FOUR-year-old stayer Il Sanpietro continued his remarkable progress this season with a runaway win in a Pinnacle Plate over 3000m at Turffontein on Sunday.

Il Sanpietro, an imported son of Mark Of Esteem, made it four wins from his last five starts, all of them posted under promising apprentice JP van der Merwe – this one their easiest so far  as the official winning margin was 7.25 lengths.

“He’s gone from strength to strength and it’s very pleasing,” said Mike de Kock.  “Good stayers like Il Sanpietro often improvbe with maturity, as they get stronger, but he’s done surprisingly well. I thought we had him at the top of his game last time, but he’s made more improvement.  He has been nominated for the Gold Bowl on Champions Day and then we’ll work towards the Canon Gold Cup.”

Mike congratulated Paulo Caesar of Fazenda Mondesir inn Brazil, who bred and owns Il Sanpietro.

Photo by JC Photos.