The champion Paul Lafferty-trained Australian-bred colt Harry’s Son was found to have heat in the knee this morning and has therefore been scratched from his first big engagement of the Champions Season, Saturday’s Gr 2 KRA Guineas.

Fortunately the problem is not serious and the yard are simply excercising caution.

Lafferty said, “The knee was also a little sensitive, so we got the vet in and X-rays showed the knee to be perfectly clean. We are not going to take a chance as he’s obviously jarred the knee.” Lafferty said that a decision would be made in a couple of weeks time about his next target.

Saturday is also the opening day of the popular Charity Turf Challenge and Harry’s Son should not now be ignored by those wishing to enter a list as he was the champion of his crop last year and is not without a chance of still proving himself the best of them over the next three months.

The good looking bay had put in some fine work on Summerveld’s top sand track yesterday morning ahead of his engagement in Saturday’s Gr 2 KRA Guineas at Greyville and this followed an outstanding gallop at Scottsville last Friday.

In the former gallop he had worked with the stable’s useful Listed Easter Handicap winner Double Clutch over 1400m, of which 1200m was run at racing pace, and after being switched out from behind his companion at the 200m mark he finished a remarkable six lengths clear, an indication of his class and just how good his turn of foot is. Another notable characteristic he has is his excellent recovery rate, which is one of the best measures of aerobic capacity. Furthermore, in his gruelling recent SA Classic race run in “very soft” going he was found to have lost a mere 1kg in weight.

Turn of foot is one of the prerequisites at Greyville and Harry’s Son has proved suited to the tight track, having won the Gr 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes over 1600m last season, following an unlucky third at the same course over 1400m in the Gr 1 Golden Horseshoe. Therefore the Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge over 1600m on June 6 at Greyville might well be on his agenda and will give the connections the opportunity to test him against the country’s best milers as well as an opportunity to exact revenge on his crop’s highest merit rated horse, Act Of War.

The three-year-old male crop has not covered itself in glory this season, but Harry’s Son could well have put up the best performance among them when winning the Gr 3 Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m at Turffontein last November by a comfortable two lengths, as he was giving lumps of weight away to some classy horses. He was also impressive in his Gr 2 Gauteng Guineas win. Furthermore he has had excuses for all three of his defeats this season.

The one chink in his armour is that he hates soft ground and that has been his likely undoing in both the Investec Dingaans and the Gr 1 SA Classic which were his only two below par runs. The laid back colt is a very good traveller but his legitimate excuse after being unusually keen in the Gr 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas at Kenilworth was that he had spent three hours on the tarmac at King Shaka airport early that morning due to a delayed flight and he then had to endure a two-legged flight via Port Elizabeth. His runner up finish was a remarkable performance considering the journey he had earlier endured.

By David Thiselton

Picture: JC Photos

There is a possibility that Louis The King will be gelded following his poor run in last Saturday’s R2-million President’s Champion Challenge at Turffontein.

Last year’s Triple Crown winner was close up turning for home but started fading from the 400m. In the end jockey Piere Strydom did not persevere with him and the son of Black Minnaloushe trailed in at the back of the field, 14.50 lengths behind the winner, Wylie Hall.

“We are not sure, we think we are losing the battle and he is haemoconcentrating,” said Trainer Geoff Woodruff on Tuesday. “We still need to do a lot more tests but that’s what appears to be happening.

“He pulled up sound but it means his blood is not moving around as much as it should.”

Should that be the case it means “Louis” either has to be sent off to stud or he will need to be gelded. “A lot of things need to be spoken about. I don’t want to see the horse go to stud and then get moved all over the place because he is not producing. In the meantime he misses out on some races he could have won.

“The kinder option, I think, is to geld him because I think he has a lot of good racing left in him,” added Woodruff.

In other news from Champions Day trainer Weiho Marwing President’s Champions Challenge winner Wylie Hall will go straight into the Grade 1 Vodacom Durban July on Saturday 4 July without having a warm-up run. “He doesn’t need prep runs, he runs well fresh so why go and still run the horse,” said Marwing.

“He has had two tough races so I will freshen him up at home. It’s not as if he still has to qualify. He is in and there’s no need to push him.

“I am very happy with him. He took Saturday’s race very well and he pulled up well.”

Wylie Hall was first past the post in last year’s Durban July but lost the race to Legislate on an objection.

Marwing added that he planned to take Cool Chardonnay to KwaZulu-Natal for the season and aim him at the Gold Cup over 3200m. “I unfortunately had to scratch him from Saturday’s SA Derby because he pulled a muscle. They’ve changed the conditions for the Derby in KZN and it is now open to all horses so he’s probably better off running in Gold Cup.

“There are also a lot of good warm-up events during the season.”

