The Vaal Sand track hosts an eight race meeting today and will provide opportunities for those punters who have done their homework.

In the first, a Workrider’s Maiden over 1000m, Racing Red relished the step down to this trip last time and put up a fine display against a promising sort so is an obvious form choice.

Captain Ali is a six-year-old who has only had three starts but he has shown pace and could earn here. Gold Comet has a suitable sand pedigree and has shown the odd sign of ability so could earn despite being an exposed sort having his 19^th start. Victor’s Folly has faced a couple of talented sorts in his last two starts over course and distance when well beaten but could earn on the form of his previous start which was against a similar field to this. Boogaloo has some pace and should have come on from his first two starts.

In the second over 1200m, Son Of Approval is interesting dropped in distance from a good draw off a decreased merit rating as he has won twice over course and distance before. Aleut made a good debut over course and distance before winning his second start easily on turf and he can be excused his last start when up against a good sort because his saddle slipped. Fleetfoot Mac did quite well in his first sand start in his penultimate start over course and distance despite stumbling and he could earn from a good draw despite officially being 2kg under sufferance. Angel Gabriel has dropped to a competitive merit rating and is distance suited. Dravidian recorded a good time when winning over 1000m on the sand in his penultimate, but the 200m further from a wide draw is a concern.

In the third over 1200m, Span Die Seile is a R1,5m purchase by Captain Al and doesn’t have a lot to beat. School Of Dynasty has struck as one who will enjoy the sand and certainly has a fitting pedigree so he could do well from a good draw. Abby Blue wasn’t disgraced in his Cape Town starts which makes him a runner here despite returning from a six month break as the class of horse down there is superior. Narnia had a fair introduction to sand last time out over course and distance despite stumbling, but she did finish distressed which is a concern.  Attract The Crowd could earn if reproducing her best run over course and distance.

In the fourth over 1450m, News Filter starts in handicaps off a reasonable merit rating of 80 after two effortless wins over sprint trips on the sand so could record a hattrick. Rippit Whippet is 5,5kg better off with News Filter for a six length beating over 1200m and has the overall sand form to be a contender. Bodega is course and distance suited and well drawn. Inkolo has done well lately on the turf off this sort of rating and has a chance here considering he has a good sand pedigree. Wensleydale won in commanding style last time out over course and distance so looks to have improved and could also be a contender for a hattrick despite her tough draw.

In the fifth over 1450m, Viking Castle has a better draw than when charging home last time so could be the one to beat. Formal Request is in form and drawn well over a suitable trip. White Christmas might well prefer this trip to 1600m and had an excuse last time so could earn.

In the sixth over 1000m, Sweet Pickings ran a cracker in a feature over course and distance on Saturday and this will be easier. Scandal was beaten just under a length by Sweet Pickings in that race and is now 0,5kg better off, so could also be a contender. Slick Deputy finished well over course and distance last time and could earn if repeating.

In the seventh over 1600m, Gaisge Gold won his maiden well over course and distance last time with front-running tactics and from draw two with a light weight he could repeat the effort. Inala just failed over course and distance in his penultimate and should go close again. Kidmambo is course is 2kg better off with Inala for a 4,6 length beating over course and distance and is drawn in pole so could be a threat. Ciao Ciao could earn of repeating her last start over course and distance when staying on well. Pay As You Go is 2,5kg better off with Inala for a 5,1 length beating over course and distance so could be a factor despite a tricky draw.

In the eighth over 1800m Mooghamir’s merit rating of 82 after his impressive maiden win over course and distance doesn’t look high enough to stop him. Colonel Lockjaw loves this course and distance too and is drawn in pole. Triple Beat is distance suited and being by Trippi should love the sand, so is an interesting contender.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Vitruvian Man (Nkosi Hlophe)

Charles Laird will travel the brilliant Ice Machine up to Johannesburg late on Friday night to take part in the Gr 2 World Sports Betting Spring Challenge over 1450m on Turffontein’s Inside track.

