GOOD TRAVELLER LANDS PREMIERS CHAMPION STAKES

Despite being poorly drawn out at 13, talented two-year-old Good Traveller claimed his second graded stakes win when he ran out a comfortable winner of the G1 Premiers Champion Stakes (1600m) at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Saturday.

A second feature race winner on Saturday for trainer Glen Kotzen, the Visionaire gelding had finished third in the G2 Durban Golden Horseshoe last time out and he well and truly reversed the form with Golden Horseshoe Waterberry Lane with a convincing win on Saturday.

Good Traveller received an inspired ride from Grant Van Niekerk, with Van Niekerk quick to overcome his mount’s poor draw when jumping out smartly and slotting Good Traveller in at the rail just off the front runners.

Van Niekerk bought his mount to the front just after the field turned for home, and Good Traveller kept going to score smartly by just over a length and a quarter.

Long shot Honokalani, who, like the winner, was poorly drawn, put up an eye catching performance when flashing up late to take second, with the well fancied William Robertson a short head further away in third spot.

Good Traveller, who won his first three in a row including the G3 Godolphin Barb Stakes, claimed his fourth win from six starts on Saturday when scoring in a time of 98.97 seconds.

Bred by the Lammerskraal Stud, Good Traveller was a R200 000 buy from the 2020 National Yearling Sale.

The two-year-old gelding is one of seven stakes winner, and second G1 winner, for the Lammerskraal based G1 King’s Bishop Stakes winner Visionaire -the Leading First Season Sire in South Africa in 2014-2015, and Leading Second Season Sire the following year.

Good Traveller is out of the Western Winter mare Skylar Lane -a winning own sister to G1 Cape Guineas winner Solo Traveller and G1 Garden Province Stakes queen Redberry Lane.

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