VARSFONTEIN-bred Alexandra Palace (headline photo) shed his Maiden ticket at his second attempt when accounting for Cufflinks in an 1800m contest at Turffontein on Saturday.
Anthony Delpech sent Alexandra Palace about his business with 500m to run and they got the upper hand of Piere Strydom’s mount with 200m to run, drawing away to win.
Alexandra Palace, smart sort.
“I think we’ll put him on ice now with a view of running him in next year’s Derby,” assistant trainer Mathew de Kock said of Alexandra Palace, a R2,5 million purchase at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale for Singapore-based owner Mark Yong’s tMan Syndicate.
“Alexandra Palace was beaten by what looks like a good sort in Agadez first time out when he was green and suffered a slipped saddle, so that was good form coming into the race. On Saturday the third horse was beaten a distance so this win should also carry some merit going forward. He’s a smart colt, I think this was money well spent by Mr Yong.”
Alexandra Palace is by Jet Master from Alexandra Bi, whose previous foals include smart handicapper Pavlovich and Graded winner Alexandra Rose.
Merhee (Delpech), in his second start following a layoff, was smartly tuned in disposing of the above average General Sherman in a 1200m Novice Plate.
“He’s a nice horse, he came back to his best on Saturday and we’ll probably keep him to sprinting trips for now,” Mathew said about Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum’s runner.
Merhee, back to best.
1 Comment
We have just seen a very serious racehorse in action(Alexandra Palace). This was a weak maiden field but the manner of victory was that of a champion. He toyed with runner up, who was primed for the run and could have beat him by 7 or 8, if the jock pressed the button. He’ll recover most of his price tag before he leaves our shores.