Zeitz conquers for charity

Jack Milner

Veni, vidi, vici – I came, I saw, I conquered.

Those words are famously attributed to Julius Caesar after his swift victory at the Battle of Zela in 47 BCE.

However, on Saturday at TAB Turffontein, those words could apply to owner Sabine Plattner, trainer Andre Nel, jockey Serino Moodley and of course, Zeitz, after their triumph in the R1-million Allied Steelrode Onamission Charity Mile (Grade 2) over 1600m on the Standside track.

Other than Moodley, the others made a first, or at least a very rare visit to the Highveld and the plan all came together perfectly.

Zeitz, joint-favourite at 4-1 with Splittheeights (tote favourite), was always one of strong candidates to win this race and most pundits agreed the Turffontein Standside track with its long run-in would suit his style of running perfectly.

And so it worked out. Placed midfield, the moment Moodley switched him out and let him loose, the five-year-old grey gelding kicked into top gear and charged home to beat Cosmic Speed (25-2) by 0.50 lengths.

Third place went to pacemaker Otto Luyken (33-1) with Greaterix (33-1) in fourth, and Splittheeights in fifth place. The outcome was a handicapper’s dream as just 1.15 lengths separated the first six past the post.

Moodley is currently having a magnificent season and he was over the moon with the victory.

“With that 700m run in I could wait as long as possible and I knew he would give me his turn of foot that last 200m or so. He really dug down deep.

“But I can stand here and tell you what a good ride it was but it was a whole team effort and to my biggest supporter, Mrs Plattner, if ever I wanted to win a race, it was to win this race for Mrs Plattner.”

He also has an incredible relationship with Zeitz as he has ridden the son of Vercingetorix 12 toe for six wins. “He’s my favourite horse to ride and I just love to be on his back,” added the jockey.

Nel admitted he was “just a spectator” at the meeting because all the preparations were done by his KZN team at Summerveld, under the supervision of assistant Byron Foster. “They did all the work and I shouldn’t be taking any credit for this horse.”

Asked whether he would consider to bring Zeitz back for the Betway Summer Cup, he responded with an emphatic “no”.

“This is his best distance and he will battle to be competitive over 2000m. I’m just happy to take this win.”

Mike de Kock was always concerned that Splittheeights might just be found out in the closing stagesbecause he had not run since March and that just proved to be the case. However, he was beaten just 1.10 lengths and is definitely one to watch.

However, on a personal note, I feel that the star performance of the race came from Sean Tarry-trained Grand Empire. Drawn widest at No 18, Keagan de Melo was forced to drop him out but in a well spread-out field, he finished best of all to run sixth, beaten just 1.15 lengths. He was flying at the end, and if he had a decent draw, we could have had a different outcome.

Of course, the Charity Mile is all about improving helping the community and 20 charities shared in another R1 million. Every charity received at least R40,000 but the biggest winner of the day who walked away with the first prize of R140,000 having drawn Zeitz to represent them in the race was Jicama 89, who represent three schools.