The “miracle horse” Double Clutch is being given “a good chance” of winning Sunday’s Gr 2 Track and Ball Derby over 2400m at Scottsville by the Paul Lafferty yard, “provided he stays the trip”.

The four-year-old Stronghold gelding will be making a last minute bid to book a place in the Vodacom Durban July as the final field for the big race will be announced two days later on June 23.

Lafferty’s assistant trainer Roy Waugh said the courageous bay gelding had wrenched his back after being knocked sideways in the Listed Easter Handicap on April 10. He had still gone on to win the race, but he had subsequently required physiotherapy and had missed about a week of full work.

He was consequently not fully stripped before his unplaced run in the Gr 2 Betting World 1900.

Before that he had won three races in succession, all over 2000m, and leapt 20 points in the merit ratings to 99.

He had won most of those races from the front, but this was chiefly due to a lack of pace in the races, as he has shown before that he is capable of coming from last.

His dam by Northern Guest was unplaced but is a full-sister to a horse that won over 2400m and his second dam also won over the Derby distance.

Waugh was confident Double Clutch would stay the 2200m July trip, but still felt there would be a question mark over this 2400m distance.

Double Clutch has a tough task on Sunday receiving only 1kg from 112 merit rated Equus Champion Stayer Hot Ticket, meaning he is 5,5kg under sufferance. However, he is the third best weighted horse in the eight horse race on official merit ratings so has a chance of winning if Hot Ticket fluffs his lines.

Double Clutch has run three times at Scottsville and finished second in two of them, so appears to handle the track.

Furthermore, he will be ridden by the very much in-form championship chasing jockey Gavin Lerena from a plum draw of two.

Double Clutch was diagnosed with West Nile  disease in the first half of last season. This is the same disease that was believed to have killed the mighty Jet Master.

Double Clutch weighed 100kg less than he does now and was close to being euthanized. The veterinarian had also advised that even if he did recover he would never race again. On one occasion the yard were unable to help him walk from his stable across a strip of concrete onto a grass patch. He was simply too weak.

He eventually managed to  achieve this short trip after being fitted with special foam shoes. It is quite incredible that he has won five races since making a full recovery from his illness and is an entry in the country’s premier race the Vodacom Durban July.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Double Clutch (Nkosi Hlophe)

Sheik’s Brashee was touted for a place by trainer Mike Miller before the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint over 1200m at the end of May and didn’t disappoint, finishing third despite opening at odds of 50/1, although he was backed into 33/1 on the day.

Miller said the four-year-old gelding by The Sheik was as well as ever before his engagement in Friday night’s Gr 2 Post Merchants over 1200m at Greyville, but he was not as bullish this time. He cited his extreme outside barrier position of 15 and his preference for the Scottsville straight as two negatives. However, he has decided to run him from the draw as he comes up for auction in the Michael Holmes Bloodstock Super Sale in the Greyville parade ring on June 25, where he will be lot 30, so he has nothing to lose.

The middle draws between barrier positions 5 to 8 appear to be the most favourable in this race by trends and the widest drawn horse to have won it in recent times has been Splash Gold who won it from draw eleven in 2011.

On the plus side for Sheik’s Brashee is that the handicapper didn’t alter his 103 merit rating after the Tsogo Sun, in which he received 6,5kg and a 1,75 length beating from topweight Captain Of All.

The Post Merchants weights are decided on merit rating bands and Sheik’s Brashee will only be 0,5kg under sufferance with the best weighted horses.

Apprentice Mathew Thackeray keeps the ride.

By David Thiselton

Sheik’s Brashee (Nkosi Hlophe)

The new Vodacom Durban July favourite Legal Eagle will almost certainly be the best weighted horse on paper that the Vodacom Durban July has seen since merit ratings were introduced to South African in 1999, as the handicappers have raised him eight points to 120 for his 4,3 length romp in the Gr 3 Jubilee Handicap over 1800m on Sunday, and on form he looks to be worth every one of those points.

His July weight will remain unaltered on 54kg, because the weights were published in the week before the Jubilee Handicap. This means he will be 4kg better off than he should be in a true handicap. He will be 3kg better off than he would be if the weights had been set after the Jubilee, because the maximum weight for a three-year-old in the July is 57kg.

Anton Marcus warned straight after Sunday’s race that there should not be a “knee jerk”  reaction to Legal Eagle’s easy victory.

However, whichever way it is looked at, the form does not support his caution.

Legal Eagle beat Judicial by 4,3 lengths and Killua Castle by 5,1 lengths when giving them 3,5kg and 1kg respectively. In the month of June three-year-olds receive an allowance of 2kg from older horses over a distance of 1800m, meaning Legal Eagle’s performance was about 20 merit rated points superior to Judicial’s and 16 merit rated points superior to Killua Castle’s.

Wylie Hall beat Judicial by 9,2 lengths in the President’s Champions Challenge over 2000m at level weights and beat Killua Castle by 6,6 lengths in that race when giving him 1kg. His performance was therefore about 16 merit rated points superior to Judicial’s and 13 merit rated points superior to Killua Castle’s.

Wylie Hall now has to give Legal Eagle 4kg in the Vodacom. That amount of weight would be worth four merit rated points considering three-year-olds should receive an allowance of 2kg from older horses in the month of July over a distance of 2200m.

Therefore, on a line through Killua Castle, Legal Eagle should beat  Wylie Hall by 4,75 lengths in the July and on a line through Judicial he should beat Wylie Hall by 4,1 lengths.

