Night Shadow (Nkosi Hlophe)

The Van Zyl yard have two Silvano geldings in the Gr 2 Betting World 1900 tomorrow night, Night Shadow and Silver Spring, and they are conditioned by Gareth and Gavin respectively.

The four-year-old Night Shadow officially has a tougher task at the weights, but is the more progressive of the two, and stable jockey Warren Kennedy has duly chosen him ahead of Silver Spring.

Gareth said, “Night Shadow ran above his rating last time. He is an immature sort of a horse who has got ability and room for improvement.”

Night Shadow is officially the worst weighted horse in the race tomorrow night, being 4,5kg under sufferance with the best weighted horses in the race. However, the yard have enough confidence in his scope for improvement to have nominated him for the Vodacom Durban July (subsequently withdrawn)

In fact he is only 0,5kg worse off tomorrow night with both It Is Written and Dynastic Power from the Listed Sledgehammer over 1750m at Scottsville, despite being beaten only a head and a short-head respectively.
Night Shadow jumps from draw 8 over an ideal trip and has enjoyed a fine preparation.

Seven-year-old Silver Spring is known to be full of issues but never gives anything other than 100% and Gareth, speaking on behalf of Gavin, said he was currently in a good space. However, he is officially 1,5kg under sufferance and is drawn wide in 12, while his highest ever winning mark is a full eight points lower than his current mark of 92. He and Triple Crown-winning jockey Karl Zechner have it all to do.

By David Thiselton

Geoff Woodruff has been “encouraged” by the recent form of his Gr 2 Betting World 1900 contender Master Switch, who arrived at Summerveld from Randjesfontein on Tuesday evening.

Woodruff said Anton Marcus’ decision to ride The Conglomerate in the race did have  a bit to do with the weights, as Master Switch had originally been set to carry 54kg, before the weights were dragged up 2kg due to none of the runners being in the 110-114 merit rated band. However, his big race rider Callan Murray knows him well from training track work.

The four-year-old Jet Master gelding looks to be going the right way, but Woodruff said the race would tell how good he was. He is versatile in style, having done well from the front, from handy and from off the pace.

Master Switch was raised six points to a 98 merit rating for his win last time out at Turffontein over 2000m. He drew away well to beat Fort Meyers by 1,5 lengths in that race on April 16. However, the latter could only manage a 1,9 length third, albeit off a three point higher merit rating, in a handicap over 2000m at the Vaal on Tuesday.

However, Sean Tarry named Master Switch as one of the horses to beat in the 1900 earlier this week, so clearly has a good regard for Fort Meyers.

Master Switch carries 56kg and is officially 0,5kg under sufferance. He has a plum draw of three and is 14/1 with the race sponsor.

David Thiselton

Since cutting formal ties with the powerful Mike de Kock yard and going freelance early in the season, Anthony Delpech has not looked back. He is an important cog in the Dean Kannemeyer operation that has been a main source of his many winners but along with agent Deez Dayanand, they have cherry-picked with great success.

It was an up-and-down afternoon at Greyville yesterday when favourite Gregorian Chant failed to deliver and found to be lame post-race after the first and hot favourite Tripandie dug in his toes and refused to load for the seventh. But these were mere hiccups as he was in front of the microphone for the third and followed up just for good measure.

Tripandie, looking for his fourth win on the bounce, was in short order for the 99 Divided Handicap but refused point blank to take his place in the line-up resulting in him being scratched.

Captain Chaos (Nkosi Hlophe)

But whether he would have matched the finishing effort of the Mark Dixon-trained Captain Chaos is debateable. Since arriving in the Dixon yard for the season from Ronnie Sheehan in Cape Town, Captain Chaos has taken time to find his feet, but back to a sprint he landed running yesterday.

“Today was the first time I was happy with the horse. He had put on condition, his coat had come right and his work on the poly was phenominal. With myself and Kegan we said if he doesn’t run well today then we are really in trouble,” he said.

“He arrived with a big reputation,” said Kegan de Melo, “but he was not putting in what he was showing in work. I think the blinkers did the trick.”

Highway Explorer pinched an early lead at the top of the straight but was running on memory at the furlong marker as Captain Chaoas was produced with a telling finish by De Melo. Psycho Syd gave MJ Byleveld a torrid ride but stayed on to finish a well-beaten second.

