Safe Passage: Back on target

Safe Passage’s Durban July preparation is back on song following his good third place in a Pinnacle Stakes over 1600m at Turffontein on Thursday. After his inexplicably poor run in the Drill Hall Stakes on 6 May, Mike de Kock decided to send Safe Passage back to Johannesburg for a suitable race. This is not something he would normally have done, but it was necessary to confirm that all was well with the four-year-old.

“We are very happy with what we saw. We needed to see some form after that poor prep run in the Drill Hall.” said Mike on Friday. “Safe Passage ran on strongly for third, giving the very capable winner and runner-up 10kg and 8kg respectively.  He’s going to come on very nicely from this. We had a bump in the road, but we’ve sorted it out.”