The unbeaten Katak faces ten rivals in the Abe Bloomberg Legal Eagle Stakes at Kenilworth on Saturday and only once in the past 18 years has what was previously known as the Winter Classic attracted a bigger field.

Piet Steyn reported Cape Town’s latest star in good form on Monday but he is concerned about the amount of rain forecast for later in the week as he fears that Katak’s flowing action could be affected.

He said: “The horse is very well at the moment. Aldo Domeyer worked him over 1 400m on the cinders on Saturday morning and he was very pleased with the way he went while I personally couldn’t have expected more.

“My worry is that there is a lot of rain forecast for Thursday, Friday and Saturday and I don’t know how Katak is going to handle a wet course. He is a lovely mover when the going is on top but he has a low action and on sand he is a fair worker rather than a great one.”

Windguru does not give a specific forecast for Kenilworth but it predicts 3.5mm on Thursday for nearby Newlands followed by a further millimetre on Friday and 3.0mm on Saturday prior to the race which is at 4.10pm. Kenilworth tends to get more rain than Newlands.

Katak, immensely impressive in what used to be called the Winter Guineas, seems sure to start favourite. It’s more a question of whether the bookmakers will be brave enough to heed Steyn’s words of caution and quote the horse at odds against. The favourite has been successful in only four of the last 12 runnings.

The race tends to be won by a class act. Future Vodacom Durban July winners Power King and Marinaresco were successful in 2014 and 2016 and the last two winners were subsequent Sun Met scorer Rainbow Bridge and Vardy who went on to win the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate.

As the winner of a Grade 3, Katak has to give a kilo to all except Silver Host. The Justin Snaith Politician winner and the Brett Crawford-trained Super Silvano are both rated 1.5kg better than Katak.

Interestingly Steyn thought he had missed out on Katak when the Potala Palace colt came up at the 2018 CTS April Yearling Sale at Durbanville.

He recalled: “I looked at the yearlings before they went into the ring and I liked him. But they were selling quickly and by the time I walked back he had gone through. I assumed somebody had bought him.

“When the sale was over Graeme Koster came up to me and said: ’Are you looking for horses?’  I said that I liked the Potala Palace but I’d missed him. Graeme handed me the passport and said: ‘This is his. Take it.’”

The price was a mere R20 000 and Steyn did not have to pay until the horse was ready to run!

But back to Saturday.  Grant van Niekerk is much in demand on his first day of South African action since the beginning of August. He rides in all except one of the nine races and has three mounts for Justin Snaith, two for Candice Bass-Robinson and one each for Adam Marcus, Eric Sands and Glen Puller. The Sun Met-winning jockey won two out of six on his last visit to Kenilworth.

By Michael Clower

Justin Snaith has been the most successful trainer so far this SA Champions Season and he answered questions about his charges for Sunday’s big Daily News 2000 and Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge meeting as well as the question of jockeys for the Vodacom Durban July.

Stable jockey Richard Fourie and record-breaking Anton Marcus are the two chief riders in the mix for Snaith’s three most prominent July contenders, Do It Again, Belgarion and Bunker Hunt.

Snaith said, “Anton is aware he would have to slim 2kg to ride Belgarion and considering the performance he put up on Saturday he is definitely thinking about it. But it all depends on how Do It Again runs in the Gold Challenge. This horse is very special to Richard and he goes for a record-breaking third July in succession which is something any jockey would want to be associated with.”

Marcus rode Do It Again to July victory in 2018 and Fourie was aboard last year. Marcus is aboard the Twice Over gelding on Sunday in the Gold Challenge.

Do It Again ran well below par in three runs in the Cape Summer Season but this was put down to continuously not eating up. He was found to have ulcers which have now been treated and he is eating well again.

Snaith said Do It Again’s recent grass gallop at Hollywoodbets Greyville with Belgarion gave him cause to hope the big horse was back to his best and said, “He was giving Belgarion 6kg in that gallop.” Do It Again led the pair but was still on the bit when they crossed the line, whereas Belgarion was being hard ridden. 

Belgarion will carry 53kg in the July which means Fourie would have to slim 1kg from his official minimum riding weight of 54kg while Marcus would have to slim 2kg.  

