Dennis Drier might still have three runners in the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint at Scottsville’s Festival Of Speed meeting on June 4, despite Triptique proving with his excellent running on third in the Gr 2 IOS Drill Hall Stakes on Friday he is more than just a sprinter.

Dual Gr 1 winner Seventh Plain was struck down by a “nasty virus” recently, but has recovered and is “doing well”. He might be back in time for the Tsogo Sun. He won the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Medallion over the same course and distance last year and the track and distance perfectly suits his style, in which he has good cruising speed and a powerful kick.

Triptique might go for both the Tsogo Sun Sprint and the Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge. Jockey Sean Veale describes him as a honest horse and added, “He will easily stay a mile, he has been running like a horse who needs the mile.”

Meanwhile, Barbosa has come out of his excellent third in the Gr 1 WSB Computaform Sprint very well and should be a big runner in the Tsogo Sun, having escaped any raise to his existing 108 merit rating.

Triptique earned the maximum five point raise for his Drill Hall run, in accordance with the new handicapping guidelines for a second-placed horse in a Gr 2. He is now merit rated 106.

Seventh Plain (Nkosi Hlophe)

Seventh Plain could be well weighted in the Tsogo Sun off a 107 merit rating, having been dropped from a high of 110 due to three slightly disappointing runs in Cape Town. However, that campaign was geared around the CTS Million Dollar over 1400m and he is likely more comfortable over 1200m.

Furthermore, the last horse to do the Medallion/Tsogo Sun Sprint double was Delago Deluxe and he won the latter race off a 108 merit rating.

Both Drier and Veale confirmed Punta Arenas had needed the run in the Drill Hall, where he finished a 7,15 length eighth.

Drier will run him in the Gr 3 Cup Trial and then into the July, in which he was an unlucky runner up last year. However, his 18th position on the first July log makes him a borderline case for qualification.

Drier’s Gr 1-winning filly Chestnuts ‘N Pearls has had chips removed from her joints and reappears on 20th May in a Conditions Plate for fillies and mares over 1400m on the Greyville turf.

The useful middle distance filly Gathering Fame, who defended her Listed Jamaica Handicap crown at Kenilworth in January, also reappears on the 20th in the Listed KRA East Coast Cup over 2000m on the turf.

David Thiselton