Silver Apples could be worth a nibble
Brendan Pather
Punters could hardly wait for the betting to open whenever Karl Neisius was carded to ride a Dean Kannemeyer trained runner this summer. And for good reason as the combination were consistently successful for most of December and January. After a busy Cape summer season, the Kannemeyer stable seem to have taken a breather for the first part of February with fewer carded runners per meeting. Consequently, the Neisius-Kannemeyer strike rate has taken a bit of a dip. But there were signs of a revival last Saturday at Kenilworth as all four Kannemeyer runners finished close-up, with Neisius on three of them.
The combination are still looking for their first winner of the month but that could change at Kenilworth tomorrow as they have at least two with strong winning credentials. The strongest of them could be Silver Apples in the seventh, an MR 72 Handicap run over 1 400m. It took Silver Apples five starts to win her maiden but Kannemeyer was confident that the Drakenstein Stud owned and bred daughter of Victory Moon would continue to improve. She did not let her trainer down and followed-up over a mile two weeks later.
Her last start was the most impressive though when up in class over this track and trip. In a slow run race, Silver Apples only got going late to finish right on top of the first three at the finish, well clear of the rest.
The winner of that race, Celtic Cross, has not raced since but the runner-up, Seal Of Approval, and third-placed runner, Ashbrook, both won Handicaps in their next starts. Seal Of Approval also went on to place in the Grade 3 Prix Du Cap last weekend and the form of that race looks outstanding. Silver Apples drops two divisions in class and from a good draw could be hard to oppose. Her main danger could be another that drops in class, Jolie Angelina. Eric Sands has done well with this five-year-old daughter of Silvano since taking over her conditioning last season. Jolie Angelina is returning from a rest but has run well fresh in the past and her ability to race up with the pace could make her a danger to Silver Apples. She has the pace to overcome her wide draw and her chances would be greatly enhanced if allowed to dictate. Madame Coquette and Danish Diva are lightly raced possible improvers that could feature but they are bumping a progressive sort in Silver Apples and may have to settle for a minor cheque. Tomorrow’s fourth race, a Novice Plate over a mile, looks a tricky contest but Kannemeyer and Neisius seem to have the leading contender in Siegfried, a recently gelded son of Dynasty. Siegfried showed a lot earlier than Silver Apples, winning his maiden impressively in just his third start as a juvenile. But after not carrying the form through this season he was gelded over the summer and that seems to have done the trick. The three-year-old ran a much improved race in his first start back over 1 400m at Durbanville when running on strongly late from last to snatch second behind form winner Sealed Orders. He ran close to his new lowered rating in that race and looks capable of further improvement up this longer straight and over the extra furlong. He will need to improve on that effort to win this though as Feet Of Fire and Super Storm are slightly better in at the weights. Both have valid excuses for poor latest efforts and the overall form to win this if bouncing back to their best. Another to consider could be the recent maiden winner Smokin’ Hot who improved tremendously in his first start with blinkers on. He could be better than rated. Storm Sagaz cost himself the race at the start last time and could improve to feature in a race where few can be eliminated on overall form. Neisius and Kannemeyer also team up with Hemingway in the sixth, a competitive sprint Handicap, and he warrants respect on his recent course and distance form. Of the rest of the card, Pagan Princess looks a good betting proposition in the third.
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