Callan Murray, Warren Kennedy, S’Manga Khumalo and Keagan de Melo all fly in this morning to do battle with the Cape Town jockeys at Durbanville and Murray can start the ball rolling on Duchess Of State in the 1.35pm opener.
This is one of five rides he has for Candice Bass-Robinson who asked him to come down and the filly is odds-on to make up for two close seconds at Kenilworth. She has the considerable advantage of being drawn on the inside.
“I’m not sure that Durbanville is the ideal course for Duchess Of State and she would prefer further,” qualifies the Milnerton trainer. “But she will have a good chance and she stands out.”
The fact that last time the filly’s jockey (De Melo) reported that she changed stride continually is a concern but Mrs Bass-Robinson explains: “She is a big long-striding filly and she can get unbalanced. The going that day was heavy and she is still a bit weak.”
At the time of writing none of the others is priced below 10-1 but Over The Way and At Your Request are two to bear in mind.
Track Attack, a R5.2 million Dynasty half-brother to Summer Cup winner Yorker, impressed in a barrier trial in Durban and was fancied to make a winning racecourse debut here last month – only for it all to go pear-shaped when Morne Winnaar on Hubble stole a march on the rest of the field.
The Dean Kannemeyer hope was beaten nine lengths but he should gain compensation in the mile maiden. He opened favourite at 19-10 with Kennedy’s mount Captain Flinders next on 15-4 on the strength of a succession of good runs. Significantly the Captain is the highest rated horse in the field and this time he races without the blinkers he has been wearing.
“He does need blinkers but he also needs 2 000m and he is a bit too keen when he races with the blinds on,” explains Eric Sands and so seemingly the horse could be vulnerable. Captain Turk is a big price at 13-2 and may well get into the shake-up.
As a general rule it pays to bet against four-year-olds in maidens even though they are much better treated than on the weight-for-age scale – the reason is that the younger horses tend to have more improvement in them – and the Snaith-trained Double Crown is taken to confirm last time’s form with the older Khopesh in the Tabonline.co.za Maiden (race three). The pair opened joint favourites at 28-10.
Black Knap ran away with things over a furlong less in that race last month and the rest finished out with the washing but Richard Fourie’s mount makes more appeal than his rival.
However Maningi Indaba may fly the flag for the older generation in the Betting World Maiden. Greg Cheyne’s mount has strong form claims and looks value at 4-1 despite not being well drawn.
By Michael Clower
