He has not raced since the Golden Horseshoe on July day, when he weakened in the closing stages after leading early on, but Dennis Drier (pictured) confirms that he is reasonably ready.

“The Golden Horseshoe was too soon but I think he is an out-and-out sprinter,” Drier adds. “The Betting World Cape Flying Championship is a big ask for a three-year-old but it is at the back of my mind.”

Stable companion Beckedorf has also been off for four months – “He is a smart little horse and it’s just unfortunate that he has to bump one like Guiness” – but Sean Cormack’s mount looks the one. He was 9-10 with Betting World yesterday and that looks reasonable considering how far he is in front of the opposition on both ratings and last season’s form.

Second favourite Harry Lime (22-10) has the advantage of race fitness and seemingly he did not run up to his best when over six lengths behind Guiness in the Medallion. “He pulled up shin sore after that race,” explains Justin Snaith.

Western Force proved costly when starting favourite last time. He was found to be making an abnormal respiratory noise and not striding out on his right fore, but seemingly his problems were of a more delicate nature.

“We found that he had a twist in the string of one of his testicles,” Joey Ramsden explains. “He has been gelded since and I would like to think he is now a better horse. He works like a nice one.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe’s mount is 33-10 favourite and looks the one in the opening maiden while stable companion Icy Winter Air (3-1) may follow up half an hour later. She is 3kg better with Nonki Poo (9-2) for two lengths.

However watch out for 4-1 shot Azarenka who hasn’t been out of the first three in five starts, all of them over 600m less. “She couldn’t go with them last time,” says the champion trainer, explaining the step up in distance. “But this is a test – it’s a big jump – so be cautious.”

Four-year-olds in maidens are not normally the ones to be on – if they haven’t won a race by this stage the chances are that at least one of three-year-olds will be better – but Big Ed didn’t start racing until June and he looks a worthy favourite for race three.

Smiling Mistress would have gone close against Cuvee Brut had she not lost so much ground at the start last time and Darryl Hodgson is expecting a big run from the 11-2 chance in race six, particularly if the wind is in the right direction. “I’m hoping the South-Easter blows,” he says. “She must have an outstanding chance on the way she worked on Saturday.”

But Mike Stewart is keen on the shoeless Promicing Polly (9-2) who is a kilo better with Abyssinia for three-quarters of a length. “She’s got a big chance,” says the Noordhoek trainer.

That said, this is Abyssinia’s third run after a rest and that may just swing the balance in favour of the 7-2 favourite.

Latham has plenty of overseas experience already, having left to ride for Herman Brown in Dubai shortly after graduating from SAJA in 2007 and then riding for three seasons in Ireland for Ger Lyons. He also had a short stint in Mauritius last year.

Latham had a few rides in the UK during his three season stint in Ireland and among them was a win in the Gr 2 Temple Stakes over five furlongs at Haydock in 2011 aboard the remarkable Edward Lynam-trained Sole Power, who as a seven-year-old this year increased his career tally of Gr 1 wins to four after winning both the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Nunthorpe at York.

The closest Latham has come to thoroughbred Gr 1 glory was when finishing a head back in third on Sole Power in the Gr 1 Prix De L’Abbaye over five furlongs at Longchamp in 2011.

However, he does have a Gr 1 win to his name in purebred Arabian racing, landing the HH The Presidents Cup in Abu Dhabi on a horse called Dynamite in 2008. He made a bit of history in the process as Dynamite became the first locally bred horse to win the prestigious event.

The win in that race attracted the attention of legendary Irish jockey Johnny Murtagh, who then recommended Latham to Lyons.

Latham rode 113 winners in his 2008-2010 stint in Ireland with a high of 44 winners in 2009. He had three winners in the UK in that period.

Latham rode over 100 winners as an apprentice and received a lot of support from Mike de Kock, which brought him a victory in just his second year of race riding in the Gr 2 Gold Vase aboard Wise Son in 2006 and in that same season he also won the Listed Flamboyant Stakes on the top class De Kock-trained Bold Ellinore.

Latham’s other Graded successes in South Africa have been in the Gr 3 King’s Cup on the Glen Kotzen-trained Moscow Rising in 2007, the Gr 2 Senor Santa Handicap in 2012 on the Herman Brown/Frank Robinson-trained Antious and the Gr 2 Post Merchants on the Michael Roberts-trained Mike’s Choice in 2012.

He is hoping to be based around Newmarket in the UK next year. Jockeys ride seven days a week in the UK and spend a lot of time on the road travelling to the many racecourses, so every one of them has an agent. There are more than 35 jockeys’ agents over there and a rider’s success is partly determined by their astuteness in finding competitive rides.

Latham has a British passport as his father Kevin, who now lives in Hillcrest, was born there.

Latham said upon returning from overseas a few years ago that race riding in Ireland and Britain was generally easier than over here, “The horses are bred to handle softer going and are also fitter. They don’t train them faster, but rather further. The average horse that is race fit will have two hard gallops over a mile per week and on the other days will canter over a mile. They are consequently easier rides than the ones over here as they are not as tuned up. Generally the horses train themselves and will let us know when they are ready to race.”

Picture: Keegan Latham (Nkosi Hlophe)

“Those two weekends were never part of her program and she will likely be running in the Diadem and will then run in either the Queen’s Plate or Paddock Stakes and then the mile on Met day.”

The races Bass was referring to were the Gr 2 Khaya Stable Diadem Stakes over 1200m on December 27, the Gr 1 L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate over 1600m or the Gr 1 Maine Chance Farms Paddock Stakes over 1800m on January 10, and the Gr 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes over 1600m on J&B Met day January 31.

