The Flamingo Park Festival on August 8 is Kimberley’s biggest annual race
meeting and will hold more prestige than ever this year because one of the
three features on the card, the R135,000 Non-Black Type World Sports
Betting Sprint over 1000m, will form the first leg of the R1,885,000
Supreme Challenge.
The Supreme Challenge will comprise of the World Sports Betting Sprint as
well as the Gr 3 R250,000 August Stakes over 1200m on the Vaal Sand and the
Gr 2 R1 million SAP Supreme Cup over 1450m on the Vaal sand. Any horse that
can win all three legs will land a bonus of R500,000 sponsored by World
Sports Betting.
This means some of the best sand-to-1450m horses in the country will
descend upon Kimberley for the Flamingo Sprint.
Corné Spies could well be nicknamed “the travelling trainer” and might well
have a strong hand in the first leg of the Supreme Series as he has
nominated the decent filly Sarve, who finished just 5,8 lengths back in the
GR 1 SA Fillies Sprint over 1200m, the Gr 3 winner Olympic Owen, who won
last time out over the course and distance of the World Sports Betting
Sprint, the in form Velvet Verona, and also Atso Time and Defender Of
Peace.
Louis Goosen has already declared former champion jockey Andrew Fortune to
ride his only entry in the Sprint, Varbration. This Var gelding is speedy
but has also won twice over 1200m, so the August Stakes and possibly the
Supreme Cup could also be in his sights.
One of the most interesting entries is undoubtedly the Coenie de Beer-owned
and trained Talktothestars, who will be going for five wins on the trot and
impressed with first time blinkers on Sunday over 1160m at Turffontein.
The Wallace Tolmay-trained Green Rock has won from 1200m to 1450m on the
Vaal sand so is one that could be going for all three legs, although he
will have to bounce back from a poor last run, having won his previous two
outings.
Port Elizabeth trainer Jacques Strydom might raid for the Sprint with
Tetelestai, and evergreen veteran who has won over 1000m on the Fairview
polytrack before.
The most interesting local entries in the Sprint are the consistent Tienie
Prinsloo-trained Black Pepper, the Cliffie Miller-trained Devon Gold, the
Coerie Lensley-trained pair The Queen and One Cool Cat and the Bill
Human-trained Caribbean Bay.
The other two features races at the Flamingo Park Festival are the R200,000
Non-Black Type RA Flamingo Mile and the Non-Black Type R100,000 Diamond
Stayers over 2200m.
Jacques Strydom has entered the 105 merit-rated Gogetthesheriff in the Mile
and another interesting potential raider is the Mike de Kock-trained filly
Ahlaam, who was a facile winner over this trip on the Vaal sand last time
out. De Kock has also entered decent sorts Capricorn Ridge and Guy From
Dubai. Interesting local entries include the Lensley-trained Pinot Noir,
the Sarel von Willingh Smit-trained Stone Pine and the Cliffie
Miller-trained Kingofmountain.
Miller has also entered Stone Pine in the Diamond Stayers, as he won over
course and distance last time out, and he might have back ups in this
testing event in the form of African Gladiator and Wimoweh. Other
interesting Diamond Stayer entries are the Human-trained Sir Isaac, the
Stephanie Miller-trained Over Achiever, the Prinsloo-trained Pontedera, the
Jacques Strydom-trained Mauri Blue and the Luchelle Kruger-trained Big
Shot.
Spies has entered All The Bids in both the Mile and the Stayers but this
horse has a merit rating of 111 so would be asked to carry a massive weight
in either event.
Kimberley’s biggest racing weekend will commence with the Racing
Association’s Northern Cape Awards on the Friday night. These will honour
the sport’s regional stakeholders who have excelled throughout the season.
Furthermore, runners participating in the feature races at the Festival
will be “auctioned off” with a percentage of the takings being contributed
to a local charity.
A bevy of children’s activities will be on offer the following day at the
track, so it will be a fantastic day out for the whole family. Fully
inclusive hospitality in the Racing Association facility is on offer for
R400 per person and can be booked by calling 011 683 3220 or email
merle@racingassociation.co.za.
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