The Gr 2 Independent On Saturday Drill Hall Stakes over 1400m at Saturday’s Champions Season opening meeting could virtually be called the ‘Mike Bass Stakes’ as he has five runners in the twelve horse field. Bass looks to hold the trump card in an earlier event, the Gr 2 KRA Fillies Guineas, with the dual Gr 1-winning Trippi filly Inara.

The masterful Cape trainer’s assistant trainer Robert Fayd’Herbe has relocated from Johannesburg to Summerveld for the Champions Season and said that the Drill Hall would be used as a preparation event for all of Helderberg Blue, Ashton Park, Night Trip, Ze Kaiser and Mountain Master.

Inara (Liesl King)

However, he was more bullish about the chances of Inara. He said she had been “doing alright” and “would be quite fit, although she might just need it a little”. The yard gave her “a bit of a holiday” after she had won both the Gr 1 Maine Chance Paddock Stakes over 1800m and the Gr 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes over 1600m in January. Fayd’Herbe admitted that she was not easy to judge because “she shows nothing at home.”

Inara and fellow Vodacom Durban July entry Helderberg Blue, who ran an excellent second in the J&B Met, were certainly looking pictures of health at Summerveld on Tuesday morning. The temperamental Helderberg Blue has a new friend, the recently retired Epic Tale, who accompanies him wherever he goes to the extent that he walks alongside him when ringing in the mornings. The nervous Jet Master gelding won his maiden over 1400m, but Fayd’Herbe confirmed that the Drill Hall trip is a little bit on the sharp side for him these days.

Ashton Park has won six times over 1400m and looked a bit of an unlucky loser over this distance in his penultimate start in the Gr 2 Hawaii Stakes when charging home to lose by just 0,75 lengths after taking too long to find a clear run. He is a bit of a headstrong sort and pulling for his head early cost him in his next run in the Gr 1 HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes. He is now back to his favourite trip, but a big downside is that he is drawn eleven which will be a particular disadvantage for one who either needs cover from off the pace or needs to be in front.

Fayd’Herbe regards Night Trip as at his best from 1400-1600m. The yard have often lamented how good he would be if he reproduced his homework. His last win was in the Listed Darley Arabian over 1600m on the Greyville Polytrack, so he does enjoy tight tracks and from draw two he has a chance of earning if putting his best foot forward.

Mountain Master is the third of the Bass July entries and has won over course and distance before, but that was off a merit rating of 77 in a handicap and in this class he would be much better suited to 1800m and upward.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Liesl King