The much-travelled Red Ray has just completed a month’s quarantine in South Africa and he has the Mercury Sprint at Greyville on July 16 as a possible target.

Racing manager Derek Brugman said yesterday: “He won’t come back down to Cape Town as he would have to stay for a fortnight in Beaufort West on the way. Instead he will stay in Johannesburg and we will send him to Mike de Kock’s place for them to look after him and we will send him to Durban when Joey Ramsden’s string arrives there.

“The Mercury Sprint could be a target but at this stage that is a long shot. He hasn’t raced for over a year and he suffered a hairline fracture of a front leg above the knee after his one run in Dubai.

“He recovered from that but we will need to do scans to check that the fracture has properly healed for us to start with him.”

Red Ray won the 2013 Cape Classic for Ramsden before going close in the Cape Guineas, Cape Flying Championship and Golden Horse Sprint. He was officially rated the best three-year-old in the country.

He joined De Kock and went via Mauritius to Dubai and Britain but ran only once when only seventh in a Group 2 seven furlong race at Meydan for which he started favourite.

Michael Clower

Picture: Red Ray (Liesl King)