The evergreen seven-year-old Silvano gelding’s regular rider Anton Marcus is engaged to ride last season’s Cape Champion Three-Year old colt Act Of War in the Gr 3 Kuda Matchem Stakes over 1400m at Durbanville on the same day, so the top class veteran Andrew Fortune, who is currently leading the National Jockeys Championship by two winners from Anthony Delpech, takes over.

Laird believes Fortune will suit the horse. Fortune is known to have a great pair of hands and for his ability to place a horse in the running, so he does indeed look ideal for  Ice machine, who likes to be held up and relaxed in the running before displaying his exhilarating turn of foot in the straight. If anybody can help him overcome his tricky draw of nine in the eleven horse field on the tight course it will be Fortune.

The 117 merit-rated Ice Machine is officially the best in at the weights, being rated at least eight points higher than any other horse, while only have to give them between 0,5kg and 1,5kg.

Laird gave Ice Machine a bit of a break after his narrow defeat to the subsequently named Equus Horse Of The Year Futura in the Gr 1 Champions Cup on Super Saturday and gave him his compulsory African Horse Sickness Vaccinations, but he said the horse had been doing well.

Laid has only trained Ice Machine for four of his 27 career runs, but he is thriving in the yard and his career record shows that he runs well fresh.

This will be his first stepping stone to the L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate, for which he will also raid.

Ice Machine faces some classy opposition in the Spring Challenge, not least of whom is the Sean Tarry-trained four-year-old Trippi colt Trip To Heaven, who is the second highest rated horse in the field on 109. In his seasonal reappearance over 1200m on the Inside course in a Graduation Plate he started slowly, possibly by design, and then relaxed beautifully near the back.

However, the most impressive part of the run, in which beat the 101 merit-rated pair Lineker and Forest Fox, was that after making up the ground possibly too quickly with his scintillating turn of foot he was then able to find yet another gear when challenged. This suggests he will be suited to the step up in trip and he should be cherry ripe having his third run after a six month layoff. His stablemate Halve The Deficit, who is a 107 merit-rated seven-year-old, has it tough from draw eleven. However, the Tarry string are coming to hand and he will be suited to this trip running fresh. Tarry’s third runner is the seven-year-old Whiteline Fever, who was at one stage at his most dangerous when making his seasonal reappearance. However he has needed the help of blinkers in his last two starts so this time is likely to have come on from his seasonal reappearance three weeks ago and he could be a threat with Piere Strydom up from draw two over his ideal trip.

Alec Laird’s Bezanova ended last season in fine style and won his seasonal reappearance exactly a year ago over this course and distance, albeit in a Graduation Plate. This big horse has come into his own, but does have a wide draw and the stable elect is likely Bouclette Top, who had a new lease of life when blinkers were applied last season. Bouclette Top now looks ideally suited to this trip and Gavin Lerena up, from a fair draw of six, is a further bonus.

Mike de Kock’s Moofeed is interesting in only his second try beyond sprints as he often does his best work late over 1200m and won his only start over 1400m. However, stable jockey Delpech is aboard Anjaal, who looked to have a fine career ahead of him after his narrow third in the Gr 1 Premiers Champions Stakes over 1600m. Breathing issues ruined his three-year-old feature campaign, but he did bounce back with a couple of decent efforts after a wind operation and could be excused his last run on the poly when striding short and found to be coughing.

Easy Lover has his first run for Stuart Pettigrew and this progressive sort should be ideally suited to the course and distance as he likes to come from off the pace and has a fine turn of foot. He has a plum draw of three with Weichong Marwing up.

The enigmatic Forest Fox is talented but unreliable. However, he did run on well when beaten 1,7 lengths by Trip To Heaven over 1200m last time and is now 1 kg better off.

Light The Way has a tough task at the weights but did finish in front of Whiteline Fever over course and distance last time out, although he is now 2,5kg better off for a one length beating.

It is an intriguing race, but Ice Machine looks the one to beat with Trip To Heaven giving him most to think about and they could be followed home by Easy Lover, Bouclette Top and Halve The Deficit.

