Justin Snaith has scratched the Byerley Turk runner up Baritone from the Vodacom Durban July following his disappointing Canon Guineas run last Friday night, but is upbeat about his respective Canon Guineas and Daisy Guineas winners Black Arthur and Bela-Bela.

He said Baritone had pulled up a bit “jarred up” and had also “choked up” due to the pressure of the tight finish in a fast run race.

The current restrictions placed on travel back to Cape Town, due to a recent case of African Horse Sickness (AHS) in the AHS Surveillance Zone, means Baritone has no option but to stay put in KZN.

Snaith said the Trippi colt would be monitored before a new route was decided upon. He believed there would be a question mark over the Daily News 2000 trip, but would nominate him for the Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge and check how strong the field was before accepting.

Otherwise a race like the Listed Darley Arabian over 1600m on the poly on Super Saturday could be an option.

Black Arthur has been accorded a 106 merit rating and Bela-Bela 107.

As things stand this would see them in the July with the minimum respective weights for three-year-olds of 53kg for a male and 52kg for a filly, although Black Arthur would officially be 2kg under sufferance and Bela-Bela 0,5kg under sufferance.

Snaith said a lot of thought would have to be put into planning their SA Champions season routes from here but added, “The main thing is they have both pulled up out of their races in fantastic shape.”

By David Thiselton

Picture: Baritone (Nkosi Hlophe)