The Alec Laird-trained J&B Met winner Smart Call will have a grass gallop on Saturday on the Newmarket Rowley Mile racecourse and Frankie Dettori will be in the irons. However, the jockey legend has not yet been able to commit to ride the Mauritzfontein Stud-owned and bred Ideal World filly in either of her next two races, the Gr 1 Kingdom Of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes over a mile at Newmarket on October 1 and the Breeders Cup Fillies and Mares Turf over one mile and two furlongs on November 5 at Santa Anita Park in the USA.

The Sun Chariot will be run on the Rowley Mile on October 1, so the aim of Saturday’s gallop is not only to bring her on but also to show her the track. The course is described as having minor undulations until the horses reach “The Bushes” two furlongs out, although these undulations would be a new experience for a South African horse and perhaps not so minor. From the Bushes the track goes downhill for a furlong into “The Dip” and there is then an uphill for a furlong to the finish line. The racecourse was the favourite riding ground of King Charles II, under whom horseracing flourished in the latter half of the 1600s, and is named in his honour. King Charles II, who loved horseracing and revelled in the company of his jockeys, acquired the nickname “Olde Rowley”. This was also the name of a stallion at the Royal Stud and the nickname came about as a reference to the many illegitimate children the King sired.

Smart Call has already had a couple of grass gallops on the vast Newmarket heath, which has 80km of turf gallops in total. This included a gallop on the famous Limekilns. However, most of her work has been done on the polytracks, of which there are a number of different types. The polytracks have currently been popular due to the dry conditions, which have left the turf quite firm.

Dettori has ridden Smart Call twice and Laird said he had described her as “a nice filly” but had not “over-enthused”. Laird added she had been below her peak and hoped Dettori would be more impressed by her this Saturday.

Smart Call (Met gallop) – Liesl King

Smart Call has been staying at Mary Slack’s Abington Place. Mike de Kock campaigns in the UK from this yard and his assistant Steven Jell is based there. However, Moffat Mngeni, who work-rode Smart Call in Cape Town when she was being prepared for the J&B Met, has been Smart Call’s constant companion. Laird himself has flown backwards and forwards and will be over there from Saturday until the running of the Sun Chariot. The Sun Chariot is being used as a “preparation” for the Breeders Cup and Laird said she would likely “need the run”, it being her first race since the Met eight months ago.
Smart Call will be flown to the USA together with all of the other European Breeders Cup campaigners. They will leave from Stanstead airport, which is near Newmarket, about a week before the Breeders Cup. She will attempt to follow in the footsteps of her paternal grand-dam Banks Hill, who won the Breeders Cup Fillies and Mares Turf in 2001.

Meanwhile in South Africa Laird has been preparing some of his better charges for the features ahead.

His Judpot filly Maleficent started at 8/10 for the Gr 2 Golden Slipper on Vodacom Durban July day but ran a flat race and could only manage fifth place. Laird said jockey Weichong Marwing had reported her to be hanging and she had “returned with a bit of a fetlock”. Consequently, Laird has been going slowly with her and he said it would be “50/50” whether she would make it in time for the Gr 1 World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas, which is to be run at Kenilworth on December 3. Otherwise, she will be aimed at the Gr 2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas and the Gr 1 Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic, to be run at Turffontein on March 4 and April 1 2017 respectively. The Gr 1 Woolavington 2000 during the SA Champions Season is also a long term plan for her as Laird believes she will go over ground.

Laird had high hopes for another Judpot filly, the four-year-old Polyphonic, who finished a 3,85 length fifth to Equus Champion Three-year-old Bela-Bela in this year’s Woolavington.

He is also hoping to qualify his six-year-old Bezrin gelding Bezanova for the Gr 2 Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity mile, which is to be run at Turffontein on the same day as the Breeders Cup, November 5. Bezanova won this race off a 104 merit rating in 2014 and last year finished a 3,85 length fifth off a 107 merit rating. Therefore, Laird reckoned he would stand a good chance of winning it this year off his current 96 merit rating, especially considering he finished just 4,2 lengths behind the best three-year-old in the country, Marinaresco, in his last start in the Gr 1 Champions Cup over 1800m when facing the latter on weight for age terms.

David Thiselton