The ‘Missisippi Burning’ team of trainer Adam Marcus, owner Mario Ferreira and jockey Craig Zackey, must fancy their chances of launching a bold double bid on the Cape Fillies Guineas silverware after Princess Calla made short work of the opposition to win the Gr2 Western Cape Fillies Championship.
While there is plenty of water to flow under the bridge between now and the classic in December, the reality that there are unlikely to be a host of up-country raiders down for the Cape summer in view of the parlous and uncertain stakes environment.
That must make the Cape Fillies Guineas double an extremely attainable goal for the team that struck last year with Rathmor-bred Missisippi Burning.
After tracking the free-striding favourite Trickster all the way, Princess Calla put the race to bed in a matter of strides under Craig Zackey as she drew clear for a facile victory in a time of 87,37 secs.
Trickster showed plenty of resolve to stay on for a 2,75 length second with the Bass-Robinson pair of Zarina and Lemon Delight staying on for third and fourth.
The official ratings worked out well, with top-rated Princess Calla beating the 104 rated Trickster. Third-placed Zarina ran off a 92, but was restricted to a max increase last time and actually achieved a 101 when beating Capitana by 0,75 lengths.
Formerly trained by Dennis Bosch, Princess Calla, a R600 000 Cape Premier Yearling Sale graduate, took her stakes tally to R153 750 with her second victory from three starts.
She was placed in the Gr1 Thekweni Stakes behind the sensational undefeated champion, Anything Goes, at her last start.
Bred by Maine Chance Farms, Princess Calla was Flower Alley’s eighth South African two-year-old winner on debut in KZN last term, alongside Saturday’s fourth-placed and previously stakes performed, Lemon Delight. She is her sire’s 25th stakes winner.
Flower Alley is the sire of 47 black type horses, including Kentucky Derby winning champion I’ll Have Another, and is broodmare sire of multiple G1 winner Lucky Lilac.
His other smart daughters include Gr1 Ashland Stakes winner Lilacs And Lace, champion My Wandy’s Girl, Gr3 Delta Princess Stakes heroine Bouquet Booth, and Oaks Trial winner, Fayrooz.
Princess Calla is out of the four-time winning Captain Al mare Princess Royal.
A son of Distorted Humor, Flower Alley has 13 lots on offer at the 2020 Emperors Palace National 2yo Sale and a single lot on the CTS Ready To Run, Unbroken 2yo & Mixed Sale.
Milnerton master trainer Vaughan Marshall threw the classic cat amongst the pigeons for the umpteenth season, when he saddled the top three home – and fifth place – from his quartet of runners in Saturday’s Gr3 Cape Classic.
In the process, he picked up his third trophy in the last four runnings of the early sophomore pointer.
And after a keen start, Luyola Mxothwa bounced Seeking The Stars into a dominant lead.
The Vercingetorix colt bred by Klawervlei Stud kept going powerfully all the way up the winter straight to hold the late challenge of his stablemate Linebacker to win by an impressive 1,25 lengths in a time of 85,05 secs.
The winner, who races for Ricky Sewgoolam, is a really handsome and athletic Vercingetorix colt and cost R1 million on the 2019 Cape Premier Yearling Sale.
The winner’s sire Vercingetorix is heir apparent to the Silvano honours board at Maine Chance and is our leading freshman sire by number of wins, percentage of winners to runners, and average earnings per runner.
Seeking The Stars is from the three-time winning Count Dubois mare Schism, who won up to 2200m.
A 1200m maiden winner, and rested since seven weeks since that fourth career start, Seeking The Stars has now won two races with two places from five starts for stakes of R107 000.
File image: Princess Calla // Candiese Lenferna
