Speed figure merchants found it frustratingly difficult to make accurate track variants over the weekend at both Turffontein and Durbanville due to heavy rain and deteriorating surfaces. Usually, it’s possible to analyze the difference between the expected time for any class of race over a specific distance at a certain course and the actual
Alula’s Star and appy Mxoli continued their special association, winning their sixth race, and second Stakes together, from 19 starts, in the Grade 3 Sycamore Sprint at Turffontein on Saturday. Alula’s Star (speed score 99) is sired by Red Ray, himself an accomplished sprinter who used to run figures of 109 back in the
The Highveld Autumn season continued at Turffontein on Saturday with some fine performances in Graded races. Highlights were both Classic races for three-year-olds, the second Leg of the Triple Crown/Tiara. Under Your Spell, a Capetown Noir filly, took out the Hawaii Stakes (G2) as she accelerated swiftly in the centre of the track to
See It Again (speed score 107) produced a career best in the Cape Derby to provide former legendary jockey, Michael Roberts with his first G1 victory as a trainer. The horse started at 50/1, upsetting 1/5 odds on favorite Charles Dickens, who ducked in badly after taking the lead inside the final stages, only
Interbet has been providing podcasts for years with pre-race analysis covering all the major centres in South Africa. Podcasts, as a relatively new form of media, have really taken off in popularity. They enable listeners to follow chosen topics of interest with absolute convenience and are akin to being your own personal, old-school, radio-
Nothing is more fundamental in handicapping than working out how good each horse is and the circumstances under which they do best. However, a short cut to homing in on solid contenders is to check out trainer/jockey combinations. A high percentage strike rate for both wins and places is obviously a good sign. It
After all the hoopla last weekend around the Cape Met, racing action switched to Turffontein on the Highveld for the start of the Triple Crown/Tiara series, contested by three-year-olds. In both these 1600m Grade 2 events, bookies got results with Master of my Fate filly Lady of Power (25/1) and Gimmethegreenlight gelding, Eye of
Jet Dark (speed score 116) enjoyed the perfect send off to his outstanding racing career before going to Drakenstein Stud, when battling to victory in the Met, seeing off familiar foe, Kommetdieding with Pomp and Power running a remarkable race to be third. In a messy contest run at a muddling pace, the high
Thoroughbred performances are not as consistent as people may assume. Instead, horses’ ability waxes and wanes depending on their changing physical condition and shifting circumstances. Only 30% of the time do horses perform at a similar level or improve on recent runs. Within this 30% subset, most winners improve on their recent form so
Al Muthana (speed score 107) stunned odds on favourite Charles Dickens by a nose to win the 2023 King’s Plate at odds of 80/1. Upsets are rare in this historic WFA contest, but Ricky Maingard’s runner provided a massive boil-over when hurtling through against the grandstand rail under the vigorous exhortations of jockey, Bernard