Glen Kotzen is bullish about the chances of his charge Light The Lights in Saturday’s Gr 1 Daily News 2000 and champion trainer Justin Snaith expects a much better showing from his talented sort Ultimate Dollar.

Kotzen said, “Light the Lights is doing great, I am really pleased, he is fit and well and drawn well and is going over his right trip for the first time. His grass gallop for this race was the KRA Guineas and he has come on for it. This will be his test to see whether he can make it into the July field and he will need to be in the first three to do so.”

Kotzen was confident that the Western Winter colt could achieve the latter goal and spoke of how well this horse had filled out lately. Kotzen has always viewed him as a sort that would only come into his own in the latter part of this season and the Vodacom Durban July has been this target from a long time ago.

Light The Lights has followed the identical route into the big race that Kotzen’s 2009 July winner Big City Life did, although he has a long way to go to fill the latter’s boots. The current three-year-old males are not being viewed as a vintage crop and Light The Lights’ task of making the first three on Saturday have been made harder by the entry of the filly Siren’s Call, who is one of the best of an outstanding three-year-old filly’s crop.

Furthermore, the Gr 1 SA Classic one-two-three, French Navy, Amsterdam and Deputy Jud, as well as the Gr 1 Investec Cape Derby winner Ertijaal, have all entered the fray. Light The Lights’ great sire Western Winter is usually viewed as a speed influence, but his Northern Guest dam First Arrival won a Gr 3 over 2000m, so he should relish the trip. He found the rail from a plum draw in the KRA Guineas and stayed on well for third. However, on that form he has 2,75 lengths to make up on The Conglomerate and 0,75 lengths to make up on Mac De Lago. He has landed another fine draw of three and regular rider Greg Cheyne will be aboard.

Ultimate Dollar, a gelding by Jet Master, has always struck as one who will relish this trip. His run in the KRA Guineas, when finishing a 5,95 length twelfth, can’t be taken literally as he is sort who takes a while to wind up into his big action and on that occasion he got stuck behind the pacemaker Riff Raff, who was going backwards before the turn. It badly affected his momentum. He is drawn perfectly in five on Saturday with Richard Fourie up and Snaith said, “I’m not saying he would have won the Guineas but he would have finished three lengths back instead of five lengths and I have been waiting to put him over 2000m for a long time.”

Ultimate Dollar’s dam Mkushi Gold by Western Winter was stakes-placed and won from 1200-1600m and she is a half-sister to both a stakes-winning sprinter and a stakes-winning stayer.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Glen Kotzen