The well-worn phrase “horses for courses” seldom rings more true than when it comes to the Greyville poly track. There are horses that never take to the synthetic surface and others that improve lengths on their turf performances.

A trend that has become increasingly obvious is that the poly often gives new life to older horses with mileage on the clock and also to some whose legs find the often firmer turf surfaces more jarring. Tripandie, who runs in the fifth at Greyville on Wednesday, may not fall into either of these poly categories but there is no doubt that his form has improved since Dean Kannemeyer has kept him to the surface.

The gelding’s first three starts were on the turf, shedding his maiden down the Clairwood straight. Three months later he was down the field at Kenilworth and it was seven months before he saw a racecourse again, this time on the poly.

Things did not work out and he was eased out of the race by Anthony Delpech and was reported post-race to have been coughing and also lame.

Kannemeyer is nothing if not patient with his horses and after a 10-month break Tripandie was back on the poly. Since then it has been three wins on the bounce and a close-up second to Macduff over a ‘mile’ on Gold Cup day.

Tripandie appears to be at his best over today’s course and distance and with a plum draw at two to boot he looks the obvious choice.

Captain Chaos arrived in KZN from the Cape with something of a reputation but just why was not immediately evident as Mark Dixon battled to puzzle him out. Blinkers were a last resort but they had the desired effect and Captain Chaos romped home first up on the poly.

It was a win that came with some consequence however, as he was shunted seven pounds up the handicap which sees him lumbered with top weight this afternoon. He put in a good effort behind Redcarpet Captain last time out from a tricky draw and although he has pulled the same gate today he does face a marginally weaker field and looks a threat to Tripandie.

Met winning trainer Yogas Govender can start the Pick 6 ball rolling on what looks to be a tricky card when he saddles Tesla in the opening leg. The daughter of Visionaire has bumped two subsequent feature race winners in her two starts to date and looks to be up against weaker here.

On debut she was beaten just over a length by subsequent Gr2 The Debutante winner A Womens Way and then ran into Gr1 Thekwini winner Querari Falcon. There is nothing of that class in this event and she should be hard to beat given that she takes to the poly. Of the others Dundrum is lightly raced and has her third run after a break and looks set for a big showing while Momo raced green in a promising turf debut. She has a tricky draw but is set to improve. There should be little between Alesnado and Speedyjet although the latter has the better draw and a four-claimer aboard.

Roy Moodley was the leading KZN-based owner by stakes earned at the end of last season and he is already off the mark this term with Roy’s Rakara rounding off Saturday’s Greyville meeting. Dennis Drier saddles Roy’s Winter Patch for Moodley in the sixth and the gelding was a close-up eighth in the KZN Million Mile, four lengths back to Gr1 performers No Worries and Rabada. Prior to that he won two on the bounce. With a good draw and a four-claimer up he could be the one to beat. Bagger Vance may just have needed his last run and looks a threat if he can produce his best form while Tipo Tinto is another struggling for his next win but he has been dropping in the ratings and showed up nicely last time out and could be a surprise package.

Andrew Harrison