Elegant Ice (s/s 101) won a nice race at the Vaal on Thursday, taking advantage of a light weight to narrowly stave off Chasing Happiness (s/s 100) in a Pinnacle Sprint.

The What a Winter filly is a credit to trainer Lucky Houdalakis. He is a deft and patient horseman, able to nurse horses along to full fitness and place them suitably in races where they are competitive. For example, Elegant Ice got sick which scuppered her plans for the KZN winter season. Under Houdalakis’ patient handling she is now restored to full health and was able to equal her career top speed figure.

My Best Shot has been a fantastic horse to own – cleaning up in the Eastern Cape over a variety of distances (1400m – 2400m) and on different surfaces (poly or the lawn). He found the Gr1 Durban July too stern of a test when trucked up to Greyville, but back on home ground took out the Friendly City Stakes at Fairview.

Alan Greeff’s charge has attained speed figures of 102 + in the past. He did not need to go quite that high on Friday to comfortably see off Global Ally and record his 11th victory from 19 starts.

Greeff also saddled Direct Hit (s/s 90++) to win on comeback. This high class Canford Cliff’s filly hit some big numbers as a juvenile (s/s of 95/96/97) and is a very exciting prospect for the 3 YO Classics.

There were several good performances measured against the clock on Saturday at Turffontein with Bjorn Ironside (s/s 99) Gimmethegoodlife (s/s 98), Max the Magician (s/s 98) and King’s Express (s/s 96) making the highlights package.

Gimmethegoodlife repeated his last out number when pipped behind Nyaka Nyaka – he has come well up on the Highveld for trainer Tony Peter. 

King’s Express has been most productive as a six-year-old, winning four times. Nine panels seem to suit him perfectly – he typically runs in the mid 90’s when going over his favourite distance.

Roy Magner, a very experienced trainer, has returned his string to sharp shape in the past couple of weeks. He saddled Titans of War and Max the Magician to victories on Saturday. The latter likes the inside track and has run some of his best scores going round the elbow. Muzi Yeni also seems to extract the best out of Max the Magician.

Bjorn Ironside is talented (Gr 2 placed) but not entirely straightforward. He showed up particularly well as a juvenile and has since managed scores in the high 90’s when rousted by strong jockeys, such as S’Manga Khumalo.

Then changing venues back towards the coast, Terminator (s/s 96) went from go – to whoa in a Class 4 at Scottsville under Serino Moodley in an impressive romp. This was the top speed figure on Sunday’s KZN card.

Earlier, Moodley also did well to force Major Tommie (s/s 95 ++) past Hierarchy in a Progress sprint after the early speed (Blazing Beauty) collapsed.