Do It Again defies tricky start to win Gold Challenge

Last year's Durban July winner Do It Again (Justin Snaith/Richard Fourie) boosted his chances of becoming the first horse to win South Africa’s greatest race in successive years since El Picha at the turn of the century by winning the Gold Challenge in his first race since the Met at the end of January.

But the four-year-old, part-owned by former Investec boss Bernard Kantor, showed signs of temperament in the parade ring and again down at the start. Fortunately Snaith had taken the precaution of flying the celebrated horse whisperer Malan du Toit in from Cape Town.

Richard Fourie rode a waiting race on the 15-4 shot but got a great run out of the horse in the straight to snatch a half-length verdict from 20-1 chance Cirillo, who made most of the running.

Met winner Rainbow Bridge started 9-5 favourite and was unlucky. Anton Marcus had to switch just inside the furlong marker and was third, beaten a further length and a quarter. He would have gone close with a clear run.

Bernard Kantor: part owner of Do It AgainCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Fourie said: “I have had some pressure with this horse. I didn’t quite shine on him on Met day but I didn’t really have the horse underneath me that day.

"He's a different animal now and a lot of people will have more confidence in him after this, but at the start he didn’t want to load.

"In the race, the pace was on and I had lengths to make up coming into the straight, but he's a true champion and I had so much horse underneath me.”

Snaith added: “I was very nervous. We had a few hiccups in the parade ring and his head was starting to turn, he was getting annoyed and the warnings were there. Thank goodness we flew in Malan – it’s like having your own psychologist.

“This is an unbelievable racehorse and he is the best weight-for-age horse in South Africa. He proved it in last year’s July, again in the Cape season and he has proved it once more today.”

Also on Saturday

In a week when Classic-winning trainer Jeremy Noseda announced his retirement, his 2006 St Leger hero Sixties Icon hit the headlines in Australia as the sire of Group 2 Brisbane Cup winner Sixties Groove.

Formerly trained by Noseda, Sixties Groove is still part-owned by former BHA chairman Paul Roy and his wife Susan and won at Eagle Farm on Saturday for trainer Kris Lees and jockey Damien Oliver

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