WARRIOR GLADATORIAN FINALLY TAKES GROUP 1 CENTRE STAGE

Outsider puts Champions Cup rivals to the sword; other 3 GIs also thrillers at Greyville

- Michael Lee

The four Grade 1 races at Greyville in South Africa on July 27 were hotly contested affairs, even if they did not always deliver the hottest results.

Top picks got off to a flying start when odds-on fancy Golden Palm ($7) scored an authoritative win under champion jockey Richard Fourie in the first of the quartet of elite contests, the Douglas Whyte Stakes (1,600m), to cement trainer Alan Greeff's reputation as this season's king of juveniles.

That trend was, however, bucked in the next three events of the 10-race programme, with all favourites biting the dust.

A two-time winner from three starts, Jan Van Goyen (Callan Murray) did draw some support ($38) in the Champion Stakes (1,600m), but the interest was centred more around Tin Pan Alley, Chronicle King and Malmesbury Missile.

The Sean Tarry-trained Tin Pan Alley (S'manga Khumalo) briefly poked his head in front, but was left paddling away when Jan Van Goyen shot straight past for the Mike and Mathew de Kock father-and-son team.