COOLMORE Classic winner Ofcourseican’s More Than Ready half-brother Gimmethegreenlight has been extended an invitation to compete at the prestigious Breeders’ Cup meeting at Santa Anita later this year.
Gimmethegreenlight is 2-1 favourite with bookmaker’s for Saturday’s R2million SA Classic but trainer Justin Snaith is voicing serious concerns about the colt’s 16 draw.
“The horse is doing very well and there are no problems with him. But what is a big problem is the draw. We thought the field would scratch up but very little has come out,” Snaith lamented.
“Gimmethegreenlight is fine over a normal 1,800m but that distance coming from a wide draw, coupled with the altitude, is going to make it hard for him.”
Snaith confirms that Gimmethegreenlight is in the same top form that saw him win the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and finish third in the J&B Met. Furthermore the horse’s impressive win at Turffontein 13 days ago at similar altitude suggests he has adapted well.
Despite being run at level weights, Gimmethegreenlight is 3.5kg clear on official ratings of the next highest, Mike de Kock’s Dingaans winner Silver Flyer who is a 16-1 chance. He has a minimum of 6kg in hand over everything else.
”Gimmethegreenlight has won 6 of his 12 starts with 4 placings,” Vinery’s Adam White said,”His only unplaced runs were those two fourths in the Golden Horseshoe – which is the Golden Slipper equivalent in South Africa – and the Cape Guineas, and he was desperately unlucky both times.
”The race which he won a few weeks back, the Queen’s Plate, is one of the top few Group 1’s on the South African racing calendar which is why I suspect the Breeders’ Cup organisers are keen to have him at the meeting in November.”
All of this is of course great news for Scone owner/breeder David Bentata whose Mossman mare Ofcourseican (and dam She Can Cancan) boosted their respective values to an extraordinary degree in the wake of her Coolmore Classic heroics.
