On a beautiful summers day in Cape Town, Polar Bound completed a hat trick of victories as he won the R300 000, Grade 2 Peninsula Handicap(1800m) in style for trainer Brett Crawford at Kenilworth on Wednesday.
Photo by Liesl King
Polar Bound had been ultra consistent of late and the step up in class did not seem to bother the Western Winter gelding, as he won comfortably by 0.4L despite drifting slightly in the latter stages.
Brown Penny was quickest away and took the early lead, with Karis Teetan on Polar Bound opting to ease the gelding back to settle midfield. This proved to be a very good move on Teetan's part as it kept him well clear of the ensuing trouble up front.
The favourite, Run For It, battled with Saluki for the lead down the back straight, only to be checked severely by his jockey once he held the lead. This caused a chain reaction of horses suddenly piling up and it took skilful riding from several jockeys to avoid having their mounts go down.
Once the pieces had been picked up, Run For It led the field into the home straight. At the 300m mark Teetan on Polar Bound started his run up the inside. Polar Bound however, drifted slightly outwards, ending up in the middle of the track. In the process, he took Brown Penny with him, which resulted in a race review.
Photo by Liesl King
Astro News meanwhile came flying from the back of the field together Cayman Island, but Polar Bound had their measure and won going away by 0.4L in a time of 113.57. Astro News got his nose in front of Cayman Island on the line with Brown Penny a further 1.75 lengths back in fourth.
Run For It, favourite at 15/10, tailed off, eventually finishing eight lengths off the winner.
“He is a wonderful horse. He is late maturing and he needed to learn how to race. He moved through them today like good horses do. It is nice to have a horse like this”, commented Crawford.
“He used to pull very hard and we had to teach him how to settle. I knew I had a lot of horse under me as we came into the straight. He won well. He is a gutsy little fellow and he will go on from here”, added Teetan
Polar Bound, by Western Winter out of the Citidancer mare Travel in Front(AUS) recorded his fifth victory from 16 starts and has only been unplaced five times. Bred by the Lammerskraal Stud, he is owned by Mrs J Crawford and Messrs G R Almanza, K Martin, R V Norton, I Robinson and R J Ward.
