Giant chestnut, Brutal Force (speed score 103) outsprinted opposition in the Hennenman Memorial over 1000m at Turffontein over the Easter weekend. He has put together a consistent record all around the country and will try crack a bigger prize over the next few months, but will need to up his figs somewhat to win a Grade 1. His closest victim on this occasion, Clever Guy (s/s 102), a humbly bred Argonaut three-year old, caught the eye with a precocious run. Moofeed (s/s 100 +) returned with renewed vigour after a freshening to stay on sharply for the lower trifecta slot.
Go Direct failed to beat the ambulance home last time when not striding out and appeared to have no chance against stern opposition in a Pinnacle Stakes on the same Turffontein card. Nobody said this game is easy – patched up and back on track 42 days later, he produced an irresistible late dart (s/s 99) to nail stable mate Master Switch (s/s 98) and cause the upset.
Mark Dixon and Marco van Rensburg savoured a double strike at Scottsville on Sunday when London Call (s/s 98 +) and Caribbean Day (s/s 101) came up trumps. London Call has been written up before in this column as a lightly raced gelding with stacks of ability. He has run figs as high as 106 but has only been sparingly campaigned.
His stable mate is more durable and robust with forty career starts and a penchant for this course and distance that has yielded six wins and numerous places from 23 tries. That score of 101 is a career best – often we think of seven year olds as being past it in this country, but maybe that mindset is flawed as older campaigners can still run big races, just as they do regularly in other racing jurisdictions around the world.