Three of the best of last season’s Cape Town two-year-olds reappear against older horses at Durbanville tomorrow and the Racing.It’s A Rush Handicap looks by far the most significant race on the card.
Sergeant Hardy beat Attenborough and Our Mate Art in the Cape Of Good Hope Nursery over this trip at Kenilworth in May – with recent winner Bishop’s Bounty fourth – and in the Langerman next time Our Mate Art, a close second, had Attenborough two lengths back.
But it’s the Joey Ramsden horse that should come out best of the three. He started favourite for the Cape Nursery but was found to have mucus in his lungs immediately after the race, and in the Langerman he failed to stay the 1 500m after over-racing early on. Also he was conceding 3kg and here he meets Grant van Niekerk’s mount at levels.
The question is whether he is fit enough after three months off. “I would hope so, yes,” is Ramsden’s answer and the July-winning trainer confirms that the colt has done a fair bit of work.
The same query, only more so, applies to Sergeant Hardy who has been off for four months. “It’s hard to say,” replies Justin Snaith. “But he has had a gallop and he will run his race.” However the trainer adds that conceding 1.5kg to Attenborough “won’t be easy.”
With Our Mate Art, who is running for the first time since the Langerman, it’s as much a matter of whether this 1 200m will be too short. “Not necessarily – and he is doing well,” says Candice Bass-Robinson who adds that this is a prep for the Cape Classic on October 29. “But I would like to see him settle better than he did last time.”
With such talent in the field – and the older horses are hard to fancy – it might sound sacrilege to name another three-year-old to beat the big three but Vaughan Marshall thinks so much of Rock Of Africa that this one gets the vote.
The gelding’s trainer is convinced that he would have won the Graduation (in which Bishop’s Bounty lowered the colours of the useful Rodney) 11 days ago had the race been run to suit the horse. MJ Byleveld’s mount receives a significant amount of weight and, although the early 5-1 has already been snapped up, the current 4-1 still appeals. Interestingly this horse is also the prediction of the sahorseracing computer.
Our Mate Art, a little surprisingly considering the shortness of the trip – particularly over this tight course, was yesterday a firm 2-1 favourite with World Sports Betting which has Attenborough next best at 28-10 with Sergeant Hardy a 3-1 chance.
The Snaith horses are fairly burning up the turf at the moment and evens favourite Over Drive in the first is taken to beat Captain’s Version despite the money for the Paddy Kruyer four-year-old who has been backed from 5-1 to 33-10.
The stable introduces Greenflashsunset, a R700 000 half-brother to Legislate, in race three and the colt is favourite at 2-1. But this is a tricky course for newcomers and so Ramsden’s 3-1 shot Rebel Alliance is preferred to 22-10 second favourite Varational.
Michael Clower
