Louis The King was handy in the running in the Met and turned for home in second place. However, he found little extra when it counted and finished a disappointing sixth, despite having been backed into 18/10 favourite.

Geoff Woodruff

Woodruff said, “He doesn’t run that way. He likes to bide his time and come with a nice sustained run and if you ran in front with him I doubt he would even win a weak race. He has been training nicely and will be ready for the run and I hope it will bring him on for the Champions Challenge. The aim is always to win and although I would not say he is 100% he is certainly fit enough to run his best race. He has had a couple of very nice grass gallops.”

Tellina ran a good fourth in the Met and Woddruff said that he was as forward as Louis The King was for Saturday’s race.

He said, “Tellina is also doing well and has had a couple of nice grass gallops. He doesn’t show much at home but I hope he performs well on Saturday and he usually does.”

Woodruff brought both horses back from Cape Town on the Tuesday after the Met and gave them a “little break and took it easy with them for a bit” as well as giving them their vaccinations. He added, “But we have had plenty of time since then to get them fit.”

Louis jumps from a plum draw of two with his regular rider Piere Strydom aboard. Tellina has the widest draw of all in the 13 horse field and his regular rider Gavin Lerena is up.

Louis The King (JC Photo)

The yard run the talented four-year-old Jet Master filly Touch The Sky as well as the four-year-old Greys Inn filly Sisters Of Mercy in the Gr 3 Jacaranda Handicap over 1800m.

Woodruff said, “Touch The Sky was back to form in her last race. I don’t know why she went off form but she looks much more like her old self at the moment. I would have preferred the race to be 200m further but I think she will be competitive. Sisters Of Mercy ran a much better race last time over a distance short of her best. She will like the sting out of the ground and I think she might get it as there is a bit of rain forecast. She ran a very good race in the Yellowwood, she never got a run, and it looked like she could have even won it.”

Touch The Sky is drawn eleven with Lerena up and Sisters Of Mercy, who is 3,5kg under sufferance according to official merit ratings, is drawn ten with Ryan Munger aboard.

The yard’s other runner on the day is the four-year-old Dylan Thomas filly Wild Ash, who runs in the Gr 3 Caradoc Gold Cup over 2850m from draw three with Ian Sturgeon aboard. She is the second best in at the weights according to official merit ratings and Woodruff said, “She had a very good win last time (won over 2450m). I don’t know how she will go against males over this trip but she is a big strong girl herself and if she runs her best race she will go close.”

Lafferty said, “All is well and everything he has done since his Gauteng Guineas win has been good. We ran him a little overweight in the Guineas. We have kept up his work program between races, his work has been good, he is doing well, I am very happy and he will weigh much the same for this race.

Harry’s Son and trainer Paul Lafferty

“I have looked at Ertijaal’s runs and he a very good horse. He is extremely talented, is a real galloper and looks like he will go further. But I think we can beat him. We have a great rider, we will need some luck in running, but we have a very good horse and I hope he can beat Ertijaal with his speed. But there are a few horses that I have the utmost respect for in this race.

“Our wide draw is an obvious concern, but what must be remembered is that if there is any race you would want to be drawn deep in at Turffontein then it is over the 1800m. There is a lovely run in before the bend and I think this is where Striker (Strydom) will use his ability in such a way hopefully to tuck the big boy in and position him.

“We have always felt that he would go ten furlongs. You can’t tell me that a horse that wins a Gr 1 over a mile as a two-year-old doesn’t go an extra furlong. So we have no doubt he will go the 1800m and 2000m. He relaxes well and quickens well so we firmly believe he will get the trip. In the Cape Guineas he over raced early but still stayed on and he was a bit keen early on in the Gauteng Guineas and went for home early too.

“He had that race won at the furlong mark and without disrespect to the second horse (French Navy) I think he only got as close as he did (0,5 lengths) because our horse was eased before the line. If you look at the form French Navy finished 2,5 lengths behind Ertijaal but we could have beaten French Navy by further.”

Harry’s Son has had an exacting season on paper as he has already travelled to Johannesburg by float three times and to Cape Town by air once. However, the Australian-bred colt by Haradasun is the most laid back of characters and is an extremely good traveller, so this will be of little concern. He follows the same travel plan as usual and will leave his Summerveld base at midnight on Friday, arriving at Turffontein on Saturday morning which will allow him enough time to stretch his legs and familiarise himself.

Four of the mares are due to the mighty Frankel whose stud fee is a staggering £125 000 (R2.2 million) and the rest are in foal to Rock Of Gibraltar whose fee is a tenth of that even though he won seven consecutive Group 1s and has sired a string of winners at the same level.

CTS boss Adrian Todd said: “We bought the mares in a job lot from Coolmore, they are in foal to Southern Hemisphere time and we will sell the offspring as yearlings. Fifteen of the mares are at Klawervlei and the rest at Summerhill.

“We bought them because we feel that, as stallions can’t be shuttled to South Africa, this would be the next best thing.”

