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

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.

WINNING LEAP REIGNS SUPREME IN GOLD BOWL

Click above to watch Winning Leap winning The Gold Bowl (Gr2)
(Image and Footage : Tellytrack)

R500,000 GOLD BOWL (Grade 2)
Turffontein, 3200m, Turf
1 May 2010

WINNING LEAP (Labeeb x Summersault)
3 Year Old Bay Gelding
Owners : Messrs R Kay, M Maloon, D Michael and Miss L Gordon
Trainer : Dominic Zaki
Jockey : Juan Paul van der Merwe
Breeder : Summerhill Stud
Win Time : 213.99
Career Record : 3 Wins, 0 Places, 7 Starts
Career Earnings : R402,500

Winning Leap is an R85,000 graduate from the Summerhill draft of the 2008 Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale.

RACE RESULT :

#	LBH	Horse	Kg	MR	Dr	Jockey	Trainer
1	0.00	WINNING LEAP	52.0	85	9	*JP v’d Merwe	Dominic Zaki
2	0.75	STARZENE (USA)	57.0	99	5	G Lerena	Weiho Marwing
3	4.25	SANTA	60.0	105	2	A Marcus	Ormond Ferraris
4	9.00	PRECEDENT	52.0	88	6	B Smith	Paul Matchett
5	12.50	SALTWATER GIRL	53.0	91	4	A Delpech	Gavin van Zyl
6	26.00	WILD KODIAK	52.0	86	10	M Yeni	Mike de Kock
7	28.00	CHICO AZUL	52.0	89	7	G Figueroa	Kobus Roux
8	30.00	ROYAL CAPTIVE (NZ)	54.0	93	13	P Strydom	Sean Tarry
9	43.00	DANCING RED	52.0	71	3	D David	Weiho Marwing
10	43.25	MEMBRADO (ARG)	54.0	93	11	D Habib	Sean Tarry
11	46.00	LONG DOLLAR	58.5	102	12	K Shea	Weiho Marwing
12	57.00	CARNOUSTIE	52.0	86	1	S Khumalo	Barend Botes
13	99.99	SONIC GANG (BRZ)	52.0	70	8	R Simons	Paul Matchett

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