By David Thiselton 

Picture: Ice Machine (Nkosi Hlophe)

Persian Silk could be the answer to punters’ prayers in the opening Gold Circle Maiden at Durbanville today.

What everyone is looking for is a horse who is better than the bare form suggests and is available at a better price than it should be – and this filly ticks both boxes.

On her second start, over 1 200m at Kenilworth, she went to the front two furlongs out absolutely cantering. It was quite a way from home to go clear but it looked simply a question of how far. However she weakened in the final 200m to finish third.

Kenilworth three and a half weeks ago was a carbon copy – going easily, leading at the 400m mark only to run out of steam in the closing stages. The only difference was that she finished fourth instead of third.

Clearly the trip was a furlong too far, or she needed to be waited with for a bit longer. This time, though, she runs over a surely ideal 1 000m. Betting World opened her at 22-10 yesterday and that looks generous.

“After the first of those two I said to the jockey that I would put her over five furlongs but he said no,” Glen Kotzen recalls. “Last time I think she didn’t see the two horses on her outside until it was too late but this trip is really going to suit her.”

Kotzen also runs the frustrating Mamselle Al who has started favourite in all her last five starts and is actually a kilo better than Persian Silk on adjusted merit ratings. “I have been trying everything,” says the trainer who took the blinkers off last time. “And now I am running her in cheekpieces.”

Mamselle Al was a 6-1 chance yesterday and the 2-1 favourite was Sandton Rocker who started odds-on here last time but was not suited by being taken on when trying to make it. She is probably better than that last run would suggest but she should not beat Persian Silk

Supercilious’s nine draw will test Donavan Mansour’s talents to the full in race two but she managed third to the talented Icy Fire when drawn just as badly over the same distance at Kenilworth last time and a repeat of that effort would be good enough. However yesterday’s 1-3 is too short considering the draw and punters should only back her if they can get better.

Nebula is drawn eight out of 11 in the Pick 6 Maiden but he stands out after going close on debut when he was backed from 12-1 to 3-1. “I expected him to run well and he did,” says Brett Crawford. “But he ran a bit green and he only got going late. He then had a break but he is doing well.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe returns after three weeks off and, although he has three rides for Justin Snaith, his best chance is probably on 9-2 chance Exclusive Knight in the 2 000m maiden (race four).  This will be the five-year-old’s 30^th attempt to win a race but he keeps going close.

“He is perfectly genuine but he just keeps finding one too good for him,” says Piet Steyn. “Three Balloons, who beat him a few races back, was second to Hard Day’s Night on his next start last Saturday. Exclusive Knight has won almost R160 000 in stakes and that’s as much as winning four races.”

But 5-2 shot Eastern Charm comes out 1.5kg better and is preferred. Avail is the 22-10 favourite and his good performances here suggest he will also make the frame.

By Michael Clower

Picture: Glen Kotzen  

Jockey Brandon Lerena suffered a fractured vertebra during track work at Summerveld this morning and could be looking at between six to eight weeks on the sidelines.

It was an untimely injury for the KZN-based jockey having successfully worked his way back onto the local scene following a stint in Mauritius. The setback will be particularly frustrating for Lerena considering a solid recent run of form which saw 24 of his last 30 rides earning a stakes cheque.

– Victor Tojeira

Dennis Drier’s formidable string of 26 horses for the Cape Summer Of Champions season arrived safely at Phillippi training centre in Cape Town last Thursday and he looks likely to come home in February with a few more trophies to add to his burgeoning Cape collection.

Heading the list is the four-year-old Seventh Rock gelding Guiness, whose wind operation was shown in no uncertain terms to be successful when he made short work of a decent Graduation Plate field over 1200m at Scottsville recently. Drier rates him highly as a sprinter and his career route could continue to follow that of the yard’s Equus Champion Sprinter and KZN Horse Of The Year Captain Of All. Like Captain Of All, Guiness won the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion as a two-year-old before having to be laid off after just one start as a three-year-old and all going well his Cape Town campaign will culminate in a tilt at the Gr 1 Betting World Cape Flying Championships over 1000m, a race which Captain Of All lost on the head bob last season.

