King's Mountain makes a royal debut

King’s Mountain turned his 1200m Vaal debut into a procession, delighting his connections with a 7.50-length win, easing down.

“He didn’t beat much, but he clocked a good time,” said breeder and part-owner Laurence Wernars, who was chuffed with the performance and had every right to be, because King’s Mountain’s 68.48s was faster than the time recorded by his up-and-coming peer, Gone Cold, in a strong handicap just half-an-hour later.

What the handicapper will do with King’s Mountain remains to be seen, but Lucky Fish ambassadors Mike and Mathew de Kock will be hoping the chestnut gets a fair chance to make progress this season.

Mat said: “He has been showing us top work but he was underdone as we haven’t had grass to work him on. We had to rely on his natural ability and I’m glad he delivered for the partnership.

“It will be interesting to see what rating he is given. There aren’t many sprint races for three-year-olds so hopefully he goes further, to open some doors.”

Jockey Keagan De Melo said it felt like King’s Mountain “wasn’t hitting the ground”. He ducked around on the way down, but Keagan said: “When the gate opened, he was floating. The quicker you’re going, the better he feels. It’s lovely to sit on horses like this.”

King’s Mountain is by Vercingetorix out of Kay Tee Perry, an Argentine-bred mare by Orpen who has always been close to Laurence Wernars’ heart. The owning partners are Harry Willson and Mukund Gujadhur.

Mat didn’t forget to mention Justin Vermaak as part of the Wernars team. Vermaak broke away from his iron-man preparation to watch the race and said: “Kay Tee Perry gives me some nostalgia because she is the first mare I bought for Laurence when I started as a bloodstock agent years ago.”

Vermaak also arranged the service to super stallion Vercingetorix via a foal-share deal at Maine Chance and said: “King’s Mountain was a knockout horse at the sales, but no-one took him seriously because they thought Laurence was going to buy him back.

“We’d earmarked him as R2.5- R3-million horse with De Kock Racing before the sale, and if the bids went up to that level we would have sold him, but the bids didn’t go up so he only went for R1.2-million and we were lucky. He bolted up, and could be anything.”

Kay Tee Perry herself was a very talented racehorse, but she injured a suspensory and stopped putting efforts into her runs. “She was easily Grade 1 class but ended up with only small black type.  But she has a magnificent pedigree and to see this from her first foal is amazing,” Vermaak recalled.

Feast Of Berries (Race 7, 1600m) followed her Maiden win with a handicap success for Mary Slack and there was a lot to like about it. She was game from the word go, stuck to her guns over the tough straight mile and won well.

"She settled maturely and gave me a beautiful kick," said jockey Muzi Yeni.

Mat commented: "I have a lot of time for Feast Of Berries. It's not easy coming up the straight against older fillies but I loved the way she went about it. She fought the second filly very well. I hope we can get her some black type down the line."

Feast Of Berries is by Vercingetorix our of Redberry Line, bred by Lammerskraal.