SAHorseracing.com
SAHorseracing.com
Top Gallops for Flag Man and Royal Victory

Durban July favorite, Green With Envy, along with fellow three-year-old Flag Man, delivered the fastest 400m-to-finish times during the traditional HDJ Gallops held this morning at Greyville in front a fairly large crowd.

Although little can be taken from sectional times of the races, Green With Envy clocked 22.66 seconds, while Flag Man followed closely at 22.73 seconds. The well being of the horses are paramount but with some gallops more can be taken from the others. In particular, Flag Man was highly impressive and so was Doyla Victory who strode out fully to the line. His jockey, Muzi Yeni, was equally impressed by the work.

Both Green With Envy and Flag Man, who secured first and second places respectively in the Daily News 2000 (Gr 1) at the end of May, have had ideal preparations for the big race on Saturday, July 6. They are expected to be among the top favorites for racing fans. Green With Envy had a more colorful trip in that race running almost a length further than Flag Man in terms of straight line running or had the horses had the exact same path to the line.

Double Superlative, the Cape Town Met winner, has only raced once since his last victory but appeared in excellent form this morning, recording the third-fastest 400m-to-finish time at 23.01 seconds. Top weight See It Again completed the final 400m in 23.28 seconds. Jockey Piere Strydom noted that See It Again tends to conserve energy and became slightly "lazy" after leading his companions at the top of the straight.

Nevertheless, Strydom told SAHorseracing.COM that he was more than satisfied with the effort. "I went a little easy at the beginning and then asked him to accelerate at the top of straight and he accelerated very well. He normally races with blinkers, but today he finished with his ears pricked and we gave him a good final workout."

Last year’s winner, Winchester Mansion, had an impressive workout at Randjesfontein, as did his stablemate Oriental Charm and the Sean Tarry-trained Future Pearl. These pre-recorded gallops were held at the Joburg training center and shown to the public.

 

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