Katak has opened favourite at even money to extend his unbeaten run to four in the Abe Bloomberg Legal Eagle Stakes (Winter Classic) at Kenilworth on Saturday despite Piet Steyn’s openly expressed concerns about the expected soft ground.

Politician winner Silver Host, representing the powerful Justin Snaith-Richard Fourie combination, is second favourite at 33-10 and Super Silvano (Brett Crawford-Corne Orffer) next on 9-2. The only other runner quoted at less than 15-1 is Black Knap who has a bit to find according to the handicappers but has won over the trip and was having his first race for seven months when beating all except Nexus in a pinnacle 16 days ago. The colt is trained by Vaughan Marshall and ridden by M.J. Byleveld, a combination successful with Tales Of Bravery in this race ten years ago.

Snaith and his stable jockey stand out in the card as a whole. They have the early favourite, plus one joint favourite, in six of the nine races and two of their favourites are odds-on.

Grant van Niekerk’s best chance of a winner on his return would appear to be Cruise Along in the Casey Bloomberg Ladies Mile. The Candice Bass-Robinson filly is 5-1 joint third favourite.

Matthew The King, impressive at Durbanville first time but no match for the high class Erik The Red in the Kuda Somerset, goes again at Kenilworth on Monday in the Investing Made Easy Juvenile Plate. Byleveld, who rode the smart Greg Ennion-trained colt on debut, is back on board.

By Michael Clower