It seemed certain that the weekend’s best figure would come out of the G3 Matchem Stakes which pitted champ miler Charles Dickens against champion sprinter Gimme a Prince in a 1400m showdown @ Durbanville. Whilst that race indeed delivered a tremendous spectacle and a top-notch winner’s speed score of 108, the performance of Main Defender in the G2 Joburg Spring Challenge was truly outstanding.

After crunching the numbers, the Tony Peter trained son of Pathfork got an off- the- charts rating of 115 in the 1450m contest. Well, the word contest is used loosely, as after racing handy, he drew clear to hammer older foe, Thunderstruck (s/s 102, has run 109) by six lengths. Fellow three-year-old, Ready To Charge s/s 99) was left toiling eight lengths in his wake.

This is a remarkable figure, suggesting that Main Defender is an extraordinary talent. Feather Boa (s/s 102) Captain Peg (s/s 100) and Just be Lekker (s/s 100) fought out the Fillies and Mares Spring Challenge in the preceding race, in a time a second slower and with a weaker closing sectional. His next starts can be followed with great interest – it’s hard to see Main Defender getting beat if running anywhere close to the exalted level he achieved on Saturday.

Just as 1/5 odds on fave, Charles Dickens was made to guts out a narrow margin victory over a late-surging Gimme a Prince (s/s 107 +), another in the red, universal banker, Mrs Geriatrix (s/s 96) was life and death to keep out White Pearl (s/s 96) in the BSA Sale Cup. She went to post at ¼ odds on – and got the job done, but only barely.

Golden Hostess (s/s 91 +) won the Diana Stakes to kick start a Bass Racing/Aldo Domeyer/Drakenstein Stud feature race double – they are the connections of the mighty Charles Dickens, too. She had a big edge in class and duly won convincingly.

Of interest, the Class 2 1400m handicap won by Sugar Mountain (s/s 106) in a close finish over Wecangoallnight (s/s 105), was run in a final time just .2 seconds slower than the Matchem. Admittedly, the finishing fraction was .9 slower (it’s hard to match the acceleration of either Charles Dickens or Gimme a Prince) but it still looks like developing into a key race.

The suggestion is to add all of Sugar Mountain, Wecangoallnight (stiff second yet again – was advised as an exotic tote buster at 16/1 on the Interbet podcast preview,) Han Solo (s/s 103 – looks enticing in upcoming stayers races) Scalini (s/s 102) and even Future Prince (s/s 102) to Horse Watch lists.