Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Renegade to buck odds

Chad Cooke
Weekend racing on the Vaal sand can only mean it's time for the feature races on the dirt and Saturday's card at the Free State track is headed by the Listed August Stakes, a sprint over 1 200m for a stake of R150 000, the precursor to the Emerald Cup.
Twelve runners will face the starter and there is a lot to play for.
With a total of 21 wins on this surface, this field has a number of sand specialists in it and two horses that lay the biggest claim to this title are Louis Goosen’s Renegade and Roy Magner’s Phunyuka. With six wins a piece, these two geldings are the proven sand specialists and although they shoulder the top weights and are not the best handicapped horses in the field, they look set to fight out the finish.
With 60kg to shoulder, Renegade has the heaviest weight to carry, but this son of Dominion Royale has shown that he can carry weight and with Piere Strydom aboard, the pairing have what it takes to win this contest. Phunyuka, a six-year-old son of Slew The Red, has 2,5kg less to shoulder which make him a better handicapped horse in this race than the top weight.
Phunyuka is something of a course and distance specialist with five wins over the trip. The gelding also brings good form into the race and with the best of draws, has to be given every chance.
Trainer Mike Azzie’s Imali has only raced on the sand once and he ran out a comfortable winner over the course and distance. This son of Fort Wood has won his last three outings impressively and with that form and just 52,5kg to shoulder, has to be given a chance.
Imali’s biggest hurdle could be the wide draw of 9. The draw over this 1 200m trip is crucial as the race starts on the turn and horses drawn wide have two choices - stay at the back and live with the kick-back or use early pace to get into the vanguard, a move that could prove costly at the business end of the race.
Raga Muffin has not fared much better with the draw and starts one position inside of Imali. This son of The Sheik has won his last two outings at this track and appears to be getting better. Donavan Mansour gets the ride this time and he has a chance of staking a claim here if his early judgment is spot on.
The Mike de Kock coupling of Braggadacio and Storm Crossing have to be respected. The former has won on this surface and even though he comes off a four-month break, he deserves consideration.

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