Bunker Hunt, as things stand is set to carry 54,5kg in the July but unlike Belgarion, who is 1kg under sufferance, he is in the handicap so his weight could change if Do It Again comes down from his 135 rating or if any horse rises above 135. 

The horse Snaith is most scared of in the July is Rainbow Bridge. 

He said, “Rainbow Bridge is a very good horse. Last season Do It Again and Rainbow Bridge were hands down the best weight for age horses over 2000m in the country.”

Snaith said all horses in his Summerveld yard were very well and this includes his team for Sunday.

He said, “Before arriving here at Summerveld I would have liked Sachdev for the Daily News 2000 ahead of Wild Coast, but Wild Coast is really enjoying Durban and they are now very close. Sachdev needed his WSB Guineas run more so will come on more from it. If you can’t beat a Silvano over a mile you are not going to beat him over 2000m and Sachdev was only beaten 0,95 lengths in the Guineas (which was won by Wild Coast).”

Wild Coast will also enjoy the 2000m trip being by Trippi out of the versatile Beach Beauty, who was effective from 1200m up to 2000m.

Snaith has entered Sovereign Secret and Rattle Mouse in the Grade 1 Woolavington 2000.

He said, “Sovereign Secret was given no chance in the WSB Fillies Guineas as she was second last in the running behind a slow pace.” Her previous best effort had been a third place finish in the CTS 1600, She is by Dynasty out of the three time Grade 1 winner from 1200m to 1600m, All Is Secret. She has a full brother who won over 1900m, so has a chance of staying the trip despite the speed from the dam, who’s two Grade 1 1200m wins were in the Allan Robertson and Mercury Sprint.

Rattle Mouse, who finished 1,75 lengths behind Sovereign Secret in the WSB Fillies Guineas, is by Ideal World and has already proven her liking for 2000m, finishing a head second in a MR 84 handicap for fillies and mares at Kenilworth in her first run out of the maidens. However, she is only merit rated 84, so it remains to be seen whether she will get into Sunday’s field. 

Snaith’s crack sprinter Kasimir will be going for the Grade 1 Golden Horse Sprint over 1200m at Hollywoodbets on July 4 and then the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Gold Cup day August 29. Kasimir’s runner up finish in the IOS Drill Hall Stakes was the joint best performance of the SA Champions Season so far alongside Belgarion’s WSB 1900 win on Saturday according to handicapping guru Jay August.

By David Thiselton

Anton Marcus, booked for Do It Again in Sunday’s Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge, will be riding the horse  for the first time in a race since landing a record fifth Vodacom Durban July on him nearly two years ago.

But seemingly the sponsors are more influenced by the five-year-old’s disappointing form so far this season and make him only third favourite at 5-1. Rainbow Bridge heads the market at 5-2 with Vardy close up at 3.03-1.

However favourites in the Gold Challenge have a poor recent record. The last six have all been beaten and there has not been a winning one since odds-on Variety Club (Marcus) won the race for the second successive year in 2013. Furthermore Do It Again won last year’s race and Justin Snaith is bidding for his fourth Gold Challenge victory.

Do It Again remains a big price in the July market with most layers offering around 11-1. Predictably the big movers on Sunday were Snaith’s Saturday feature winners Belgarion and Myabi Gold. The former was cut from 8-1 to 6-1 joint second favourite (with Rainbow Bridge) while the mare was slashed from 66-1 to 22-1. Hawwaam remains favourite but has been eased from 4-1 to 5-1.

Do It Again has finished no closer than sixth in three outings this season but his trainer is hoping  for a much-improved effort on Saturday: “He is going well, we have had no hiccups, everything looks fine and on song.

“There are some good horses in the race, and it’s going to be tough, but I am quite confident Do It Again has no reason to run a bad race. We have found all his little issues.”

The last-named includes the ulcers which were believed to be at the root of the horse’s problems in the Cape season. “We did all the tests prior to putting him back into training and everything had cleared up. He is carrying condition which he wasn’t before. He looks a happy horse – he is bucking every morning – and it doesn’t look as if anything is bothering him.”

