Coolmore Stud’s four time G1 winning stallion Camelot tasted graded stakes success in South Africa on Saturday, when his courageous five-year-old son Crown Towers made all to win the G3 Hollywoodbets Dolphins Cup Trial (1800m) at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
Winner of the Listed World Sports Betting Sledgehammer two starts back, the Justin Snaith trained Crown Towers was a well backed chance to win Saturday’s R150 000 contest, with the Cup Trial offering potential Vodacom Durban July hopefuls a chance to ensure a place in the final July field.
Fourth in the G2 World Sports Betting 1900 last time out, Crown Towers received a superb, front running ride from jockey Richard Fourie.
Fourie lost no time in take the front runner to the lead, and Crown Towers kept going gallantly from the front.
Despite facing a wall of challenges late on, Crown Towers showed tremendous courage in staying on to score by a neck.
Former G3 Byerley Turk winner Tristful caught the eye back in second place, with Crown Towers’ stablemate Nexus taking third spot, just over half a length off the winner.
Now an eight time winner from 21 starts (the gelding has banked R581 250 in stakes), Crown Towers won his first graded race on Saturday in a time of 110.36 seconds.
The Australian bred gelding, who was bred by Mr Bibbo, is one of 37 stakes winners for Camelot, the sire of recent beaten Cazoo Oaks favourite Santa Barbara among others. Sold through the 2017 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale to Heywood Bloodstock and Mayfair Speculators for $280,000, Crown Towers joins G1 winner Run Fox Run as a graduate of the famed Australian farm Mill Park Stud.
Crown Towers, closely inbred to legendary stallion Sadler’s Wells, is out of the five time winning Galileo mare Miss With Attitude, who was third in the G2 Bill Stutt Stakes.
Copy: TSA News, Racing Images supplied by Candiese Lenferna Photography
