Jan van Goyen was one of the lesser-known Dutch masters who painted during the 17th century. He was best known for landscapes in which some two-thirds of the painting was devoted to sky, producing a remarkable mixture of colour and white clouds.
While he might not be as well known as the likes of Rembrandt and Jan van Eyck, based on the first run, his equine namesake has the potential to bring that name to the forefront of horseracing followers.
Trained by Mike and Mathew de Kock, Jan Van Goyen could hardly have been more impressive when justifying betting support to make a winning introduction over 1160m at Turffontein on 3 June. The two-year-old son of Master Of My Fate was backed in from an opening of 7-1 to go off at the 3-1 and never looked like getting beaten as he romped to a 4.50-kength victory over Chapbook.
Jan Van Goyen makes a quick reappearance at Turffontein on Sunday in Race 2, a Juvenile Plate over 1160m again, and there will have to be something special in that line-up to lower his colours.
The fact that he will be running again so soon suggests two things. The first is that he took his last run well and the second is that a visit or two to Hollywoodbets Greyville for the two upcoming juvenile feature races — the Grade 2 Golden Horseshoe over 1400m on the Hollywoodbets Durban July card and the Grade 1 Premiers Champion Stakes over 1600m on 27 July – is likely.
While two-year-olds do not get an official merit rating, the handicappers do keep unofficial ratings, and the debut performance of Jan Van Goyen was enough to get him a rating of 96. Callan Murray rode him on debut and he will be back in the irons on Sunday.
Sean Tarry sends out Shadowfax in the same race and this grey son of One World ran reasonably well on debut. There is an old axiom which states that it’s not how you start, but how you finish that applies to this colt.
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Also competing over 1160m at Turffontein, he was not in the race until the closing stages when he flew up last to finish a 1.50-length second behind Victory In Orleans. He returned with a scalp wound which could not have helped his cause but his time of 22.2 seconds for the final 400m is quite incredible.
Shadowfax went off at 10-1 that day but that will not be the case this time and he stands out as the major threat to Jan Van Goyen and is the runner with whom to take Exactas. It is also worth noting that Richard Fourie has been engaged to ride him this time.
Mike and Adam Azzie-trained Claw, a lightly raced and maturing son of Horizon, was rewarded for his consistency with a deserved last-start success and returns to the scene of that victory four weeks ago in Race 8, a MR 100 Handicap over 1600m.
The four-year-old gelding was given a confident ride by reigning champion apprentice Kobeli Lihaba when winning over the same course and distance last time, and a subsequent three-point rise for that workmanlike success seems rather lenient, so should not halt the Azzie runner’s winning momentum.
There was a lot to like about the manner in which two-year-old filly Versace Onthetrack won last time. The former, a grey daughter of Danon Platina, confirmed the promise of her debut second by winning next time out over 1000m at the same venue and a step up to 1160m in the opener should unlock further improvement. She could provide bettors with some value in Race 1.
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