The Dennis Drier-trained dual Gr 1-winner Captain Of All will stake a claim to be named the best sprinter in the country at Greyville on Saturday when lining up in the weight for age Gr 1 Mercury Sprint over 1200m.

The four-year-old Captain Al colt carried topweight to an impressive victory in the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint over 1200m last time out and worked like a bomb in his final serious preparation gallop on the top sand track at Summerveld yesterday under his big race rider Sean Cormack.

Drier said, “He’s come out of his last run like a dream. His final sprint up this morning (Tuesday) was out of the top drawer and let’s hope we can pull it off and send him off to stud on a high note. He’s an absolute gentleman, he’s an easy horse to ride and in the Gr 1 Premier’s Championship over 1400m (which he ran in as a two-year-old after winning the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion over 1200m at Scottsville) he was beaten short-head, short-head in the soft, nothing wrong with that performance, so I’m sure Greyville will be no issue for him at all.”

Drier also regards his barrier position of seven in the eleven horse field as a “fantastic draw”.

The bay is quite tall and is powerfully built, a really good looking specimen, and on weight for age terms he won’t be easy to beat.

Captain Of All is competing for Equus Champion Sprinter with the two three-year-old fillies Alboran Sea and Carry On Alice. The former has been retired and the latter is running in The Mercury.

Captain of All failed by a whisker to catch Alboran Sea in the Gr 1 Cape Flying Championships over 1000m, with Carry On Alice third, and was beaten 4 lengths and 3,3 lengths respectively by the pair in the Gr 1 Computaform Sprint over 1000m.

His subsequent Tsogo Sun win over 1200m was a fantastic performance, but interestingly Carry On Alice’s time in the Gr 1 City Of Pietermaritzburg Sprint on the same day over the same trip, in which she beat Alboran Sea, was run in a time 0,07 seconds quicker than Captain Of All’s. Furthermore, she will now be receiving both an age and a gender allowance, which together add up to 3kg, so on paper she is the main danger.

Drier runs the four-year-old Solskjaer filly Red Label in the Listed Off To Stud Stakes over 1600m on the polytrack. She was beaten 1,75 lengths over the course and distance by Euphoria last time out and will now be 1kg worse off because the suppressed, banded merit-rating handicap conditions of this race favour the higher merit rated horses. Furthermore, she has landed a wide draw, although in her favour is that she clearly loves the poly. She is effective over this trip and stayed on well last time, although she might possibly prefer 1400m.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Captain Of All (Nkosi Hlophe)