Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge (Group 1)

CHARLES Dickens, at least arguably the best horse in South Africa, made predictably short work of the opposition in the Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge at Greyville last Saturday.

Aldo Domeyer barely had to leave the rails and it looked all over long before he pressed the button half-way up the straight. The 1/2 shot strode clear to win pretty much as he liked from Al Muthana and Zapatillas.

The Trippi three-year-old has deliberately not been entered for the Durban July – it’s a handicap so he would have to give away lumps of weight and there are doubts about his ability to last home over the 11 furlongs. He wont run in the nine-furlong Champions Cup on July 30th either.

“The Gold Challenge was his main mission in the Durban season, I don’t want to ask too much of him,” said trainer Candice Bass-Robinson. “He had quite a hard three-year-old season in Cape Town.

Phenomenal

“But I have never had a horse that can turn it on like he does, and I don’t think we had one when I was with my father (Mike Bass) either. He is phenomenal to watch and he gives you a feeling like no other horse does.

“But training him brings a lot of pressure. He has his little quirks - he hasn’t got the easiest of mouths at home and he can get a little bit on the keen side.

“You are constantly worrying about all the little things and to watch him is always a bit nerve-wracking - but he does have that super turn of foot.”

Seemingly, though, it is the jockey who has been most affected. “Some time ago I was ready to throw in the towel,” Domeyer admitted. “Then this horse came along. He gave me a kick up the backside and another chance in life. And he changed everything.

“I do get a little bit nervous a day or two before riding him but, when I get on him, all those emotions subside and I have all the confidence in the world.”

The chesnut is owned and bred by Gaynor Rupert: “Not much in life can make your heart turn over, and feel you can laugh and cry at the same time, but this horse has certainly humbled me.”

Third-placed Zapatillas was the big mover in the July market, being slashed from 40/1 to 13/1, although dual winner Do It Again was cut from 30/1 to 25/1 despite an uninspiring ninth of 10. The eight-year-old is due to contest the great race for a record sixth time.

See It Again, Do It Again’s three-parts brother, has shortened to 3/1 favourite to give Michael Roberts his first July winner as a trainer. The 11-time South African champion had 15 rides in the great race before going into the history books on Super Quality in 1997.

Top trainer Brett Crawford has found July success every bit as hard to come by but his Winchester Mansion was slashed from 40/1 to 10/1 after taking the Hollywoodbets Dolphins Cup Trial in good style. This is another of Gaynor Rupert’s Trippi homebreds and is out of a mare by the 1995 Ballymacoll-bred Irish 2000 Guineas winner Spectrum.

Mike de Kock is flying out Christophe Soumillon for 10/1 shot Safe Passage. He will also ride Desert Miracle in the Garden Province.