By Mark van Deventer
The World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas is the first Grade 1 of the 2025/26 Cape Summer Season.
It will be staged at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth and is carded as Race 7 on a high quality, ten race program – off time 16h10.
Let’s go through the twelve entries in card/draw order.
1 STORMWATCH, drawn on the outside and dropped out, was unsuited by the slow early fractions in the Western Cape Fillies Championship, and her 4.8 lengths defeat behind Princess of Gaul (who got the run of the race) should not be held against her.
Previously, she was most impressive when surging through in the Diana Stakes after a troubled passage, just failing to overhaul She’s My World.
This Eric Sands-trained Vercingetorix filly should get a smoother round under canny jockey, Andrew Fortune, having cracked the lowest marble. Shortlist material.
2 CALL ME SECRET is improving rapidly and was an eye catcher when she took off like a missile down the inside rail to give Shesgotclass wind chill in a Class 4 on 26 November. She is untested both at this class level and over 1600m, but clearly has ability and her powers of acceleration will stand her in good stead.
Lucinda Woodruff’s stable is going great guns, and this Gimmethegreenlight filly has untapped potential. She needs to jump alertly (slow away at all three starts) to take advantage of gate 2 and has a few lengths to find on the numbers. Running a place here may be a legitimate best hope at this stage. JP van der Merwe sticks solid after their last fluent victory.
3 PRINCESS OF GAUL won the Debutante Stakes at Hollywoodbets Greyville in July 2025, then added the 1400m Western Cape Fillies Championships to her burgeoning CV by securing the box seat, and quickening away before the “swoopers” could catch up.
The Dean Kannemeyer-trained smart Vercingetorix filly should again get a good trip drawn towards the inner with Craig Zackey, already a perfect three from three winner on her, doing the steering. A primary contender.
Kannemeyer also saddles 4 TULIP FIELDS, by the same sought–after sire out of Captain Al sprinting mare Victoria Lavelle. She is hard to assess having scrambled home versus much weaker rivals 17 days ago. Off her official merit rating of 88 she has a mountain to climb and while she may ultimately prove better than that assessment with experience and maturity, this remains a very tough assignment for Muzi Yeni’s mount.
Previously a winner of a Maiden and a humble Class 5, 5 LOWVELD LILY totally outran her odds of 100/1 to be second to Princess of Gaul in that false run, Fillies Champs. Given that she was slow to go, it was a laudable effort by the daughter of Legislate.
She now stretches out to a mile and this consistent, determined filly may do even better. Indeed, further improvement will be required to win but she is a candidate to again hit the board. Aldo Domeyer rides.
6 EDUCATOR (by One World) won on debut when heavily punted back in April but has been well held in four starts since. Reopposing Quickstepgal and Reet Petite appear to have her measure on collateral form, and Kannemeyer’s entry must improve significantly to get involved.
7 GOLDEN PALM, third on debut when unfancied at 50/1 and cut into, has subsequently swept all before her with five consecutive, dominant victories. She is a proven star in the Eastern Cape where nothing has got close to her and, when trucked up to KZN, romped in the Thekwini Stakes too.
For those achievements, the official handicappers have her towering above this field with a rating of 115. Keagan de Melo, back from riding in Hong Kong, gets an opportunity for a welcome-home, Grade 1 success on Alan Greeff-trained Master of My Fate filly who is proven over eight furlongs.
Richard Fourie, who has partnered Golden Palm to all five her wins, is riding 8 REET PETITE, in this showdown. This James Crawford-trained Rafeef filly is unbeaten from three starts, with Fourie on board each time.
It’s difficult to peg her true ability with accuracy. She has shown tactical versatility winning from off the pace, then by stalking the speed, quickening up well on both occasions with smart closing sectionals.
Her progress has been incremental rather than spectacular: a Maiden win, followed by a Class 5, then Class 4 victories over modest rivals. This race will show where she fits in on the 3YO filly hierarchy.
9 QUICKSTEPGAL has won four of seven starts for trainer, Tienie Prinsloo, and she beat Tina Lovelace in the Devon Air by the same margin that Golden Palm did in the Thekweni.
She likes to force the issue and will again be a pace factor here. But it counts against her that she could not hold off foes in the Fillies Championship despite getting an optimal, handy trip and she could be vulnerable going an extra 200m.
Alan Greeff also sends out 10 AUGUSTA ROSSO, an Erik the Red filly who was hammered ten lengths by stable companion Golden Palm on 24 October after pressing the pace. She may give a good sight for a while if dashing to the lead yet is most unlikely to trouble the scorer when it counts.
11 WISH LIST’s form ties in closely with Stormwatch. They clashed in September with little in it after a spirited duel at Hollywoodbets Durbanville, then ran similar races behind Princess Of Gaul, both staying on from wide draws having been caught too far off a tepid early pace.
The daughter of Legislate is again hung out wide – a challenge for jockey S’Manga Khumalo. A true run mile could see Wish List in a brighter light, and she rates a plausible contender at a price.
Likewise, 12 KEUKENHOF has been closing briskly into soft paces in an eye-catching manner at her three most recent starts. She finished upside of stable mate, Princess of Gaul in the Debutante, progressed smoothly behind She’s My World in the Diana Stakes, then was probably the horse to take out of the WC Fillies Champs as she made excellent late headway – again behind Princess of Gaul.
Draw 12 complicates matters and she could be a hostage to fortune if dropped out and ridden for luck from the back. The longer 600m run in of the Summer Course, together with a true run 1600m, will prove more suitable to this deep closer, sired by The United States.
If the handicapper has got his sums right, then Golden Palm, with a five-point edge, has the World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas at her mercy.
Apart from lingering skepticism about her rating, other knocks against her are that she must travel down the coast and handle going left-handed for the first time.
Should she not live up to her stellar billing, a posse of dangers are lurking. They include KEUKENHOF, PRINCESS OF GAUL, STORMWATCH, WISH LIST and REET PETITE.
CALL ME SECRET, QUICKSTEPGAL and LOWVELD LILY are not dismissed either, especially in the lower slots of single race exotics.
