Breeders’ Cup qualifiers: 2 stablemates win in South Africa

Drakenstein Stud and trainer Candice Bass-Robinson savored double success with homebreds Saturday in Breeders’ Cup qualifiers at Kenilworth Racecourse in South Africa, sweeping the 163rd Group 1 King’s Plate with Charles Dickens after landing the Paddock Stakes (G1) with 3-year-old filly Beach Bomb.

Charles Dickens secured an automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and Beach Bomb landed a guaranteed starting position in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Off at odds of 5-4, Charles Dickens earned his 10th win in 13 starts when he stormed down the stretch under Aldo Domeyer on the outside of the 13-horse field, securing a 2 3/4-length victory over odds-on favorite See It Again and avenging his third-place defeat to See It Again in the Dec. 2 Green Point Stakes (G2) at Kenilworth.

Speed Machine broke sharply and took the lead while Charles Dickens settled comfortably in eighth place about four paths off the rail. Coming around the far turn, Speed Machine opened up by four lengths but gave way as he entered the stretch. That was where See It Again found a seam along the rail and took the lead.

With three-sixteenths of a mile remaining, though,  Domeyer urged Charles Dickens forward, and the 4-year-old colt by Trippi rolled from eighth to first inside to the final sixteenth for a dominant win.

Long shot Royal Aussie finished third, and defending winner Al Muthana was fourth.

In last year’s King’s Plate, Charles Dickens was defeated by a neck as the odds-on favorite. 

On the winner’s platform, Drakenstein owner Gaynor Rupert, paraphrasing author Charles Dickens from A Tale of Two Cities, said on 4 Racing TV, “We did have the worst of times, and now we have the best of times. He really showed who he is today.”

Taking his third career Group 1, Charles Dickens completed the mile at 1:37.88 over a course listed as good. 

Beach Bomb wins thriller in Paddock Stakes

Sent off at odds of 5-2, Beach Bomb overcame a slow pace in the Paddock Stakes and surged from last place to overtake Princess Calla, South Africa’s reigning horse of the year, by a neck.

Ridden by J.P. van der Merwe, Beach Bomb won her second straight Group 1, having taken the Dec. 2 Cape Fillies Guineas at Kenilworth in her previous start.

Princess Calla, the even-money favorite, stayed just outside pacesetter  Royals before gradually moving to the front at the top of the stretch. However, she struggled to maintain her lead, and despite a valiant effort, she could not hold off Beach Bomb at the wire.

“She dropped the bit and was traveling well,” van der Merwe said. “I never panicked, and she was gutsy right to the line.”

Beach Bomb, a 3-year-old daughter of Lancaster Bomber, completed the 1 1/8 miles with a time of 1:53.16.

Now in its 18th season, the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series is an international series of stakes races, the winners of which receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race in the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 1 and 2 at Del Mar.

As a part of the benefits of the Challenge series, the Breeders’ Cup will pay the pre-entry and entry fees for Charles Dickens and Beach Bomb if their connections accept the invitations to Del Mar. The Breeders’ Cup also will provide a travel allowance for all starters based outside North America. The Challenge winner must be nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program by the pre-entry deadline of Oct. 21 to receive the rewards.