Western Cape champion trainer Justin Snaith runs the pacey Victoria Lavelle in the Gr 2 Southern Cross Stakes over 1000m at Kenilworth on Saturday.

In the meantime tests are being done on Black Arthur and the yard are “under pressure” to have him ready in time for the Sun Met.

The Southern Cross Stakes looks to be a two horse race on paper and will see the Sean Tarry-trained Carry On Alice attempting to exact revenge on the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Real Princess, who beat the former when they last met in the Gr 1 City Of Pietermaritzburg Sprint over 1200m back in June.

Black Arthur (Nkosi Hlophe)

However, Carry On Alice looks to be the proverbial penalty kick as she has natural speed and has proven in the past to be as suited to 1000m as she is to 1200m, while Real Princess looks much better suited to 1200m. Carry On Alice was beaten in her comeback run last season over 1000m at Turffontein, but her rider might have been caught napping a touch as she had quickened and joined the lightning fast Little Genie in front and nobody, including the rider, would have expected the latter to then find another gear as she did.

Victoria Lavelle, who returns from a layoff since running fifth in the Gr 3 Champagne Stakes over 1200m at Kenilworth on July 30, is the “blitz” horse in the Southern Cross field who could potentially pull off a similar surprise. The 1000m is the Captain Al filly’s best trip, as she has speed to burn, but she hasn’t raced over this distance since winning a Novice Plate by 3,25 lengths in September last year. However, Snaith said although she had been doing well at home, he believed “something would need to go wrong” with both Carry On Alice and Real Princess for any of the other runners to win this race.

Black Arthur was eased out of the Green Point Stakes by Piere Strydom last weekend in order to protect him, as he felt something was amiss.

Snaith said he believed it might be a case of excessive haemo-concentrating.

A decision will be made within a week whether to geld the talented son of Silvano or not. Snaith added the yard in any event would be “under pressure” to have him ready for the Met.

However, Snaith is gearing up to have a big day at the Cape Guineas meeting on December 17, which will coincide with both the yard’s form return and a strong team of runners.

By David Thiselton