SA Triple Crown-winning trainer Mike Azzie felt Rabada would have been the horse to beat in tomorrow night’s Gr 2 Canon Guineas if it were not for his tough draw.

Rabada (Nkosi Hlophe)

The ball now may be in the court of Justin Snaith, who has a powerful team of three, although they also face tricky draws.

Rabada travelled down to Summerveld yesterday and Azzie said, “Rabada had a great comeback win after being hurt in Cape Town and has come on in leaps and bounds.”

Snaith runs Baritone, Black Arthur and It’s My Turn, and said, “Baritone could have won last time (narrow second Byerley Turk with topweight) but for the draw, and is widely drawn again. Black Arthur is a horse everybody has to keep an eye on. Cape Derby winner It’s My Turn needs further and hasn’t got the pace to get up there from a wide draw, so will be dropped out and we will see how he runs on.”

Dean Kannemeyer runs the Byerley winner Mambo Mime, although he is now 4kg worse off with Baritone, and said, “He had a few issues last year and is learning and improving. He has a lot of potential and lost by half-a-length to Black Arthur over this trip in Cape Town when giving away 5kg and they fancy Black Arthur. It’s a strong race but he’s doing well.”

Exit Here (Nkosi Hlophe)

Charles Laird runs Exit Here and assistant trainer Lorenzo Kariem said his last run in  sloppy conditions on the poly can be ignored. He added, “He is doing very well, but it’s always a competitive race and you need luck.”

Sean Tarry has two runners and said, “Prospect Strike is the sort of horse who would have had a chance, but from the draw I can have no confidence. He is definitely looking for a mile. We probably stretched Malak El Moolook in his last two over 1800m, he will appreciate the step back to a mile, but he also has a tough draw.”

Gareth Van Zyl said the yard are having success addressing Redcarpet Captain’s haemo-concentration issues and added, “He had excuses for his last couple with bad draws and over racing and now from a good draw and with the blinkers off I make him a big runner.”

Other eye catching entries in the race are the Duncan Howells pair Sylvester The Cat and Ten Gun Salute and the Mike de Kock-trained Muwaary and the Vaughan Marshall-trained Victorious Jay, while the Lezeanne Forbes-trained Royal Armour will be attempting to reproduce some of his good polytrack form.

By David Thiselton