Australian bred Brazuca (Teofilo) picked up a well deserved first feature win when scoring an off the pace win in Saturday’s Gr2 Colorado King Stakes at Turffontein.
The four-year-old colt also broke a lengthy losing spell for jockey Gavin Lerena, who had not scored on more than 50 of his previous mounts.

Stonehenge (Seventh Rock) went out to set the pace, and pulled well clear of his rivals, eventually racing nearly seven lengths clear of the chasing pack.

His stable mate French Navy (Count Dubois) raced towards the back of the pack, with Brazuca (keen early on) and favourite Deo Juvente (who pulled a shoe prior to the start) closer to the pace.

Stonehenge was never going to be able to keep up such a testing gallop, and French Navy, Deo Juvente and Brazuca all looked menacing with 500m left to go.

However, it was the latter who always appeared to be travelling the best, and, despite hanging across Deo Juvente, had too much in hand for his rivals and drew clear to post a 3.1 length win at the expense of consistent Deo Juvente. For a second year in a row, former Equus Champion French Navy filled the third spot in the Colorado King Stakes, just holding off stable mate Samurai Blade (Where’s That Tiger) for the third place.

Brazuca, who won in a time of 124.24, also provided trainer Johan Janse Van Vuuren with a second win in a row in the Colorado King, with Van Vuuren’s Unparalleled being promoted to first in the 2016 Colorado King Stakes.

Owned by the Werners, Brazuca’s success also continued the great run of form enjoyed by his sire, unbeaten 2yo champion Teofilo (Galileo). The latter has been represented by no fewer than five Group/Graded winners this year, including Gr1 Australian Cup winner Humidor.