London News performed incredible feats on the turf in SA and Hong Kong when trained by Alec Laird. Fittingly, Laird trains, Fire Attack s/s 100+ the winner of the 2026 feature race named in London News’ honor.
The son of Fire Away put an abortive mission to the Cape behind him – (where he got sick, then injured in running) to score on his Highveld return. He was weighted to win comfortably, but only just staved off The Ultimate King s/s 100.
Fire Attack ran some big numbers at three years of age and can potentially win at Grade 1 level based on how well he finished off in the HKJC Champions Cup. But that is assuming Laird can keep him in one piece. Laird is a fine horseman with vast experience – Fire Attack will be given every chance to fulfill his potential.
The Specialist s/s 99 has hit form recently and he rounded off a double, on a day when Sean Tarry was firing with four winners across the card.
The Specialist has improved at the rate expected of a steadily maturing horse. Early on in his career he got figures around 87 – 90 which subsequently was boosted to 96, and now this fig of 99.
Eventually, horses can improve no more and a ceiling is reached. Each individual is different, but typically by the middle of their fifth year, thoroughbreds reach their peak performance capacity. As they get much older, just like human athletes, their ability starts to wane.
Des McLachlan is a canny trainer – many years ago he won the Cape Guineas with Ethnocentric. He is also best known for his outstanding handling of Easter Cape sprinter, Hear the Drums, who reeled off 34 victories from 64 starts during a six-year career.
McLachlan has another very good sort on his hands in Jet Force s/s 100 +. He got the job done at Durbanville on Saturday, finishing quickly to rush past Captain West. Previously he had run nicely in G1 and G2 mile contests and this softer race set up just right for the 18/10 favorite.
Amayah and Boogiefied scored 95’s in their respective events. The former is an impeccably bred filly by Vercingetorix ex River Jetez who is now coming to light under the patient handling of Candice Bass.
Andre Nel trains Boogiefied as well as the runner up to Amayah, Lark’s Song s/s 94. She is a promising 3YO filly, worth following at her next starts.
Speaking of runner up’s, James Crawford’s Show Off s/s 94 relished a hard run 1400m and was unlucky to find trouble in the straight on two occasions – but for the double traffic jam, he might well have run past to spring an upset. He is one to follow over further.