From The Horse's Mouth - Mark Van Deventer

Trainer Tony Peter won a third straight Lebelo Sprint when Taxi to the Moon (s/s 105) sustained a strong gallop all the way to hold out Truth s/s 104. The runner up had also raced handy, towards the outer, but could not get to Taxi to the Moon.

Peter also saddled third placed Pistol Pete s/s 103 who stayed on quickly under a heavy weight.

Charge It s/s 97, winner of the War of Athena, is a full sister to Surcharge who won Gr 1’s in Australia under the name of Yulong Prince. She was positioned on the rail in midfield and made smooth progress when the speed fell away. She is trained by Alyson Wright.

Charge It defeated Soldier’s Eye s/s 96 and Gerbera s/s 95.

Callmegterix s/s 105 received a beautiful ride by Mickaele Michel to win a Pinnacle Stakes and continue her excellent form on the Highveld for Sean Tarry.

She consistently hits smart figures in the band between 100 and 105 and was always going comfortably tracking pacemaker, Son Of Raj. After making a decisive move in mid-stretch, she had the race sewn up. Callmegtrix was followed in by a well beaten, The Equator s/s 99 who has three times run in the upper 90’s without quite being able to get into triple digits.

One Stripe’s s/s of 113 was his peak effort in SA before being shipped to America. Any horse leaving SA goes through a rigorous and grueling odyssey to reach their intended destination and it is touch and go whether they fulfill their potential on distant shores.

After a couple of prep runs (which were somewhat rushed) he appears to have eventually settled in under trainer Graham Motion and won authoritatively at Gulfstream Park. Jockey, John Velazquez made a race-winning move at just the right moment – whilst bad things were happening to market rival General Davis who was trapped in a pocket on the bend.

It remains to be seen if his North American career takes off. He won untroubled, but will need to at least equal or preferably improve on his best SA 3yo figure to make an impact.

To provide historical context, his top South African speed score of 113 compares just fine to the local figs of other well-performed exports such as JJ the Jet Plane s/s 115, Variety Club s/s 114 Surcharge s/s 112, National Colour s/s 111, Private Jet s/s 109 and s/s Shea Shea s/s 111.