true stayer, he held on to score by three quarters of a length. Now a tired horse, Santa kept on to finish third, whilst staying on for fourth, some nine lengths adrift, was Precedent.

A son of Labeeb out of the Northern Guest mare Summersault, Winning Leap, an R85,000 purchase from the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale, has now won three of his seven career starts to date amassing stake earnings in excess of R400,000. Winning Leap showed real guts and determination in winning this event and with natural improvement still to come, he’s clearly one to keep tabs on in the future.

PEAR SHAPED ISN’T THE WORD; BUT IT’S A TOPSY-TURVEY WORLD

Left : Noble Heir - Computaform Sprint (Grade 1)
Centre : Waywest Goddess - The Fillies Nursery (Grade 2)
|Right : Winning Leap - Gold Bowl (Grade 2)
(Photos : JC Photographics)

OF TRIPLE CROWNS, CLASSICS AND CONSOLATIONS

On a weekend in which the hot favourites for the Kentucky Derby and the English 2000 Guineas were up-ended, Pierre Jourdan’s attempt at the Triple Crown as the first since Horse Chestnut, was the best performance from those who were backed to take their country’s major classics.

One of the hottest-priced fancies for the first of the English Classics, St Nicholas Abbey was a spent force entering the dip at Newmarket, signalling a warning to the connections of his American counterpart, Lookin At Lucky that favouritism was no guarantee for success in any Triple Crown event. And that’s the way it turned out, neither of them making the frame.

In Pierre Jourdan’s case, the reason was simple. He failed to see out the trip, made all the longer by the sticky going, and while he challenged gallantly all the way to the line, he was no match for Mike de Kock’s Irish Flame, who looks to have the KZN version of the Derby (at least,) and maybe the Daily News 2000, at his mercy.  We use the word “maybe” advisedly, as the outcome of the KRA Guineas (Gr2) run at Greyville Sunday, followed a stirring  performance from Noordhoek Flyer, and if he gets the 2000m of the Daily News journey, (which he didn’t do in the Cape Derby (Gr1) in January), we could be in for one helluva race.

There were three Classics on the weekend in South Africa, the third being the SA Oaks, and quite amazingly, in what might be considered an unlucky weekend for Summerhill, we had the runners-up in each of them. Besides Pierre Jourdan’s 2^nd in the SA Derby, Havasha was an encouraging pursuer of Noordhoek Flyer in the Durban version of the Guineas (he was gelded after the SA Classic, and obviously didn’t have the best of preparations), while Salutation looked a winner with a hundred to go in the SA Oaks. Coming from last in the mud was one step too far for her, the effort in making up the ground and hitting the front at the 200, sapping her of the energy to sustain her run.

Consolation came in several forms. Way West’s first crop daughter, Waywest Goddess, gave the juvenile fillies a galloping lesson in The Fillies Nursery (Gr2), as she strode away regally by two lengths, and while there will be those that will argue that the underfoot conditions accounted for more than one upset result, as things stand right now, she’s queen of her realm. In another telling blow for the Summerhill stallions, Noble Heir gave Kahal his second Gr1 heroine in just over a month, putting paid to the aspirations of three other Gr1 winners, Warm White Night, Mythical Flight and Private Jet, in the R1million Computaform Sprint (Gr1).

While we may have been dejected at the failure of Pierre Jourdan’s Triple Crown bid, and felt a little hard done by with three seconds in the three Classics, there was consolation in the last of the Group races on Saturday, when Winning Leap stayed on like a trojan in the second richest marathon on the South African racing calendar, the R500,000 Gold Bowl (Gr2). Winning Leap is another powerful stayer by the unlikely stamina source, Labeeb, who besides being a dual Gr1 winner to a maximum of nine furlongs in the United States, was also highly effective as a sprinter. His influence however, has been principally over the longer distances, which bodes well for the prospects of the genuine middle distance racehorses occupying the Summerhill barn as we write, Admire Main, Mullins Bay, AP Arrow and Solskjaer. Recent Champion sires Fort Wood and Al Mufti, remind us of this imperative.

On the technical side, Winning Leap is yet another sterling product of a Northern Guest mare, his mother hailing from the fabulous Aga Khan family of champion sires Nasrullah, Royal Charger and Kalamoun.