CHAMPION ROARS TO HORSE CHESTNUT WIN

Dual Equus Champion Got The Greenlight claimed the fourth G1 race of his stellar career when he scored a narrow win in Saturday’s G1 H F Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes (1600m) at Turffontein on Saturday.

A champion at both two and three, four-year-old Got The Greenlight was all the rage for Saturday’s R500 000 with the Joey Soma trained colt having made a cracking return to racing, after a lengthy layoff, when second over a trip short of his best in the G2 Ilha Bela Hawaii Stakes.

Only a bounce off his second run back appeared to stand in the way of Got The Greenlight and winning Saturday’s Horse Chestnut Stakes, but the Gimmethegreenlight colt had to work hard for victory.

Outsiders Savannah Storm (18-1) and Whorly Whorly (351) set out to make the early running, with Muzi Yeni positioning Got The Greenlight towards the back of the 11 horse field.

Yeni was seen to be travelling with a double handful 400m from home, and guided the champion into the lead.
However, promising three-year-old Copper Mountain (bidding to provide trainer Johan Janse Van Vuuren with a third consecutive win on the card) launched a threatening looking bid on the champion’s outside, and Got The Greenlight had to dig down deep to secure a half length win.

Copper Mountain stamped himself as a three-year-old with a very bright future back in second, and finished two and a half lengths clear of third place finisher Tierra Del Fuego, who was, in turn, four and a half lengths clear of his own stablemate Cirillo.

Bred by the Nadeson Park Stud, Got The Greenlight (victorious in the G1 Premiers Champion Stakes at two and both the G1 SA Classic and G1 Daily News 2000 last season) claimed his seventh win from 15 starts in a time of 97.25 seconds.

The colt, surely destined for a stud career, is one of 32 stakes winners for More Than Ready horse Gimmethegreenlight, whose dual G1 winning son Yulong Prince has been retired to stud in Victoria for 2021.

Got The Greenlight is out of the Commands mare Command Chi, a winner over 1600m, and daughter of the stakes placed Fusaichi Pegasus mare Chivana.

Image: JC Photos