Tabnews

The KRA Fillies Guineas contestant Alexis put in a superb bit of work on the Summerveld beach sand yesterday morning and will give high flying Cape trainer Brett Crawford an outstanding chance of landing this race for the second year in succession.

However, Mike de Kock’s Summerveld assistant trainer Nathan Kotzen was also very happy with the well-being of one of Alexis’s chief rivals on Saturday, One Fine Day.

Yesterday, Alexis cruised at a comfortable gait alongside the speedy Cuvee Brut , who appeared to have her work cut out to keep up, and Crawford’s assistant trainer Barry Donnelly was thrilled by the workout. Cuvee Brut won her last start in a MR 78 Handicap for fillies and mares over 1200m by an impressive three lengths, which puts Alexis’s class into perspective. Alexis has plenty of speed but Donnelly pointed out that on pedigree she should get Saturday’s 1600m trip. Indeed, she has a blistering turn of foot and has invariably finished strongly over shorter.  In her last start over 1400m at Greyville in a small but classy field of six, she came from last and after being switched inward she had to then be switched outward again for a clear run and was doing excellent late work. She finished just 1,75 and one length respectively behind One Fine Day and Silver Class and will face both of them on 2kgs better terms in the KRA Fillies Guineas at Greyville on Saturday. It has to be said that One Fine Day quickened effortlessly and won with a bit in hand, although she was probably more forward than Alexis as it was her third run after a rest compared to the latter’s comeback run. Donnelly confirmed yesterday that Alexis had needed the run and had “come on plenty” since then. Meanwhile, Kotzen said about One Fine Day, “She is doing very well and seems to be flying. If we have her the same as she was for that last race I will be happy.”

Delmar Sherrel is now the sole owner of Alexis. Delmar is the mother of former Springbok flyhalf Lance Sherrel and also has a share in the Crawford-trained stalwart Captain America, who was an easy winner of last month’s WFA Gr 1 HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes over 1600m at Turffontein.

– By David Thiselton

Harry’s Son has been scratched from Saturday’s KRA Guineas. More to follow…

The reigning Vodacom Durban July champion Legislate moved well in light work at Summerveld yesterday, but will probably need his Gr 2 Drill Hall Stakes outing, a race that his equally illustrious stablemate Futura will be avoiding.

Legislate put in some light work on the sand under Sean Cormack, who reported him to be “moving well.” He put in a good gallop on Monday, but was “blowing a bit” afterwards and this prompted trainer Justin Snaith to say, “I take it that he will need his first run and he is drawn in the bush anyway (9 out of 12 runners).”

Stable jockey Richard Fourie retains the ride and if Legislate is anywhere near his best he should fight out the Drill Hall with the only other Gr 1-winner involved, King Of Pain, who is also drawn wide in 10.

Snaith has decided to avoid the Drill Hall Stakes with the J&B Met and L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate winner Futura, having been thrilled with his recent Greyville grass gallop, and race fans will have to wait until the Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge at Greyville on June 6 before seeing him clash with Legislate for the first time this Champions Season. Snaith has already noticed that the thoroughly professional Futura is a dream to train and one of his positive characteristics is that he “saves himself” and doesn’t extend to the maximum in his workouts. The Dynasty colt put in some fluent work on his own on the top sand track at Summerveld yesterday under Cormack.

Snaith said that his two KRA Guineas contestants Heartland and Ultimate Dollar had both come on since their first KZN outings. They both crossed the line first in their respective Champions Season pipe openers, but Ultimate Dollar was demoted after an objection by the connections of St. Tropez.

Snaith said, “Heartland has gears and is the closest thing to the two big horses (Legislate and Futura) that we have. He is a serious horse.”

Ultimate Dollar has an impressive stride but appears to take a while to wind up. Snaith felt that the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 would give him a better chance of classic victory than the Guineas. However, Ultimate Dollar has drawn in five on Saturday compared to Heartland’s 14.

Snaith said that generally all of his Champions Season string had not had gallops in Cape Town before travelling to Durban so would likely need their first outings in KZN. He said that all seven of his runners from Scottsville on Sunday had pulled up well, including Dynamic, whom he felt was unlucky to have been beaten into second in the Listed Sledgehammer over 1750m by fellow July entry, the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Solar Star, as he had received a bump at a crucial stage.

Snaith said that he would be aiming a lot of his other July entries, including the like of Jet Explorer, at the Betting World 1900 on May 15.

Snaith made special mention of his promising New Zealand-bred colt French Revolution, an eyecatching grey whose lightly coloured mane would make him an instant housewive’s favourite. He said, “He has really come well and is thriving. The idea for him is the Gold Cup, but we want to try and do as little as we can before then as you need a sound horse for that race.”

by David Thiselton