Snaith also mentioned Roi Querari, a horse he believes could develop into a top sprinter. The three-year-old will be ridden by Marcus in Sunday’s Durban Dash – “He is having his first run back and he is doing exceptionally well. He should have run in the Post Merchants and how he didn’t get in I don’t know. Let’s see if he proves them wrong on Sunday!”

The dual champion trainer was in treble form at a wet Kenilworth on Sunday but those punters who follow the stable blindly – and many do – had to contend with four beaten favourites including a particularly expensive start with 11-20 shot Stuck On You.

“She should have won by five,” said Snaith. “I don’t know what her issues are but there is something that’s not right.”

Stable companion La Quinta, in contrast, made up those five lengths in the final furlong for M.J. Byleveld to come home at 16-1. “I had her ready to run just before the lockdown but the meeting was scrapped. This time we put in our stable comments that she is very speedy and could easily run into the money.”

Vaughan Marshall’s hot favourite Freedom Park also proved costly, starting at 11-10 and managing only ninth  behind Robert Khathi’s mount Tarantino. The Milnerton trainer, though, promptly served up 66-1 compensation with the Ossie Noach-ridden newcomer Dubai Lights.

Noach completed an 870-1 double on the Glen Puller-trained 12-1 shot Miss D’Aray in the last but the most obvious post-lockdown lesson in the Western Cape is that Glen Kotzen’s stable is on fire. The Woodhill trainer followed up last Tuesday’s treble with two more winners – Mountain Ridge (Greg Cheyne) and the appropriately-named Winter’s Awakening (Morne Winnaar).

By Michael Clower

by David Thiselton

Justin Snaith’s stable jockey Richard Fourie will have a headache choosing his Vodacom Durban July ride this year after Belgarion put up a scintillating performance yesterday to win the Grade WSB 1900 at Greyville under Anton Marcus.

Belgarion is set to carry 53kg in the July as things stand not the widely reported 54kg. 

The 54kg is in fact two kgs out because he will be 1kg under sufferance off his expected 119 merit rating. 

Belgarion is likely to be given the maximum six point raise for his three length win over the KZN horse Tristful, who was 1,4 lengths clear of another KZN horse Camphoratus.

That means he will go from 113 to 119 which is 16 points less than the 135 merit rating of the current highest rated horse Do It Again. 

As each point represents half-a-kilogram that equates to 8kg and with top weight being 60kg it would have him carrying 52kg in a true handicap. 

However, the July is a mixture between a handicap and a conditions race and one of the conditions is that the minimum weight for a male horse is 53kg, meaning he has to go up 1kg from his true handicap weight. He will thus, as things stand, be “1kg under sufferance”.

However, he will be regarded by the experts as being well weighted because his 119 merit rating is likely “capped”. A condition of the WSB 1900 is that the winner can not be raised more than six points and given freedom the handicappers might well have raised him higher.

One of South Africa’s best handicappers Jay August unofficially awarded Belgarion 115 on a scale which can be compared to the Asian Pacific Conference (APC) ratings.

This makes his performance equal best for the SA Champions Season so far alongside the Snaith-trained, Kasimir, who ran to that rating when second in the IOS Drill Hall.

However, August said Belgarion could even be given a 115+ considering the ease of the win.

On the other hand he said the international handicappers on the APC panel, which includes South Africa’s chief handicapper Lennon Maharaj, would always challenge a 115 first time for a horse outside of a Grade 1 race and predicted they would knock him down to 114.

Last year Do It Again achieved the highest APC in this country of 121 with Hawwaam and Rainbow Bridge close behind on 120 and 119 respectively.

Presuming Belgarion is given a 114 that puts him just seven points lower than Do It Again at his best and under that rating scale Belgarion would have had to carry 56,5kg in the July. The experts might thus regard him as being 3,5kg “well in”, i.e weighted 3,5kg better than he should be. 

Marcus does not yet have a ride for this year’s July so might well be aboard the leading Snaith contender Fourie rejects i.e Belgarion or Do It Again.

Do It Again was ridden by Marcus to win the July two years ago and was ridden by Fourie last year.

