Michael Clower
RAINBOW BRIDGE, winner of the 2019 Sun Met and a string of other big races including the Champions Cup and the Gold Challenge, makes his eagerly-awaited reappearance in the Tabonline.co.za Pinnacle Stakes over 1 400m at Kenilworth today when rising star Luke Ferraris will ride him in public for the first time.
The six-year-old opened a prohibitive 3-10 when World Sports Betting opened its book (on adjusted ratings he has the proverbial stone in hand). But there will be almost as much interest in African Night Sky who runs for the first time since his controversial run in the 2018 Vodacom Durban July.
“Rainbow Bridge has been doing pretty well but he is nowhere near fit yet,” said Eric Sands this morning. Sands is already eyeing the Green Point Stakes at the Cape Town course on December 12. “My aim is the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate (Jan 9) and the Met three weeks later. I want the Queen’s Plate to be his third run back and the Met his fourth of the campaign because his second run of the season can be a little bit flat even though he always runs well in it. Luke rode the horse in a spin on Saturday and did so again this morning.”
Stable companion and half-brother Golden Ducat will return at Kenilworth on December 2. “We had a little hiccup with him so he is not as fit as he might be. He will gallop this week and will come back in a progress plate, either over a mile or over 1 200m.”
African Night Sky started a warm favourite for the 2018 July but the slow gallop proved fatal. He fought for his head and for rider Grant van Niekerk the race turned into a living nightmare. In a last, despairing throw of the dice he decided to give the horse his head and let him go. Not surprisingly his mount tired before the end and finished a bitterly expensive fifth. “They went slower and slower but I thought that if I went on the horse would settle,” Van Niekerk explained afterwards.
The jockey was widely, and unfairly, criticised by the riders in the stands – his mount’s defeat was guaranteed once he started fighting his jockey – and significantly this season’s leading Cape Town rider is back on him on Wednesday.
Owner Fred Crabbia transferred the horse from Justin Snaith to Dean Kannemeyer, possibly to race in Dubai, but he damaged a tendon and couldn’t go. He was returned to Snaith last December.
“Obviously he hasn’t raced for a long time but everything has gone well and I’m looking for a nice positive run,” said Justin today.
He also runs Wild Coast on whom Richard Fourie will be hoping to celebrate Wednesday’s 35th birthday in appropriate style. “It’s a strong field but Wild Coast has been doing well at home and we are looking for a good run to give us confidence for the future, “ said the trainer.
Vaughan Marshall is also double-handed with Silver Operator and Captain Of Stealth who looked a future star when winning his first two races last season by an aggregate of almost 12 lengths. Then disaster struck. In a freak accident he wrapped himself below the joint and just above the coronet. Many thought he would never race again but Vaughan Marshall predicted ten months off.
He has had two runs this season and Marshall said today: ”He is just about back to his best but it hasn’t been plain sailing and he has had a lot of little minor issues including bouts of urticaria.”
The trainer probably has a better chance with his other runner Silver Operator, the mount of four-time champion Anton Marcus – “He has done very well and I am very happy with him.”
The Paul Reeves-trained Photocopy completes the line-up but he is the rank outsider.
Latest betting: 3-10 Rainbow Bridge, 8-1 Wild Coast, 17-2 Silver Operator, 15-1 African Night Sky, 18-1 Captain Of Stealth, 20-1 Photocopy.