Doug Campbell, in the second box after the first as King Of Scots found the De Kock-trained Coyote, a pick-up ride for Anton Marcus, just too good was lavish in his praise after Delpech produced Golden Fort with a perfectly timed run to out-do Roy’s Sailor and Just Positive. “It’s wonderful to have a top jockey,” said Campbell and it appeared that he needed him. “He’s a big boy, very strong,” said Delpech of Golden Fort after punching the gelding out to the line hands and heels. “He still doesn’t know how to race. He has his head in the air and I didn’t want to hit him. It doesn’t do these types of horses any good.” By Elusive Fort, Golden Fort was home-bred by Claire and William Meyer on their farm outside of Mooi River.

Delpech was back in front of the cameras 30 minutes later but having to work much harder on the Des Egdes-trained Just Rap who held off the attentions of Brave And Bold and peace-making favourite La Gitano. “It was a cracking ride by Anthony,” enthused Egdes who is always lavish with his instructions. “Des told me to stay out of the kick-back so I was happy to be three wide,” said the rider, “but I had to work hard for this one.”

Silver Inspiration was given a patient ride by Warren Kennedy for Chris Erasmus and owners Koos de Klerk and Bruce le Roux in the fifth.  Being Julia tried a repeat of her end-to-end victory last time out but came up empty as Silver Inspiration ran her down and Airtime finished off her race nicely to relegate her to third.

Hardly a meeting passes without apprentice Lyle Hewitson making a visit to the winner’s box and he picked up another on a chance ride for Pal Lafferty and prolific owner Roy Moodley. Admittedly the scratching of the fancied runners Surrey and Shenyang opened the door for Roy’s Strike Force but the son of Lecture quickened away smartly at the top of the straight and won unchallenged.

Andrew Harrison

Mike Azzie’s Gr 2 Betting World 1900 contender Greek Legend will officially be 2kg under sufferance in Friday night’s race at Greyville, but Azzie regards this son of Black Minnaloushe as “way better” than his current 91 merit rating.

He elaborated, “We always rated Greek Legend better than Deputy Jud before he was hurt, and Deputy Jud finished third in the Gr 1 SA Classic and second in the Gr 1 SA Derby (before winning the Gr 2 Supreme Cup over 1450m on the Vaal sand).”

Greek Legend arrived at Summerveld the week after his win at Turffontein on April 30. That day, in a MR 102 handicap over 1600m, the blinkered gelding was making steady progress down the straight, but was a bit tight for room. However, when seeing daylight he found another rocket-like gear, which propelled him to the front from a seemingly beaten position.

He suffered a suspensory injury midway through his three-year-old season and his last outing was only his third run since February 2015.

He appears to be thriving at Summerveld and Azzie said, “He has improved a lot in soundness and fitness. He is eating well and has shed the winter coat he had, his coat now has a lovely sheen to it.”

Jockey JP van der Merwe mentioned only two horses he rides which could be followed for the rest of the season when being interviewed shortly after his J&B Met victory on Smart Call. One of them was Greek Legend.

From a draw of three and carrying only 54kg, Greek Legend looks to be a big runner tomorrow night, provided he takes to the new course and the lights, and as one who relaxes superbly in the running and has a fine turn of foot there is no reason why he shouldn’t.

David Thiselton

The 2016 Rider Cup Inter Provincial Jockeys’ Challenge is set to take place at Scottsville Racecourse on Sunday, 10 July 2016. The inaugural event was held last year and won by the KZN Falcons with the Highveld Hawks and Cape Eagles finishing second and third respectively.

“We have decided this year to stage this event as a standalone Scottsville Sunday racemeeting to avoid a clash of engagements amongst the leading jockeys,” says Gold Circle Marketing Executive Graeme Hawkins. “We hope to attract the best riders to represent their provinces this year and once again R100 000 will be up for grabs as prize money. In response to a suggestion from many quarters last year, we have agreed to include the leading PE domiciled rider in the Cape Eagles team, along with the top three Cape Town-based riders,” added Hawkins.

The leading riders from each province as at the 31^st May 2016 will be invited to represent their respective teams and the competition will again comprise four races over varying distances.

As of today’s date, 17 May 2016, the leading jockeys are as follows:-

KZN FALCONS:

Anthony Delpech

Anton Marcus

Muzi Yeni

Keagan De Melo

HIGHVELD HAWKS:

S’Manga Khumalo

Andrew Fortune

Karl Zechner

JP van der Merwe

CAPE EAGLES:

Grant van Niekerk

Aldo Domeyer

Bernard Fayd’Herbe

Teaque Gould (PE)