In form Cape trainer Dean Kannemeyer has a strong hand in the Gr 2 Betting World 1900 at Greyville on Friday night where he runs Vodacom Durban July entries Power King, Solar Star and It Is Written.

He said there had been a lot of horses with upper respiratory problems and others that had bled during the Cape Summer Of Champions Season and he was unable to quite pinpoint why his own string had been performing below par, so he had backed off a lot of them and saved them for the  Champions Season. His excellent results since arriving in KZN in March reflect this.

He duly felt that Power King had run below par in the J&B Met when a 4,6 length seventh. However, the Silvano gelding bounced back with a 0,4 length second to Ze Kaiser in the Cape Mile, despite giving the latter 3kg. He then proved he was thriving at Summerveld by winning very well over the too sharp 1400m at Scottsville in his Champions Season pipe opener, beating the subsequent IOS Drill Hall Stakes winner Ice Machine by a comfortable 2,25 lengths at level weights. Power King worked well over 800m on the grass on Monday and Kannemeyer said he had been doing exceptionally well. Officially he is not one of the better weighted horses under the grouped merit rating conditions of the race, but is only 1,5kg out with the two best weighted horses Jet Explorer and Killua Castle. Anthony Delpech wouldn’t have been able to maintain his partnership with Power King, as his guv’nor Mike de Kock has Jayyed engaged, so a former Kannemeyer stable jockey MJ Byleveld is the replacement. They have to overcome a tricky draw of eleven.

Kannemeyer said that he had thought that Solar Star might have needed his first KZN outing over 1600m on the Greyville polytrack, but instead he won “exceptionally well”. He followed up by winning the Listed Sledgehammer over 1750m at Scottsville “very well.” Kannemeyer said this would be the Kahal gelding’s first test but added, “He is on the up and has everything in his favour (good draw),so we will see how good he is.” He is also 1,5kg out with the best in but is drawn well in two with Stuart Randolph up.

Kannemeyer said that he had always felt that It Is Written would be “a miler plus”. This Dynasty gelding has also benefitted from his stay at Summerveld, for after going a bit off form during the Cape summer he bounced back with a facile 4,25 length win in a MR 94 Handicap over 1400m at Scottsville. This prompted Kannemeyer to supplement him for the July.

He is officially 2,5kg worse off than the best weighted horses on Friday night, but is drawn well in five with Warren Kennedy up. He looks to be another one on the up.

Kannemeyer said that Power King, as the proven horse, would probably be his pick if he had to choose one.

Kannemeyer’s champion stayer Hot Ticket worked yesterday under Leon Govender, who has just returned from a spell in Kuwait where he rode 21 winners, including two in big races, The Derby and the King’s Cup. Hot Ticket took a while to get going in typical stayer fashion, but the yard were happy with him and Kannemeyer said that the initial target of this July entry and strong eLan Property Group Gold Cup candidate would be a defence of his crown in the Gr 2 Track And Ball Derby over 2400m at Greyville on June 21. He runs in a Pinnacle Stakes race over 1600m at Greyville on Sunday and among his opponents will be the ruling July favourite Futura.

Kannemeyer said that Sunday’s comfortable Highway Aged Highland Night Cup winner Solid Speed could also be a Gold Cup horse and said that he was a prime example of a horse that had not been ‘right’ during the Cape summer. He was given a three month suspension for bleeding in a race in late November. However, he added that this might have been a “blessing in disguise.”

By David Thiselton

Picture: Power King (Nkosi Hlophe)