– Written by Mark van Deventer
Months ago, Candice Bass Robinson extolled the virtues of some lovely young fillies in her care. Beach Bomb and Red Palace have since made the progress she anticipated, so rate legit chances in the World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas, a Grade 1 over 1600m.
It shapes up as a true run mile given plenty of speed in the bottom half of the 14-runner field, with all of Royals, Red Palace, Rascova, Japanese Rose and 3/1 ante-post favourite Double Grand Slam showing a propensity to either lead or race handy.
Beach Bomb is drawn 12 which makes it a positional challenge for jockey Aldo Domeyer though she could get a midfield slot off a strong early gallop then use her powerful finishing kick to run at them in deep stretch. Her fluent victory in the Irridesence Stakes over 1500m on a heavily soaked track in July when she left Royals toiling in her wake, suggests the classy daughter of Lancaster Bomber out of the multiple G1 winning race mare Beach Beauty will relish a testing 1600m. At early quotes of 8/1 she appeals as an each-way bet.
Stablemate Red Palace took a while to come to hand but recently completed a Spring double at Hollywoodbets Durbanville with her last out win especially impressive. She dominated older rivals from the front and was already in a different time-zone going through the 300m marker that she could afford to free wheel in. The victory margin was 3.5 lengths ahead of Metar – but it could have been thirteen if she galloped out fully.
Double Grand Slam seems likely to get the run of the race from the inside alley. The Justin Snaith trained Vercingetorix filly has a versatile running style (can go handy or be held up) which gives Grant van Niekerk tactical options. She stayed on with real purpose behind the well-performed, Rascova in the falsely run, Western Cape Fillies Championships and it’s highly improbable that her reopposing foe will be gifted such a soft lead again.
Snaith knows what it takes to win this prestigious G1. In the Fast Lane (2013), Snowdance (2017) and Captains Ransom (2020) are luminaries on the honours roll.
Highveld conditioner, Mike de Kock last won this race with Majmu in 2014 and has a tremendous record in G1’s at the Cape. On that score alone, his entry Silver Sanctuary merits serious respect. It’s debatable whether she has the brilliance to actually win this, yet she overcome a rough passage to gamely take out the Summer Pudding Handicap three weeks ago and has a definite claim to be in the mix.
Japanese Rose is harder to assess. On official ratings she has it all to do but it’s quite possible her true ability is understated. There was much to like about her recent go -to- whoa defeat of Montelena two weeks ago when showing good early speed then quickening nicely. Trainer Brett Crawford is another who knows what it takes to win a Fillies Guineas – Front and Centre (2018) and last year, Make it Snappy got the job done for the canny Phillipi- based horseman.
It may seem disrespectful to only mention champion juvenile Mrs Geriatrix so deep in the preview. Her stellar exploits at two, when unbeaten from six starts, justifiably earned her the highest OMR of any filly in SA (112).
Opinion hinges on if you treat her flop behind Rascova in the Fillies Champs as an aberration (she suffered a wide/no cover/turbulent passage) or have more substantive concerns about the petite filly being able to maintain superiority over now physically stronger contemporaries.
On her best figures it seems essential to add her to most plays. After all, trainer Sean Tarry and jockey Richard Fourie are a high percentage duo in combination who win big stakes races right around the country for fun. Draw 13 is another quibble but to throw out a proven high-quality thoroughbred after one duff try just isn’t sensible.
Distant Winter, drawn even worse at 14, is the third string to the Bass Robinson bow. She’s run top races to Rascova, Winter Cloud, October Morn and Enemy Territory so is a must- use on single race exotic tickets.
Just be Lekker is another worth including in wider trifectas and quartets on the best of her past performances, but the Eastern Cape champ, Luna Halo was put in her place four lengths off Rascova, beaten with every chance, and again faces a difficult match-up.
In summary, potentially high-class, Beach Bomb gets the narrow verdict over Double Grand Slam and Red Palace. Silver Sanctuary is a rock-solid back-up; fast progressing 20/1 shot, Japanese Rose may be under-valued by the market and proven Graded heroine, Mrs Geriatrix is an obvious alternate in a hot vintage.
#caperacing #wsbcapeguineas
#destinationcaperacing
