Andre Nel, preparing for his first assault on a Gauteng Grade 1, took the progressive Kampala Campari to Kenilworth for a work-out last Saturday.

“Grant van Niekerk rode him in a gallop over 1 400m and he went well,” said Nel who reckons Saturday week’s SA Classic is a better option than Cape Town’s Winter Series for the colt who has won two of his three starts. “The Classic is no stronger than a Winter Series race and it is worth eight times the money.”

Andre Nel (Supplied)

Nel is fully aware that he has the altitude to contend with but he believes that the results of a recent recce put him in good stead, saying: “I sent five horses up there by float and, while two didn’t handle the going, the other three were placed.”

Philae, who has also won two out of three, runs in the Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic but SA Classic entry Loadshedder goes for the presumably easier pickings of the East Cape Guineas at Fairview tomorrow week.

Ngaga, the forgotten member of the Plattner Racing three-year-old line-up, has not been seen since making it three out of three at Kenilworth on New Year’s Eve but Igugu’s half-sister is on the way back.

Nel said: “She strained a suspensory in that last race and, while it wasn’t career-threatening, I had to back off and rest her. I had been planning to run her in the Investec Cape Derby – and I think she would have run very well. She came back into work last Friday and she will run in the Winter Series assuming it doesn’t come too soon for her.”

Riaan van Reenen will run Cape Guineas fourth Elevated, also runner-up in the Cape Classic, in a 1 400m Pinnacle at Kenilworth on Saturday week.

He said: “I put him in the 1 200m handicap this Saturday but it would only have been a grass gallop and it makes more sense to run him over 1 400m as he is going to run in the Winter Guineas on April 22.”

By Michael Clower