Brett Crawford struck with a vengeance at Durbanville, after a quiet spell by his high standards. His four winners included especially promising three year olds, Edict of Nantes (speed figure 88 +) and Boldly Respectable (s/s 98). Both came from off the speed with powerful stretch runs and are worth following. Crawford’s easiest winner was Purple Tractor (s/s 88 +) who sauntered home in the last to land the odds for favourite backers.
Mogok Master (s/s 87 ++) came back from 406 days off track to win a Graduation Plate at Turffontein. The talented colt ran figures in the high 90’s as a youngster and clearly is stacked with ability. Credit to trainer Joe Soma for bringing him back in winning condition after such a lengthy layoff – let’s now see how Mogok Master shapes during the Jozi Spring season in more challenging races.
Joy To Joy did well at Greyville winning her Maiden in a runaway. It is hard to know what to make of her performance – on a day when all other actual times were slow compared to par leading to negative track variant, the daughter of Horse Chestnut ran significantly quicker than expected. Her follow up runs should be monitored to get a true reflection of ability. Sunday’s “guesstimate” speed figure of 92? would make her a promising sort.
Unfortunately, on occasions the published times seem flawed. For example, the ever diligent Sporting Post team recently picked up on such an error leading to a correction in the official time recorded by Jet Explorer at Fairview on the 2nd September. Based on the revised time and accurate data, Jet Explorer ran a figure of 101, which is below the 106’s and career peak of 107 he recorded when in his prime. But, it’s still an admirable effort for a brave, older horse recovered from life-threatening injuries sustained when falling during a race at Clairwood.
Best wishes,