Vaal-based trainer Dominic Zaki will raid KZN for Super Saturday at Greyville this weekend with a string of three horses and has two lively chances of Gr 1 success.

In the Gr 1 eLan Property Group Gold Cup over 3200m he runs the Jet Master gelding Storm Warning, who bounced back to his best last time out when sauntering to a five length victory over 3000m on the Turffontein Inside Track, having made up ground quickly in the straight from last.

Zaki said Storm Warning had been doing very well and gave him a big chance provided he travelled well. The gelding lost his form earlier this season due to a breathing issue but his last two runs have shown that the wind operation he has had has been successful.

Storm Warning will stay every inch of the Gold Cup trip. On top of his easy win over 3000m last time out he also finished a narrow second in last season’s Gr 2 Gold Bowl over 3200m on the Turffontein Standside track. He ran off a 94 merit rating in the Gold Bowl and now runs off a 95. He was given a maximum six point raise for that last run, but actually ran to a higher rating, so this makes him one of the best handicapped runners on current form.

He has also had the advantage of altitude training. He has the turn of foot necessary for the tight Greyville track and could be a big runner if producing his best. Zaki said a “bad draw is a bad draw but” was not too overly concerned about Storm Warning’s barrier 16 position over a trip of this length. Furthermore, when dropped out to last in his last run, he settled beautifully in behind horses before turning it on impressively in the straight. Craig Zackey will be champion apprentice by Saturday and has formed a good partnership with the gelding.

Zaki runs the classy Toreador gelding Prospect Strike in the Gr 1 Premiers Champion Stakes over 1600m and said if it were not for his wide draw he would have made him a “massive runner.” This horse’s two wins over 1200m and 1400m respectively were by 12,75 and 4,6 lengths and in his only other start he finished a fine 2,65 length third in the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion over 1200m at Scottsville, when running on strongly from an unfavourable draw. Prospect Strike has an interesting story behind his breeding. She was bred by the Tawny Syndicate and is owned by two of this syndicate’s members, Larry Nestadt and Greg Blank, in partnership with Knut Haug.

Nestadt and Blank found his Mr Prospector dam, Prospect Fever, in Australia and brought her back to South Africa. Their reasoning was not only that Mr Prospector mares were hard to come by but that she would also likely be an excellent mating for their Danehill stallion Toreador. This was partly due to the famous Northern Dancer-Mr Prospector nick. Toreador is from the Northern Dancer sire line and Prospect Fever herself has the Mr Prospector-Northern Dancer cross close up in her pedigree.

Furthermore, Prospect Fever had already produced the Gr 3-winning Danehill colt Way West, who became known as a speed influential sire at Summerhill Stud. Way West won an Australian Gr 3 over 1100m as a two-year-old in 2004, beating the now sort after sire Oratorio, so it is not surprising that his three parts brother Prospect Strike is also packed with precocious speed. Prospect Strike is in fact the third Toreador foal that Prospect Fever has produced and this emphasises the vagaries of breeding as the other pair, Abstract and Portrait, have not amounted to much, having won just three minor races between them, all over 1200m.

However, Zaki felt that this gelding was now looking for this 1600m trip, and he certainly gave that impression in his last start. He will have the advantage of a champion jockey aboard as Gavin Lerena would have officially secured the title the previous evening. Zaki predicted Prospect Strike would be “up there” in the running in order to overcome the draw.

Zaki was also bullish about the chances of his promising Fort Beluga filly Cataluga, who runs in a MR78 Handicap for fillies and mares over 1000m on the polytrack. She has two wins from four starts over this distance and her breeding suggests she should enjoy the polytrack.

David Thiselton