There are two new names for racing fans to conjure with: Splitheeights and Hazy Dazy.
The colt and filly won the TAB Gauteng Guineas and the Wilgebosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas respectively at Turffontein on Saturday – the first legs of the Triple Crown and Triple Tiara respectively – and set themselves apart from their three-year-old counterparts.
A Guineas race is always a “race of truth” as it is a reckoning for young horses who have shown promise but haven’t yet been fully tested against the best of their generation and are often stepping up to the mile distance after youthful sprinting success. A 1600m Guineas takes students of thoroughbred bloodlines and precocious form a giant leap closer to the holy grail: identification of an emergent champion.
Racing is never cut and dried, however. Where’s the fun in that? Even after Gauteng’s iteration of the Guineas, there’ll be plenty of rival claimants to the throne of sophomore supremo. We are just a little closer to separating the wheat from the chaff.
De Kock stable
For now, Splitheeights and Hazy Dazy are front and centre – the only possible winners of those prestigious Triples.
There seems little doubt that Hazy Dazy will take on the challenge – but Splittheeights might conceivably go a different route to glory.
The Mike and Mathew de Kock stable have a mighty powerful string of three-year-olds, including three other runners in Saturday’s event who might be better suited than Splittheeights to the longer trips of the next two Triple Crown legs, the 2800m SA Classic and the 2450m SA Derby. The interests of different owners and individual horses must be carefully weighed up.
The De Kocks also have Cape Guineas winner Jan Van Goyen in their arsenal and might see the rich Highveld contests as key pieces in that special colt’s further development.
SA Fillies Classic
Of course, the R2-million bonus prize for winning the Triple Crown will be a compelling factor in all stable deliberations.
Trainer Corne Spies was unequivocal about Hazy Dazy tackling Legs 2 and 3 of the Tiara.
“We were a bit worried that the mile would be a bit too short for her!” he exclaimed, adding that the trip and a wide draw had been the only factors stopping him declaring her unbeatable in the Gauteng Fillies Guineas.
Don’t expect generosity from bookmakers when Hazy Dazy appears in the SA Fillies Classic – especially if she lands a nice draw. The fact that she has already won over 2000m and showed smart acceleration over 400m less means she’s likely to have “banker” written all over her come Saturday 7 March.
Origins
The two Triple candidates offer an interesting contrast in origin stories.
Splitheeights, a son of champion sire Vercingetorix out of a mare by another blueblood in Trippi, was born at the elite Ridgemont Highlands Stud and was bought by the Murugasa family for R600,000 at a Bloodstock SA auction.
Hazy Dazy, a daughter of underrated stallion Act Of War and a mare by unfashionable Eightfold Path, was bred by the late iconoclastic owner-breeder David Makins and sold on his estate sale for R37,500 – to a syndicate of seven enthusiasts.
Read nothing into these backgrounds, though. As anyone in racing will tell you, horses don’t know where they come from or their price with the bookies.
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