Three more in our good spell of form

We’re enjoying an excellent run of form with another three wins at the Vaal on Tuesday, and Mike thanked his team for their dedication and hard work.

The late Sheikh Hamdan’s Al Muthana made it back-to-back wins with another eye-catching effort. He swept through late in a decent field of handicappers to win the 1500m race in a fast time.

“I wanted to be up there early but they went like the clappers,” said jockey S’Manga Khumalo, who bided his time in midfield and added: “AL Muthana is not a horse you can rush, you have to balance him. At the 500m mark I knew they’d come back to me. I flicked him with the whip and then he gave me his all, he won a great race today. “

Mike commented: “S’Manga rode an excellent race, the time for this 1500m was very fast, so he judged it perfectly. Al Muthana is still improving. He’s entered for the Summer Cup and we’ll probably go for the Charity Mile next to see how he shapes.”

Motown Magic, watch over further.

Gavin Lerena rode the stables first winner, Mowtown Magic, for Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum’s Al Adiyt and while he was full of beans at the start and hard to get into the stalls, he came back galloping hard and won ‘on his coconut’.

“Thanks to the guys at the start for their patience, he was difficult today,” said Lerena. Mike added: “He’s by Uncle Mo, improving still and I like him. I think he’ll be a nice prospect over 2000m and up.”

Interestingly, Mowtown Magic’s dam, Ubiquitus Mantle, is expected to foal down with his sibling by Querari at Mauritzfontein Stud tonight. His half-brother (photo below) is called Green Garnet, he’s a yearling by Gimmethegreenlight.

Green Garnet, yearling half-bro to Mo.

The third winner on the day was Wisteria Avenue (Flower Alley), a filly Mike has fancied a few times but she’s just needed some time to furnish and she showed that she’s coming along the right way, quickening well away from her rivals in a 1800m Maiden Plate for Arun Chadha’s ASSM Racing Syndicate.

“Wisteria Avenue had all the form to win and she won very well as we expected,” said jockey Craig Zackey.

Wisteria Avenue.