Review of the 2011 Canon Gold Cup "Super Saturday"

Champions Season 2011 came to an end in spectacular style on Sunday with sensational finishes to both the Grade 1 Canon Gold Cup and the Grade 1 Champions Cup with the winning trainers being responsible for the first two past the post in both races.

After heavy rain at Greyville during the week, the Super Saturday meeting had to be postponed to Sunday where the going was soft but safe for racing.

The R1-million Canon Gold Cup was the top race on the 12-race card which featured four Grade 1 races, the other two being the Thekwini Stakes and Premier’s Champion Stakes for the juveniles.
There was a major upset in the country’s premier long distance race when outsiders Aslan and Kolkata, trained by Sea Tarry, outran the opposition in the finish to fill the first two places. They were followed home by the Duncan Howells-trained Knight To Remember.

Favourite Ilsanpietro had every chance and ran on well but could only manage fourth place ahead of Jeppe’s Reef and Dolomite.

Aslan, fitted with blinkers, bounced back to the form that saw him in the Summer Cup earlier in his career and his third in the Gold Bowl at Turffontein earlier this year signalled that he could be coming back to his best.

The five-year-old was perfectly ridden by Gavin Lerena who had earlier won the Premier’s Champion Stakes for Mike Azzie on the two-year-old Potala Palace. This Singspiel colt led all the way and fought off challenges from rank outsider Beacon Flare and the favourite Gimmethegreenlight.

The Thekwini Stakes was won in great style by the Mike de Kock-trained Pivotal filly Amanee who made all the running and held off a challenge from Felix The Cat. De Kock said that Amanee had been “on the float to Dunbai” when the decision was taken not to send her and Vodacom Durban July winner Igugu to the east.

Her stable companion, Ilha Bella, had started favourite but did not enjoy the soft conditions and failed to finish in the money.

The Champions Cup was won by the Mogok colt The Apache and was followed home by his Gavin van Zyl stable companion Bulsara who eventually lodged an objection against The Apache on the grounds of interference in the closing stages.

The Apache had shifted out in the finish and appeared to have made contact with Bulsara but it was decided that the interference would not have altered the result of the race and the objection was overruled. This win by The Apache gave the sire Mogok successive wins in the top Grade 1 race over 1 800m with another of his sons, Orbison, having won the race when it was staged at Clairwood last year.

An objection that was upheld, however, came in the Grade 2 Gold Bracelet won by favourite Beach Beauty from Emerald Cove with Queen’s Bay finishing third ahead of Fisani. The stipendiary stewards lodged the objection against Queen’s Bay on behalf of Fisani and the result was then changed giving Fisani third place.

Turnovers on the day were good with the Place Accumulator pool reaching R3.3-million, the First Jackpot R1.3-million, the Pick 6 well over R3-million and the Second Jackpot in excess of R1-million.