Heather’s Boy is an exciting prospect

Every so often, a horse comes along that delights fans with a surge of adrenaline. Three-year-old Heather’s Boy, an athletic runner with a sharp turn of foot and an elastic stride, delivered on his home gallops promise with a thrilling debut victory over 1450m at Turffontein on Saturday, hinting at good things to come.

Haether’s Boy, a son of Rafeef and stakes winner Folk Dance, made his first racetrack appearance in a competitive field. All the trainers were interviewed before the race and six of his seven rivals were considered to have winning chances. He came from off the pace, picked them off one by one and then drew away to win, hitting the line strongly. 

Mike de Kock commented: “There was merit in this win and it starts with the comments from our rival trainers, who all fancied their runners. So it looks as if this was a quality Maiden Plate from which we’ll see the form well franked. We expected him to have enough pace in the early part to actually go out and lead them from his good draw. I told jockey Kabelo Matsunyane to ride him confidently. He was a bit slow out of the pens and green and it’s not easy from a slow start on this tight track. But despite his inexperience he won very well. He’s a good prospect, we look forward to his progress this season.”

Assistant trainer David Hlamine, groom David Blaai and jockey Kabelo Matsunyane. Blaai also recently handled Humdinger and Iphiko.

Matsunyane said: “He was slow away, we had ground to make up. But when I shook him up he showed a nice turn of foot and lots of class. This was impressive.”

Heather’s Boy races for Lady Christine Laidlaw’s Khaya Stables and Mike said: “Lady Laidlaw is a pleasure to to train for and we are pleased that this looks like a horse with a future.”