Knock On Wood landed the biggest payday of his career as he scored a well-judged win in the R1-million KZN Breeders Million Mile at Greyville on Sunday. Black Wing ran on for second ahead of The Mouseketeer and Checcetti.
Miss Zummerudd broke well and led early but was eventually relegated to second as The Mouseketeer went out to make the running. Shahrukh, breaking from pole position, settled in third ahead of Joshuas Crown and Knock On Wood. Silver Age and Checcetti were next best with Black Wing racing in mid-division.
The Mouseketeer brought the field in for home and kept going gamely in the straight, repelling the first round of challenges that came his way. However, Knock On Wood and Black Wing were starting to run on ominously and it became a three-way contest inside the last furlong.
The Mouseketeer hung on grimly but was eventually overwhelmed by the sustained finish of Knock On Wood, who swept on by to win going away by nearly a length, with Black Wing just getting his nose in front to secure second place.
Knock On Wood is a battle-hardened campaigner and is used to contesting tough handicaps up in Johannesburg. He was entitled to respect here after a fair fifth in the recent Gr 3 Jubilee Handicap and was certainly not winning out of turn.
Black Wing seems to have found his niche as a miler these days, after looking more of a ten-furlong horse as a 3-year-old. He ran well enough in the circumstances, lugging a big weight.
The Mouseketeer had been a bit quiet coming into the race but bounced back to his best with a top front-running effort under top weight of 61kg. In the end, he was beaten less than a length and emerged with plenty of credit.
Checcetti never troubled the trio that beat her home but turned in a fair performance considering that she was also quite high up in the weights against male opposition.
KNOCK ON WOOD
4bG Muhtafal (USA) - Kiss Me Kate by Rocky Marriage (USA).
BRED BY: Mr G H Rowles.
OWNED BY: Messrs O A Ferraris and D E Ferraris.
GE911 - Race 8 - R1M - KZN BREEDERS MILLION MILE (Non-Black Type)
For KZN bred 3 and 4 year olds - 1600m |
| No |
Horse |
Jockey |
Al/Bl |
Kg |
Dr |
Fin |
Dist |
Time |
OP |
SP |
| 6 |
KNOCK ON WOOD |
Bernard Fayd'Herbe |
A |
58.5 |
7 |
1 |
0.00 |
94.60 |
6/1 |
9/1 |
| 3 |
BLACK WING |
Karis Teetan |
A |
60.5 |
10 |
2 |
0.75 |
94.74 |
4/1 |
3/1F |
| 1 |
THE MOUSEKETEER |
Anton Marcus |
A |
61.0 |
2 |
3 |
0.85 |
94.75 |
7/1 |
15/2 |
| 5 |
CHECCETTI |
Anthony Delpech |
A B |
58.5 |
4 |
4 |
3.10 |
95.16 |
11/2 |
4/1 |
| 15 |
WINTER MISCHIEF |
Raymond Danielson |
A |
53.5 |
14 |
5 |
4.35 |
95.39 |
33/1 |
45/1 |
| 9 |
PENHALIGON |
Corne Orffer |
A |
55.5 |
8 |
6 |
4.40 |
95.40 |
25/1 |
55/1 |
| 4 |
COFFEE SHEIK |
Sean Cormack |
A |
60.5 |
11 |
7 |
4.90 |
95.49 |
14/1 |
18/1 |
| 13 |
SHAHRUHK |
Stuart Randolph |
A B |
53.5 |
1 |
8 |
5.15 |
95.54 |
6/1 |
13/2 |
| 12 |
JOSHUAS CROWN |
Juan Paul V'D Merwe |
A |
53.5 |
3 |
9 |
5.90 |
95.68 |
16/1 |
13/1 |
| 14 |
SILVER AGE |
M J Byleveld |
A |
53.5 |
6 |
10 |
8.15 |
96.09 |
8/1 |
15/2 |
| 11 |
BARACAH |
Sean Veale |
A B |
53.5 |
15 |
11 |
8.20 |
96.10 |
10/1 |
16/1 |
| 16 |
ACAPELLA |
Muzi Yeni |
A |
53.5 |
16 |
12 |
8.25 |
96.11 |
16/1 |
28/1 |
| 2 |
FURIOUS DANCER |
Kelvin Jupp |
A |
61.0 |
12 |
13 |
11.00 |
96.62 |
33/1 |
100/1 |
| 10 |
MISS ZUMMERUDD |
Alec Forbes |
A |
54.0 |
13 |
14 |
12.75 |
96.95 |
16/1 |
40/1 |
| 8 |
ENCHANTED KINGDOM |
Kevin Shea |
A B |
56.0 |
9 |
15 |
16.50 |
97.67 |
25/1 |
35/1 |
| 7 |
WISHFUL EYE |
Athandiwe Mgudlwa |
A |
56.0 |
5 |
16 |
20.50 |
98.44 |
40/1 |
66/1 |
| 17 |
TOP TALENT |
Scratched |
| 18 |
ROCKY BAY |
Scratched |
|