He added that he had deliberately planned a fairly light Cape Summer Of Champions season campaign for Hammie’s Hooker (pictured) in order to keep something “in the tank” for a possible big race campaign in Johannesburg, where he currently has a small satellite yard. The Gr 1 Laurie Jaffee Empress Club Stakes over 1600m on April 11 would be her most obvious target on the Highveld, although races like the Gr 2 Hawaii Stakes over 1400m on February 28 and the Gr 1 HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes over 1600m on March 28 could also be options.

Bernard Fayd’Herbe is the regular rider of Hammie’s Hooker and said recently that she was the horse he was most looking forward to riding this season, an indication of her class. The merit rated 110 mare certainly looks to have a few big races at her mercy now that her nemesis Beach Beauty is retired.

Hammie’s Hooker has only had one race this season to date and finished a fine 0,85 length third to her stablemate Tevez on November 16 in the Gr 2 Cape Merchants over 1200m, despite giving the winner 2,5kg.

Bass has one runner in Saturday’s Gr 2 Vasco Premier Trophy over 1800m, the talented but temperamental Jet Master gelding Heldeberg Blue. He has won his last two starts, both over this distance, in good style and Bass said, “We have done a lot of work with him and he has settled down a lot, he is almost normal. We will see how he shapes on Saturday to see whether he runs in the J&B Met, although I don’t think he can beat a horse like Legislate in the Met. Saturday’s race is not cut and dried, but he is doing well and I think he will run well.”

The yard run the four-year-old Trippi filly Shingwedzi and the three-year-old Australian-bred Authorized filly Lucky Tuesday in the Victress Stakes.

Bass felt that the well-drawn hard-knocking Shigwedzi had a reasonable chance in this race, but said Lucky Tuesday would be “thrown in the deep end”, especially from her wide draw.

Meanwhile another top jockey who is on the sidelines, Kevin Shea, has undergone a back operation and is recovering in hospital.

Marcus(pictured) was substituted by Piere Strydom aboard Act Of War in the Gr 2 Selangor Cup and the horse’s reputation as the best three-year-old male in the country was enhanced after his impressive win in that race.

However, Strydom revealed over the weekend that he will remain loyal to the Paul Lafferty-trained Harry’s Son for the Cape Guineas.

This leaves the ride on Act Of War vacant.

The favourites to fill it are likely to be Bernard Fayd’Herbe and Sean Cormack, both of whom have been called on regularly by the Ramsden yard during the current Cape Summer Of Champions Season.

Shea was looking forward to a good season before being struck down by excruciating back pain at the beginning of September. This turned out to be a “bulged C3 vertebra” which was causing one of the discs to touch a nerve. Fortunately, scans showed no damage to the nerves and after a program of rehabilitation he was back in the saddle on October 12. Despite riding a double on the Greyville polytrack a week later on two classy Charles Laird-trained three-year-olds, Rich Girl and Thirtytwosquadron, he was back on the sidelines less than a week later with the same back pain. This time it was shown to be a bulged vertebra lower down. The cause of these problems is simply due to wear and tear after 37 years in the saddle. Shea was initially confident that he would overcome the setback again through a program of strengthening the core area of the body as well as the ligaments near the vertebra. However, he eventually had to agree to the back operation, which was always going to be the last resort between himself and his sports medicine consultant, the former Sharks team doctor, Craig Springate.

He said from his hospital bed over the weekend Sunday, “I am lucky that we did decide to have the operation as the surgeon said that my back was a mess. There was more damage than the MRI scan and the X-rays had shown. The one vertebra was collapsing and new discs have had to be put in. It is going to be a long way back as there is a big adjustment. I will virtually have to learn to walk again. I have taken one or two steps, but am walking like a new born giraffe! The pain is absolutely excruciating, but one would expect to have to deal with that for a spinal injury in which they have had to cut through the muscles.”

Shea said he would love to return to the saddle, but had not yet discussed his riding future with any medical experts.

The operation was performed by a neurosurgeon and an orthopaedic surgeon and was watched by Springate, so he is in good hands.

He will be in hospital for about another week and concluded, “I am hoping to have a good 2015.”

His riding statistics for the season are 8 wins from just 50 rides for a strike rate of 16% and most race fans will be hoping to see his sublime big race skills as usual in next year’s Champions Season.

Lafferty said: “It’s a real safari by road and we are not going to bu**** around. He is a muscle-bound horse and I don’t want him on a heavy track. We will land in Cape Town early on the morning of the race and fly him back again afterwards.”

Piere Strydom, who has ridden the Australian-bred in his last four starts, will again have the mount. The six-time champion won the race on Pointing North in 2008.

Harry’s Son was beaten four and a quarter lengths by 55-1 shock Unparalleled when starting 16-10 favourite for the Investec Dingaans last time but Lafferty was well satisfied with the performance.

He said: “The heavens opened 40 minutes before the Dingaans and the ground became an absolute bog. I thought they were going to have to cancel racing. Our horse ran his heart out but he couldn’t get near one who loved the going.

“I have great respect for the other horses in the Guineas, especially Joey Ramsden’s Act Of War who I think is a superstar, but we are not going to shirk the challenge. We’ve got to get down there and take them on.”

Generalissimo, who broke the Kenilworth 1 200m record last month but failed to stay when tried over a mile in the Selangor, has not been entered.

Dennis Drier said that there are no definite plans for the colt at this stage, adding: “I will play it by ear, freshen him up and then bring him back sprinting.”