A Guineas Heroine Finds Her Feet Again
Not every top-class filly gets to announce herself quite like Quickstepgal did. A R450,000 buy at the 2024 KZN Yearling Sale, she was still a juvenile when she took out the World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas at Kenilworth — a Grade 1, and the first of its kind for trainer Tienie Prinsloo. That’s the kind of result that follows a horse around for the rest of its career, for better and for worse.
The “worse” came in January, when a step up into the Maine Chance Farms Majorca Stakes at Kenilworth — another Grade 1, against open-age fillies and mares — saw her finish well beaten in 14th. It’s the sort of form line that can make a punter forget a horse was ever a Group performer at all.
Building Back, One Run At A Time
Quickstepgal didn’t need long to remind everyone what she’s capable of. Back down in trip and class, she found minor placings in a couple of starts at Greyville through March and May, the kind of runs that quietly rebuild a filly’s confidence without asking too much of her. Then, on 6 June, she went to Greyville for the HKJC World Pool Stakes over 1400m and got the job done in front, with Keagan de Melo doing the steering.
Today, back at the same track over the extra two furlongs in the Ridgemont Garden Province Stakes, she did it again. Carrying 59kg and dropping half a kilo off her last-run weight, Quickstepgal travelled to the front and made every yard count, giving connections back-to-back wins at a track that’s clearly come to suit her. It’s taken her from a Grade 1 winner, through a chastening run against the open-age brigade, to a filly finding her form at exactly the right time of year.
Home Comforts
Greyville has form for producing horses that specialise on its unique pear-shaped circuit, with its long, rising run to the line rewarding a filly who can sustain a true gallop. Quickstepgal’s record there now reads three wins from her last six visits — the kind of numbers that make a course specialist. For Prinsloo’s yard, a Guineas winner rediscovering her spark on home turf is exactly the story a stable needs heading into the second half of the season.
If you’re following today’s Greyville card, the full racecard and form guide is at cfox.co.za/predictions.
