Gambled on, Puerto Manzano (s/s 108 – SP 11/2, in from 12/1) rallied to win the 2022 Grade 1 Summer Cup in a pulsating finish against Safe Passage. Keagan de Melo was riding for JAJ van Vuuren, who had the son of Seek Again (USA) perfectly primed for this 2000m race after a
As the betting market expected, heavily backed 5/4 favorite Cousin Casey (speed score 105 +) went five on the bounce when winning the Punters Cup (formerly named the Selangor/Concorde) – a traditional 1600m pointer to the Cape Guineas. The astutely bought Vercingetorix colt trained by Glen Kotzen came from midfield to take control when
Ciao Bella won the Grade 2 Western Cape Fillies Championship over 1400m at Kenilworth just as the betting market predicted. The grey filly was backed into 2/1 favoritism and used a sharp turn of foot to win easing up. She is by Gimmethegreenlight ex Bela Bela making it a personal triumph for Team Snaith
Litigation (speed score 100) raced handy all the way round Turffontein and kept going to win the Grade 3 Victory Moon. The colt had run nicely (s/s 104) in the Greyville 1900 back in May, but modest efforts since then saw punters looking the other way on Sunday. The son of Greys Inn started
Many of the best Highveld horses stepped out at Turffontein on Saturday. Bingwa attained the highest speed figure of all (109) as he repeated his Onamission Charity Mile (Grade 2) success of 2021. On that occasion the quality son of Pathfork got virtually the same figure of 108 and is very good when encountering
The opposition must be wondering “what the Dickens” they are up against as unbeaten, Charles Dickens again whipped overmatched rivals, this time in the G3 Cape Classic over 1400m at a revitalized Kenilworth on Saturday. The son of Trippi has looked something out of the ordinary from the get-go and he duly won easing
William Robertson (speed score 105, has run 110) won the Grade 2 Joburg Spring Challenge at Turffontein on Saturday, moving up sweetly and looking like he would draw off for an assured victory, only for the very game pacesetting, white horse, After the Rain (s/s 104) to rally and so nearly catch him at
Silvano’s Dasher landed a betting coup at Durbanville on Saturday after being backed in from 12/1 down to 4’s. Brett Crawford’s runner had beaten Dragonfly a year ago at the course and distance before going backwards at a couple of subsequent starts. He was returning after yet another lengthy 17-week rest (and gelding this
Both Follow Me and Forever Mine got to belatedly show their best form this year and cause mild upsets at Turffontein’s Saturday meeting. They competed in Pinnacle Stakes over the same 1450m trip. Follow Me earned a speed figure of 100 when denying Queen of Shadows (s/s 99) whilst Forever Mine was a few
The 2022 Equus Awards were staged during the past week. Below are the nominees and winners for each category. Some decisions must have been slam- dunk- easy, whilst others would have generated differences of opinion amongst the panelists. For what it’s worth, the seasonal peak speed score for each entry is listed. This provides