Mercantour rises to Challenge

IMPRESSIVE: GREEFF'S CHARGE THE FIRST EASTERN CAPE-TRAINED RUNNER TO CLAIM BONUS »> Fourie manages to deal with ‘muggy’ pace.

- Danie Toerien

Mercantour, from the stable of Eastern Cape champion trainer Alan Greeff, on Friday inked his name in the record books after becoming only the second horse in history to win all three legs of the Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge - and the first local equine to achieve this feat.

The last leg, over 1600m on the Fairview Polytrack, saw the sixyear-old excellently out from gate two under jockey Richard Fourie.

His stable companion, Strathclyde, was pushed to the front by jockey Charles Ndlovu while Bingwa, from Gavin Smith's yard ridden by Craig Zackey, sniffed the pacemaker.

Fourie settled Mercantour in third against the rail, and that's where he galloped as Strathclyde and Bingwa first went side-by-side with Bingwa then edging into the lead to hot up the pace.

A slight gap of around a length or two opened up between the first two and Mercantour, but Fourie managed to convince his mount not to give them a soft lead.