The long road to the winner’s enclosure
Every racing yard has one — a horse that keeps doing almost everything right except cross the line first. Mount Darwin, trained by Midrand handler Stuart Pettigrew, was that horse heading into Thursday’s card at the Vaal. Twelve starts in, the win column still read zero, even as the placings piled up: second, second, second again in its last three runs alone, the kind of form that has a stable believing the breakthrough is close without quite knowing when it’ll arrive.
It arrived in style. Mount Darwin finally got its head in front at start number thirteen, turning a long run of nearly-theres into the result the yard had been waiting for.
A good day for the stable
It wasn’t a solo effort, either — stablemate Never Never Land had already saluted earlier on the same card, giving Pettigrew’s operation a double on the day. Pettigrew’s stable, based in Midrand, has built its name over the years on patient placement and horses that come good with time rather than out of the gate — Thursday’s card was that philosophy paying off twice over.
For Mount Darwin’s connections, it was the kind of result that makes every one of those twelve placed-but-not-quite runs feel worth the wait.
If you’re following today’s Vaal card, the full racecard and form guide is at cfox.co.za/predictions.