The above calculations were made by using the official handicapping factor of 2.0, that is the drag effect measured in 0,5kg units of races from 1300-1800m, and the official factor of 1,7, the drag effect measured in 0,5kg of races from 1801-2200m. It also used the official allocation of one merit rated point per 0,5kg of weight.

It can get become very confusing but amateur handicapping can give punters an edge and the website http://www.nhra.co.za/pubs/docs/handicapping/Handicapping_Guidelines.pdf is well worth studying.

The bookmakers  initially shortened Legal Eagle to 4/1 after his Jubilee run, but have been now forced to cramp the odds even further to 5/2.

Previous favourite Futura, who is also merit rated 120 and has to carry 60kg, has drifted out to 7/2 and Majmu has gone right out to 6/1. Wylie Hall on 7/1 and French Navy on 10/1 are next best in the betting.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Legal Eagle (JC Photos)

Freeman Stallions has secured the syndication and management rights to Wylie Hall. Michael Leaf’s star son of the Australian legend Redoute’s Choice will stand at Vaughan Koster’s Cheveley Stud Farm in Ceres after the 2015 renewal of the Gr1 Vodacom Durban July.

Having won the Gr1 SA Derby in fine style, Wylie Hall grabbed international attention in last year’s Vodacom Durban July and then lowered the top performing Grade 1 filly Majmu’s (Redoute’s Choice) flag in the star studded Gr1 President’s Champions Challenge earlier this year. Wylie Hall has been first past the post in three Gr1 races with career earnings of over R3.6million, 6 wins from 1400m to 2450m and 9 places. He earned a cheque in 10 black type races – 6 of them at Gr1 level. He is being aimed at the Vodacom Durban July (Saturday, July 4) again this year and will then retire.

Wylie Hall was the Racing Association’s Champion 3yo Of The Feature Season in 2013 and he was Horse Of The Season, Champion Middle Distance Horse and Champion Older Horse in 2015.

Wylie Hall’s owner Michael Leaf was recognised by the Racing Association and Gold Circle as Owner Of The Month in May this year. Leaf grew up in a family that loved racing and now, with a string of over 40 horses, he is well known as a gentleman of the game, successful racehorse owner and breeder with a growing broodmare band.

By Freeman Stallions

Dean Kannemeyer will send out his Equus Champion Stayer Hot Ticket to defend his Gr 2 Track and Ball Derby crown over 2400m at Scottsville on Sunday and he runs the improving three-year-old Master James in the same race.

Hot Ticket was unlucky not to win this race as a three-year-year old over 2400m at Clairwood when baulked for a run. However, he made amends in no uncertain terms last year, also at Clairwood but over 2500m, when cruising unextended to a 3,75 length win over the useful sort Tribal Dance. He went on to win the Gr 2 Nokia Gold Vase over 3000m on Vodacom Durban July day and then ran a cracking fourth with a welter 60kg in the Gr 1 eLan Property Group Gold Cup over 3200m at Greyville. Since then he has had to have a wind operation due to an infection. Kannemeyer revealed that the surgeon had done an outstanding job because, whereas a horse would normally still make a breathing noise after such an operation, in his case it could hardly be heard.

Kannemeyer said, “He badly needed his first Durban run this season over a mile at Greyville but ran a very good race. I then put him in another mile at Greyville, which is far too sharp for him, against Futura and he was doing nice work late. He has never been a great worker, he just goes through the motions, so he needs races to get him fit, but I now have him ready. He is an old tough campaigner, he knows what to do, and if he runs to his rating he is the horse to beat. He enjoyed Clairwood and Greyville, now we will see if he enjoys Scottsville too.”

The five-year-old Silvano gelding has actually run once over the course and distance, as a still maturing three-year-old, and finished a close up second. He will jump from draw six in the eight horse field on Sunday and his regular pilot, Karl Neisius, will ride him for the first time this season.

Master James three career wins have all been over a mile, although he did finish close to the fair sort Warcraft over 1900m on the Greyville polytrack.

Kannemeyer said, “He is coming on nicely and improving. He was a big backward Jet Master who is only now coming into himself. His mother (Park Lane by Elliodor) was a good race horse (won a Gr 2 over 1400m) but didn’t stay further than a mile. Nevertheless I have always thought that Master James would stay but only the race will tell. This Derby is now an open race and is not so easy for three-year-olds, but he has improved since coming to Durban. The penny has dropped and we will see how good he is.”

Master James will be ridden by Luyola Mxothwa, who has ridden him once before, and jumps from draw four.

He said that both horses were “fit and well.”

Kannemeyer runs the two-year-old Noordhoek Flyer colt Shap Shap over 1300m on the turf in a Juvenile Plate at Greyville on Friday night. He had always thought this horse would stay a mile, so was  disappointed when he didn’t seem to go through with it over 1400m last time having travelled well throughout, so is now in two minds and wonders whether he might be a 1200m horse. His only win was in a weak 1000m race on the Greyville polytrack and he could fare better over this slight drop in trip on Friday from a good draw under Bernard Fayd’Herbe.

On Sunday he also expects plenty of improvement from the Ideal World colt Cape Speed, who runs over a much more suitable trip of 1600m in a Maiden Juvenile Plate. He said this horse had been “hopelessly left and was then completely lost” over 1200m on the polytrack at Greyville on debut. Anthony Delpech was seen to be pushing him along throughout as he raced very green. Ideal World’s often surprise when stepped up in trip and find a place at big prices. However, Kannemeyer did conclude by saying that he was the type that might still need one more run to have him exactly where he would like him to be.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Hot Ticket (Nkosi Hlophe)