It’s still early days but Justin Snaith will have been well pleased with what he saw in the Listed Sledgehammer Handicap at Greyville yesterday as two of his Vodacom Durban July entries put up their hands. But Snaith will not have been the only one with his head resting easy on his pillow last night; fellow Cape Town colleagues Candice-Bass Robinson and Brett Crawford will have been equally comfortable come bedtime.

Snaith’s gelding Elusive Silva under Anthony Delpech came home lonely in the Sledgehammer and was eased up before the line while stable companion Prince Of Wales came from well off the pace to snatch second.

Anthony Delpech (Liesl King)

It was a race tailor made for the pair and a good blow-out for things to come.

Both have been relatively lightly raced but Winter Derby winner Elusive Silva will have his July odds slashed by the time you read this, this morning. This was his first outing since the Derby back in June last year and a ‘tweaked’ muscle at the pull-up was responsible for the interim break and also missing the Cape Summer Season. But this was an excellent return to the track and there will be a few punters looking to nail the early worm this morning but it may already be too late.

Prince Of Wales was also returning from a break and made up plenty of ground in the stretch to get up for second and he too will be a lot shorter in the market come opening time.

Also smiling yesterday will have been Candice Bass-Robinson and Brett Crawford. Bass-Robinson was handed a stable full of talent that also included a ladle full of pressure when her father handed over his license to his daughter as along with the package came the R5 million yearling buy, Horizon.

As most racing sceptics will attest, yearling price seldom equals a return on the track, but Horizon has given himself and his owners a chance. By super sire Dynasty out of a full sister to another champion sire, Silvano, few pedigrees boast more blue-blood. A winner of the Gr3 Politician Stakes, the Gr 2 Daisy Guineas in a fort night’s time will add lustre to Horizon’s track record but the Gr1 Daily News 2000 and the Gr1 Vodacom Durban July would cement his place as he is a horse that appears to be looking for further than eight furlongs.

The scratching of Epona will have left a gap in the betting for the Listed The Scarlet Lady, but Corne Offer made the most of her absence as he drove Crawford’s runner to a comfortable victory. The daughter of Ideal World had the race won a long way out but the back-up pf traffic behind her will give fuel to some thought.

The start of racing was delayed for half-an-hour as there was an issue with the placement of the starting stalls on a narrowed tack.

By Andrew Harrison