The Follow-Up: Kensal Green Backs Up Her Turffontein Win
There’s a particular kind of horse that racing people keep an eye on: not the once-off flash of brilliance, but the one that keeps turning up and doing it again. At Turffontein this week, the three-year-old filly Kensal Green did exactly that, following up an eleven-day-old win with another in the WWW.TAB.CO.ZA FM 95 Divided Handicap over 1600m.
It was her second win on the bounce at the same track, having crossed the line first at Turffontein on 5 July over 1400m before stepping up in trip and doing it again this week. Before this pair of wins, Kensal Green had already banked four victories from a dozen career starts for owners Messrs M J Kapnias and A M Kapnias, rated 99 on the official handicap — a mark that put her among the better-weighted runners in the field, carrying 59.5kg on the day.
In the saddle both times was Rachel Venniker, South Africa’s only female professional jockey and a rider whose profile has grown fast since she took the champion apprentice title in back-to-back seasons in 2022 and 2023. Venniker made history in 2024 as the first woman to ride in the Hollywoodbets Durban July, and has since ridden internationally, including a winning start at the International Jockeys’ Challenge in Saudi Arabia. Back on home soil at Turffontein, the partnership with Kensal Green has clearly clicked — two runs, two wins, and a filly who looks to be building some real momentum on the Highveld.
Turffontein itself has a habit of rewarding horses who keep finding for pressure — the Standside track’s long uphill sweep to the final turn is one of the most searching tests in the country, and it tends to sort out which horses are training on and which aren’t. Kensal Green’s climb from an eighth-placed run back in May to back-to-back wins in July suggests she’s very much on the right side of that ledger.
If you’re following today’s Turffontein card, the full racecard and form guide is at cfox.co.za/predictions.
