The strong Guineas meeting that we were looking forward to at Turffontein was postponed till next weekend due to heavy rains, leaving Kenilworth as the stand- alone card. The best two performances were saved till last – Speed Machine (speed figure 97) and Irish Morning (s/s 99) were heavily backed favourites that won Races
Rainbow Bridge (speed figure 114) added to his excellent record in the Met (won in 2019, 2nd in 2020) by coming from last and overcoming a traffic squeeze to win it again this year. Favoured, Belgarion (s/s 112) had also made a big move from the back of the field and looked a winner
Second Base came from the back of the field with a smooth run to take the Sea Cottage Stakes, a Grade 3 at Turffontein. He has run as high as 101 before and sidled in with a figure of 96 ++ this time. Other than dipping out in his second career start, behind Copper
One of the biggest gambles in racing is buying a horse. It takes a real leap of faith to spend significant sums of loot on an untried yearling based purely on pedigree and appearance/conformation. Buyers with hefty budgets try boost the chances in their favour by focusing only on the best- bred youngsters without
Running Brave (speed score 104), War of Athena (s/s 104) and Catch Twentytwo (s/s 101) make it on to our highlights reel for the past weekend, after putting up notable performances at Turffontein. Running Brave is an inexpensive Brave Tin Soldier mare trained now by Frank Bronkhorst. She is a very game pace- forcer
Trainer, Dean Kannemeyer won the Cape Guineas for a sixth time last week with Russian Rock and followed up by providing more Xmas cheer to stable supporters in Durban when Mount Anderson (speed score 96) clinched the Xmas Handicap at Greyville on Saturday. It was a tough struggle round the 1600m course before the
The three Stakes races at Kenilworth could not have been more different from both a results and pace perspective. Unconsidered outsider, Russian Rock, trained by Guineas record holder Dean Kannemeyer, was an extreme bomb result in the historic G1 at an SP of 100/1; Nexus was a middle pin at around 6/1 in the
Kenilworth staged really top- notch racing on Saturday where purists were treated to significant winning performances by Belgarion (speed score 115) Celtic Sea (s/s 113) and Fillies Guineas heroine Captain’’s Ransom (s/s 98 +). The latter took care of her rivals in the G1 over 1600m without any undue bother, stalking a modest pace
Expressfromtheus attained a fine speed score of 103 when winning the WSB Grand Heritage over 1475m at the Vaal on Saturday. The What a Winter gelding is a difficult customer so accolades must be extended to trainer Stuart Pettigrew for getting the best out of this talented but way-wood thoroughbred. Jockey Marco van Rensburg
Quite remarkably, Summer Pudding (s/s 108) remained a perfect nine from nine when scoring a resounding win in the G1 Summer Cup over 2000m at Turffontein. Negatives such as carrying 59kg’s, starting from an 18 draw and churning through sticky ground could not scupper her bid to stay flawless. This heroic Silvano ex Cherry