Fourie’s minimum riding weight is 54kg and Marcus’ is 55kg, so both will have to slim significantly to ride Belgarion as things stand.

Caption: Belgarion easily winning yesterday’s Grade 2 WSB 1900. (Candiese Lenferna).

Belgarion will have his odds slashed by the sponsors for next month’s Vodacom Durban July as he turned in a terrific performance in the Grade 2 World Sports Betting 1900 at Hollywoodbets Greyville today.

Justin Snaith has done a masterful job in placing his charge for a crack at the country’s biggest race, ducking the Sun Met, and even after his facile win in a race that is a traditional stepping stone into the VDJ, he is likely to make it into the field with close to bottom weight for his age group.

Belgarion will not be seen out again before the big race, “my runners are out for one look before the big day,” explained Snaith and if he gets into the VDJ off a predicted 54kg he could take some stopping.

Snaith stable jockey Richard Fourie is marooned in Cape Town at this stage of the virus lock-down but Anton Marcus could be on a diet of brown rice and stewed apple to make the weight if he can jock Fourie off Belgarion in spite of possibly having the possible option of Do It Again for a record-breaking third successive VDJ win.

“He was super, super impressive,” enthused Marcus post-race. A disappointingly slow pace saw the field bunch up on the home turn with Belgarion seemingly taking a couple of awkward strides as they came off the turn. Marcus was then left hunting for galloping room. “The horse got me out of trouble,” he said as he had to dodge further traffic in the straight. But once in the clear, Belgarian accelerated home to win comfortably.

Tristful ran a cracker in second and may well have booked his place in the VDJ and the mare Camphoratus, sixth in the big race last year, gave notice that she is on the up as she snatched third after blowing the start.

“It has been difficult but a year ago this was sort of the plan,” explained Snaith. “Bernard (Fayd’Herbe) found himself in no-man’s land in the Derby and he finished some seven lengths off them. We gelded him after that and it was then a case of run in the Met and finish fifth or sixth and get a penalty or save him for the Natal season.”

Snaith is in the fortunate position of having owners who are wise to the ways of the sport and Gillian and Alec Foster, who also bred Belgarion, have gone along with the plan. Given that all goes smoothly in the lead-up to the VDJ, Belgarion will be among the strongly fancied runners.

It may still take a month or so for handicap ratings to settle into some form of normality with the majority of runners coming off an enforced three-month break from the Covid lock-down. That said, Miyabi Gold was rated a division superior to her opposition in the East Coast Handicap (Listed) and consequently made short work of her opposition.

Although skating home by the best part of three lengths from a late finishing Perfect Air, the win may have held more merit than the bare facts would suggest.

The early pace was little more than a strong canter and Anton Marcus had his mount handy and on the heels of the pacemakers. But he took action a long way out and was hard at work on Mayabi Gold as the field hit the final turn and at that stage looked to be in a spot of bother.

However, Marcus persevered and the mare responded under a vigorous hands-and-heels ride and a couple of backhanders to eventually shake off her rivals. Perfect Air came out of the scrum late to take second and Coral Bay holding on for the shallow end of the purse.

Miyabi Gold is out of the former Alistair Gordon-trained Mkushi Gold and is owned by Evanstan Investments with the late Robin Hamilton as nominee in partnership with Nick Jonsson. She does have the Vodacom Durban July pencilled and it will be interesting to see which path Justin Snaith takes with the mare as he has a boat-load of VDJ nominations including duel winner Do It Again and World Sports Betting 1900 winner Belgarian.

Marchingontogether has always struck as a better horse than his record shows as he looked set for a smart sophomore career but appeared to lose his way a little. As a late four-year-old he seems to have hit his straps and Gavin van Zyl and the Pathfork gelding’s myriad of owners can look forward to a promising end to the season after Marchingontogether spread-eagled his field in the Grade 3 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup.

Midfield turning for home in the 2400m event, Warren Kennedy threaded him through the traffic and Marchingontogether whistled past to win as he liked with the grey White Lightning finishing best of the rest for second.

On this showing, the 3000m Gold Vase on Vodacom Durban July day and the 3200m Gold Cup look well within Marchingontogether’s compass.

By Andrew Harrison