Maine Chance Farms’ G1 winning sire Querari was back in the headlines on Saturday when his talented son Head Honcho romped to a three and a half length win in the G2 Premier Trophy at Kenilworth.

Bred and owned by Sabine Plattner, the five-year-old gelding benefitted from a superb ride from rider Keagan De Melo, who settled Head Honcho just off the front running Milton early on.
De Melo asked his mount to quicken with 300m left to run, and the pair stayed on to record an emphatic victory in the R400 000 feature over 1800 metres.

In landing the first G2 win of his career, Head Honcho accounted for a high class field, with G1 Vodacom Durban July runner up Made To Conquer finishing second, ahead of multiple G1 winner Eyes Wide Open and former G1 Cape Guineas victor Tap O’ Noth taking the fourth spot.

Trained by Andre Nel, Head Honcho, a winner of six of his last seven races, has now won eight of his 17 outings, with Saturday’s victory taking the gelding’s earnings to over R1 000 000.

He has now won three in a row, with Head Honcho’s previous wins including the G3 Betting World 2200 run on Vodacom Durban July day earlier this year.

His in-form sire Querari, whose recent feature race winners include the likes of Pleasedtomeetyou and Arianos Shadow, has 15 lots on January’s Cape Premier Yearling Sale including a half-brother (Lot 70) to G3 winner Crowd Pleaser, a colt (Lot 97) out of six time stakes winner Lielums, and a half-brother to G3 Cape Of Good Hope Nursery winner Dutch Philip.