Ridgemont Highlands’ exciting stallion Rafeef gained yet another notable boost to his pedigree page when his close relative, Anna Capri, won the final graded race run in South Africa for 2021, the G3 Lebelo Sprint (1000m), at Turffontein on Tuesday evening.
A flashy grey, the David Nieuwenhuizen trained Anna Capri stamped herself a hugely valuable broodmare prospect with an all the way win in Tuesday’s sprint (delayed from Monday after inclement weather made racing at Turffontein out of the question).
Under Gavin Lerena, four-year-old Anna Capri, as is her want, was quickly into stride and went clear of her rivals.
Lerena kept his speedy mount going well in the closing stages, with Anna Capri galloping on strongly to land her first black type win by a deceptively easy one length.
The consistent mare Gallic Princess flashed up late for second, with promising three-year-old Bard Of Avon catching the eye in third.
Tote favourite Alesian Chief, who had been bidding for a hatrick of feature race wins, only beat one home and this run is best ignored.
Now a five time winner from 16 starts, the Riethuiskraal Stud bred Anna Capri landed the 2021 Lebelo Sprint in a time of 56.78 seconds.
She is the 56th stakes winner for pensioned sire Var –who twice headed the Leading Sires of 2YOs List in South Africa.
Anna Capri’s dual winning dam Zemfira (by Daylami) is a half-sister to South African Horse Of The Year National Colour-dam of both Rafeef and the latter’s champion own brother Mustaaqeem.
Images: JC Photos
