Champion Majmu Lands Empress Club Stakes
Description:
Cited by trainer Mike de Kock as the best filly he has trained, Sheikh Hamdan's Majmu scored the second group I win of her career in the Laurie Jaffee Empress Club Stakes (SAf-I) at Turffontein.
Despite making her first racetrack appearance in 18 weeks, the classy 3-year-old was dispatched a 13-20 favorite to capture the R1 million prize, and she obliged in style.
Majmu's task was made easier, however, when one of her leading rivals, Same Jurisdiction, was declared a nonrunner following a starting gate malfunction.
Majmu was settled back midfield, as fellow sophomore Tamaanee led the way from Smart Call and Banbury. The order remained the same for much of the race, until the 400-meter mark, when jockey Anthony Delpech asked Majmu for her effort and she quickened up in tremendous style.
Majmu eventually put three lengths between herself and runner-up Trophy Wife, with the latter having now been placed in three consecutive group races.
Third place went to another Australian-bred in Tamaanee, with 5-year-old Hammie's Hooker snatching fourth.
Majmu, one of three winners for the owner, trainer and jockey at Turffontein on the day, stopped the clock in a time of 1:37.50.
Bred by Arrowfield Stud, Majmu was named South Africa's champion 2-year-old filly last season following an unbeaten three-race campaign that concluded with her facile 8 3/4-length romp in the SA Fillies Nursery (SAf-II).
The Redoute's Choice filly out of the deceased Hussonet mare Spontaneous was a luckless fourth (Majmu's sole defeat thus far), in the Joburg Spring F&M Challenge (SAf-III) Oct. 4 in her 3-year-old debut, but has not been defeated since. She previously triumphed in the Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas (SAf-I) Dec. 6 at Kenilworth.
Majmu's victory on Saturday pushed her earnings to over R1 895 000. Sheikh Hamdan's Shadwell Estate bought her for AUS$300,000 from her breeder's consignment at the 2013 Inglis Australian Easter yearling sale.
De Kock hinted that Majmu is capable of landing a major feature overseas and an international campaign appears on the cards for the gray, a winner of six of her seven outings to date.
The Empress Club Stakes was named in honour of the great filly Empress Club, one of the finest females ever to grace the South African Turf and the nation's 1992 Horse of the Year.