Marauding Horde will be the subject of debates this week

Marauding Horde (Vercingetorix) posted his hat-trick of wins stylishly at Turffontein on Saturday, and Mike de Kock and the three-year-old’s owners now have to decide whether to run him in the SA Derby or not.

Marauding Horde’s relatively low rating puts him at risk of what Mike described as a ‘brutal’ handicapper’s penalty if he was to run a place in the Derby against the likes of Purple Pitcher.

Marauding Horde, not just a pretty face!

“I thought it would be a bit of a test today but he won very well,” said Mike. “It was a slow 2000m, to have quickened off that slow pace and with his weight was impressive. There will be a lot of debate with his owners this week before declarations. I’m fairly confident he could be in the first three in the Derby, but he could get a 20-pound penalty for just being in attendance. With a horse like this, perhaps a July-type down the line, you don’t want to kill him by winning the Derby, but you also don’t want to throw it away while he is in such good form.”

That jockey Marco van Rensburg assessed that Marauding Horde won ‘even easier than last time’ – it was a hands-and-heels ride – suggest that the colt quite possibly has the mettle to go into the Derby to contest the finish. But the connections have a tough decision here and perhaps it will have to come down to the toss of a coin!

Marauding Horde is raced by one of South African horseracing’s most powerful owner partnerships in Laurence and Jarryd Wernars, Gaynor Rupert’s Drakenstein Stud, Pieter Graaff’s Lammerskraal Stud, the Kieswetter family’s Ridgemont, Mary Slack’s Wilgerbosdrift, and Hollywood’s Devin Heffer.

Mary’s Greenlight (red cap), finished best in Race 9 under Muzi Yeni.

It was good to watch the rivalry between Muzi Yeni and Kabelo Matsunyane in Race 9 over 1600m. Kabelo, on the fancied runner Donna Mo, kept Mary’s Greenlight (Gimmethegreenlight) wide in the early part by not allowing Muzi in, ahead of her. Mary’s Greenlight had to take a position behind her, and then saw Donna Mo almost get away with it by kicking away early in the straight.

“Mary’s Greenlight hit a flat spot at the 400m-mark, but the she changed legs and stretched out for me, accolades to her. Mr. de Kock has had her on the boil for a while. I think we should have won on the inside track (on 29 February), but that day Kabelo (on Frances Ethel), kept me cramped, we were unlucky.”

Clever race-riding so often makes a difference between winning and losing and seeing how things transpire in a race is one of the many elements that bring us back for more, time and again. “Muzi got her to settle and there is not many stronger in a finish these days,” said Mike.

He added: “Mary’s Greenlight has raced often, but she’s a filly that should have at least a Listed win in her. Well done to (her owner) Mary Slack. The filly is aptly named.”