Curious Girl aims to find the boys out in S.A. Derby

JOHANNESBURG – Curious Girl will look to take advantage of the lack of a standout three-year-old colt, when she flies the flag for the girls in the 1.25 million rand (S$95,000) Grade 2 South African Derby (2,450m) on Champions Day at Turffontein on April 4.

The Futura filly arrives on a rich vein of form, with a hat-trick of wins culminating in victory in the Oaks Trial (2,000m) on March 14.

Trainer Mathew de Kock, who prepares Curious Girl in partnership with his father Mike, confirmed it became a straightforward decision to tackle the Derby, rather than the 750,000 rand Grade 2 SA Oaks (2,450m) for fillies 35 minutes later.

“We were always intending on running in either one of those two races,” he said. “We nominated for both races, and here in South Africa, you get the draws on your nominations and she drew very well in the Derby.

“She didn’t draw too badly in the Oaks, but the Oaks looks overall like a more competitive race, so we thought we’d give the Derby a crack.

“There isn’t really a standout three-year-old colt going for the Derby this year. She’s a live chance and let’s hope she can do it.”

Curious Girl, who has won four of her six career starts, has drawn barrier two and will have the benefit of a 2.5kg sex allowance with regards to her 12 male rivals.

“She looks like she has a lot in her favour. Obviously the unknown is running against the boys, but it was also going to be an unknown running against the girls because she hadn’t met this kind of class yet,” said de Kock of Curious Girl, who flashed her stamina with victory over 2,400m at Scottsville two starts back on Feb 15.

“She’s been quite a late maturer and every month that goes by she’s putting her hand up more and more, saying that she’s a top horse.

“She’s on the upward trend and even from her last race to now, she’s improved again. It’s going to be interesting to see how she goes.”

Curious Girl’s main dangers look to come out of the Listed WSB Hawwaam Stakes (2,000m), which Diogenes, a progeny of the race namesake, won from Texas Missile and Master Spy.

“It’s a pretty wide-open race. There’s a lot of talk about Diogenes and I quite liked the way Master Spy finished off his race in the Derby trial. I think those two for me are the main dangers,” said de Kock.

The lead-up to the Derby will provide a thrilling backdrop to the three-year-old feature, with three Grade 1 races setting the tone.

The 1 million rand Grade 1 Empress Club Stakes (1,600m) is carded as Race 6 on the Singapore Pools’ South Africa race card and run on April 4 at 8.25pm (Singapore time).

It is followed by the 1 million rand Grade 1 Computaform Sprint (1,000m) slated as Race 7 at 9pm, and the 2 million rand Grade 1 HKJC World Pool Premier’s Champions Challenge (2,000m) run as Race 8 at 9.35pm.

Double Grand Slam looks set to start a short favourite in the Empress Club Stakes, after her last-start success in the Grade 1 Majorca Stakes (1,600m) at Kenilworth on Jan 31.

The Computaform Sprint looks to be at the mercy of Grade 1-proven galloper Buffalo Storm Cody. However, defending champion William Robertson and Kingdundee are among those who will have other ideas.

The brilliant See It Again is favoured to return to the winners’ list in the Premier’s Champions Challenge, two starts after his superb victory in the Grade 1 Cape Town Met (2,000m) at Kenilworth on Jan 31.

The South African Derby is carded as Race 9 and will be run at 10.15pm. HKJC