The Vodacom Durban July runner up Punta Arenas duly joined Drier after Stan Elley’s retirement at the end of last season. The seven-year-old Silvano gelding spent the Champions Season at Drier’s Summerveld yard, where he clearly had a new lease of life. He continues to thrive and will be aimed at the J&B Met, in which he finished third last year and fifth this year.

The four-year-old Triptique, an imposing gelding by Trippi, is highly regarded. Drier believes he could be looking for 1400m to a mile and rates him the dark horse of the string, saying, “He is very talented, we haven’t seen the best of him yet.”

His contemporary Generalissimo, a speedy colt by Var, will be aimed at the big sprint events.

Drier will face no dilemmas with his dual Gr 1-winning three-year-old Seventh Rock colt Seventh Plain as he qualifies for the CTS Million Dollar over 1400m, so the mile question mark that hangs over his head will be left for a later date.

The yard’s Gr 1 Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper winner from last season, Chestnuts N Pearls, will be going for the R2,015,000 Bloodstock SA Ready To Run Cup over 1400m at Turffontein on October 31, but she might be taken to the Cape after that.

The impressive Just As Well filly Well In Flight will be aimed at the Gr 1 Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas, with the Gr 2 Choice Carriers Championship over 1400m providing a stepping stone.

Possibly the most exciting three-year-old filly in the yard is Rock On Baby, a daughter of Seventh Rock, who has been a facile winner of her last two starts over 1000m. Drier said he would keep her to sprints for the time being and take it race by race.

The yard were very disappointed with the last run of the Captain Al filly they rate, Lady Penrhyn, but jockey Sean Cormack believed it might have been due to a dislike of the poly and for that reason she was taken down to Cape Town.

On the other hand the yard’s older sprinter Barbosa clearly absolutely loves the poly and he has duly stayed behind in KZN.

Drier was “very impressed” with the easy 1200m polytrack victory of the three-year-old Count Dubois gelding Seymour in his second career outing and this “smart little horse” could be one of the Cape string’s first runners as he is being aimed at the Gr 3 Magnum Cape Classic over 1400m on October 24. Seymour also qualifies for the CTS Million Dollar.

Drier also travelled a number of “very, very smart” maiden and unraced horses, who will provide summer fun for Cape-based owners. Among them is a Trippi colt who was intended to be named after the Roxy Music star Brian Ferry, but when that name was forbidden he was fittingly called “Ferrie”, the surname of Drier’s loyal assistant Stuart Ferrie, who will as usual be staying home in KZN to run the Summerveld yard. Ferrie made a promising debut over 1200m at Scottsville behind two promising sorts Monte Christo and Unbelievable Chad. An equally promising debut over the too sharp Scottsville 1000m was made by the Speightstown colt Ante Omnia, who at R3 million was one of the Cape Premier Yearling Sales toppers. Drier believes the Fort Wood gelding Whitley Willows should not have lost his second career start over 1200m on the Greyville poly and he adds another string to the three-year-old bow. Both Ferrie and Ante Omnia qualify for the CTS Million Dollar.

The now five-year-old mare Eventual Angel has not been able to fulfil her obvious potential but has recovered from a foot injury and all going well will be aimed at the Gr 1 Maine Chance Farms Paddock Stakes over 1800m and the Gr 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes over 1600m.

Her contemporary Gathering Fame is rated just below the best but won the Listed Jamaica Stakes for fillies and mares over 1700m at Kenilworth last season and will likely have similar targets.

KZN’s leading owner Roy Moodley will have an excuse to spend a weekend or two in Cape Town as his two four-year-olds Roy’s Winter Patch and Royal Union Jet will both be campaigning. The former pulled a flank muscles last time out, which explained his below par effort, and Drier believes both of these progressive types by Western Winter and Jet Master respectively will pay their way.

Others who fall into the same category are the lightly raced three-time winning five-year-old from just six starts, Space Launch, who won twice over 1200m at Kenilworth last season, and Sea Fever, a four-year-old three-time winner from just eight starts.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Dennis Drier (Liesl King)