CTS also plans to sell the mares at some stage and Todd is optimistic that this will give the mare market a much-needed stimulus.

Picture: Frankel (Liesl King)

“She needed that last run in the Meydan Sprint and despite not having raced for nine months, she was running at them and only finished 1.75 lengths off the winner. She will have come on from that run and while she is meeting a strong field in the Al Quoz, I expect a very good run from her”, said De Kock.

Via Africa (Liesl King)

Mubtaahij (IRE), a three-year-old colt by Dubawi, owned by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum and trained by De Kock, is currently the favourite for the $2 million Gr. 2 UAE Derby. De Kock confirmed that the plan is for Mubtaahij to contest the Kentucky Derby should he finish in the first two come Saturday. He did however caution that while the horse may be favourite, he faces stiff competition from the Japanese contingent as well as the two Godolphin entries.

In the $1 million Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup, De Kock saddles Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum’s Almoonqith (USA), which he considers to be his best chance on the night. “He is a very versatile horse. He has shown that he has the speed to win over a mile and yet he has the stamina to win over 2800m as well.”

Other De Kock entries include Pylon and Prayer For Relief (USA) in the Gr.2 Godolphin Mile, Umgiyo (AUS) in the Gr.1 Dubai Turf and Star Empire and Mushreq (AUS) in the Gr.2 Dubai Gold Cup.

However, he was not writing him off and also had hopes for his other Gr 1 runner on the day, Banbury, who takes her place in the Gr 1 Wlgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic over 1800m.

No Worries (Nkosi Hlophe)

Van Zyl said that the five-year-old Kahal gelding No Worries had been given a break after the Sansui Summer Cup and would be using Saturday’s run chiefly as a preparation for the Gr 1 R2 million President’s Champions Challenge over 2000m at Turffontein on April 25. However, he added that he would not be far off his best and unlike in the Charity Mile, where he was drawn widest of all in 16, he now had the pole position draw, so could well find himself in “the box seat”.  Van Zyl also believed that quite a number of the field on Saturday would be viewing the race as a preparation event for the Champions Challenge. He concluded, “This isn’t No Worries’ target but he won’t be disappointing.”

Banbury, a promising filly by the late great Horse Chestnut, benefitted from a change of tactics when winning the Gr 3 Bradlows/Morkels Fillies Mile on Sansui Summer Cup day. Instead of being out in front, she was held up off the pace and finished strongly to overtake the decent sort Smart Call and win by 1,25 lengths. She is held on paper over a mile by Siren’s Call and Same Jurisdiction, but Van Zyl said that if she could bring her last win she could have a chance. Indeed, she reversed form with Smart Call in the Fillies Mile with that change of tactics, so could be a threat to Siren’s Call and Same Jurisdiction if the same tactics are employed. Van Zyl said that she had been given “a little bit of a break” after the Fillies Mile and they hadn’t had her ready in time for last month’s Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas. However, he added that she was now “fit and well and in a good place.” The manner of her Fillies Mile win suggested she should get the 1800m. She has a fair draw of six in the small ten horse field, but Piere Strydom, not surprisingly, will stay aboard the Gauteng Fillies Guineas winner Siren’s Call and is replaced on Banbury by Bernard Fayd’Herbe.

Banbury (Nkosi Hlophe)

Van Zyl clearly thinks a lot of the two-year-old colt Captain Al colt Redcarpet Captain, who runs from draw seven under S’Manga Khumalo in the Gr 3 Englezakis Protea Stakes over 1100m. On debut he showed good cruising speed in a Juvenile Plate over 1000m, which allowed Khumalo to ride a confident race, sitting on him until the closing stages and then producing a telling late burst to win cosily by 0,75 lengths. He is now 3kg worse off with the runner up from that race Mogok Master, but Van Zyl said that he had improved a lot since that last run and had been working well. He concluded, “He is a smart colt, the formlines are unestablished and this is new territory, but I expect him to be competitive.”

The yard step the four-year-old Seul Amour gelding Heart Of A Lion up to 2850m in the Gr 3 Caradoc Gold Cup. He is the best weighted male in the race, but the new conditions invented for these sorts of races usually favour females and two of the latter, Rodeo Sioux and Wild Ash, are duly the best weighted horses according to official merit ratings. Van Zyl said that there was no reason why the well regarded Heart Of A Lion shouldn’t enjoy the trip. The gelding jumps from draw 8 in the 12 horse field and Muzi Yeni rides.

Van Zyl was bullish about the chances of Vino Veritas in the Gr3 Jacaranda Handicap over 1800m for fillies and mares, despite her having to carry topweight. She is drawn well in four with Piere Strydom up and Van Zyl said, “She is on the up and has been doing very well.”

He felt that his other runner on the day, the two-year-old Noordhoek Flyer gelding Schillaci, who runs from a difficult draw of ten under Yeni in a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1400m, would improve on his first run and could run into the money. He finished 6,75 lengths behind Redcarpet Captain on debut and looks to have a form chance here over a step up in trip he should enjoy.