Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Exhilaration targets fourth career victory

Chad Cooke
A very competitive eight-race card has been programmed for the Vaal sand track on Thursday afternoon, September 2, where the sixth race, a Pinnacle Stakes over 1 450m heads the card.
Trainer Dominic Zaki’s charge, Exhilaration, showed as a youngster that he was one of the better thoroughbreds around, but to date he has only notched a disappointing three wins in 12 career runs.
However, the son of Captain Al showed last time out that the three-win record would not remain so for much longer. The colt made his debut on the sand last time and over Thursday's course and distance and put up an excellent effort, finishing a very close fourth after running on stoutly late.
What made this effort even more impressive was that it came off the back of a layoff and the four-year-old had to overcome a wide draw.
He starts from pole position and will strip a fitter horse this time round.
He also has the addition of blinkers to his equipment and Anton Marcus in the saddle this time round.
Exhilaration looks ready to record his fourth win and add the lion's share of the R110 000 prize money to his earnings.
The main dangers to the Zaki runner are Mike Azzie's Lochlorien, Sean Tarry's Incomodo and Robbie Sage's Iron Curtain.
Lochlorien, a son of Var, has shown himself to be something of a course and distance specialist with two wins from two runs over the extended sprint here.
The gelding also a good draw to boot and with promising youngster JP van der Merve aboard, the gelding looks set to be competitive.
Five-year-old Iron Curtain also won his only outing over the course and distance and from a decent draw has to be respected.
This son of Fort Wood has won two of his last three runs, both being on the sand and with regular rider Gunther Wrogeman aboard has to be shown respect.
The last of the dangers to the Zaki runner is the South American-bred Incomodo from the Sean Tarry yard.
This son of Roy is also something of a sand specialist with four wins and two placings from six runs on the dirt.
The six-year-old has not won over this distance and he comes off a layoff of nearly four months, but he is talented and in this going has to be given a chance.

\| All information on these pages are (©) Copyright Gold Circle Pty (Ltd) 2002 \| site map
(This site is best viewed at 1024 X 768)