The Flamingo Mile, Kimberley’s biggest race, turned into a family triumph for the Marwings last weekend.

Uncle Tommy, trained by Weho Marwing at Turffontein, was ridden to a facile victory by his nephew Wesley whose father, internationally renowned jockey Weichong, was on course to cheer the team on.

Uncle Tommy’s nine lengths victory was a continuation of the six-year-old’s good run of form on sand surfaces and suggested he might be a major factor in the upcoming sand season at the Vaal.

The scratching of champion trainer Mike de Kock’s candidate Right Beauty robbed the field of a little star quality, but the 13 remaining runners still looked a pretty useful line-up.

Raiding trainers included former champion Geoff Woodruff and recent championship contender Sean Tarry, from Joburg; while the race favourite Shadow Line, was saddled by Scott Kenny from the Vaal.

Marwing, taking 2.5kg off the 60kg top weight, moved the six-year-old Uncle Tommy up the middle of the course and it never really looked like any other horse would have a sniff of a chance as he skipped clear and kept extending his lead to claim the non-Black Type feature.

Owned by Hassen Adams and bred at Summerhill Stud, Uncle Tommy was a R2.4-million buy on the National Yearling Sale. He has now won nine times from 34 starts and his earnings are approaching R700,000.

Originally raced in Cape Town, with some success, he switched to the Marwing yard in August last year and has enjoyed a career resurgence on the Vaal sand.

Local trainer Sarel von Willingh Smit claimed the honours in the second feature of the day, the Bettingworld Sprint. His charge Mr Vindaloo, ridden with good timing by another hometown Kimberley boy, Julius Mariba held off a flying Kinematic Countess for his fourth win in a row.

The third feature on the Flamingo Park card, the Non-Black Type Diamond Stayers, went the way of the 10-year-old Key Castle from the Port Elizabeth yard of Jacques Strydom.