Priceless Jewel, winner of last year’s Champagne Stakes but off the course since disappointing in the Klawervlei Majorca on Met day, will be back for the Kenilworth Grade 3 on Saturday week.
Adam Marcus said: “Her wind op went well and, while I feel that she won’t be quite at her best, she does run well up the straight when fresh. Aldo Domeyer rides and, when he rode her work last Saturday, he said that she felt like she did when she was winning features last year.”
Marcus and Domeyer team up with Stormsvlei Mile winner Crystal Cavern in this Saturday’s Final Fling Stakes in which last year’s winner Jet Supreme (Bernard Fayd’Herbe) stands out despite rearing at the start, and losing an impossible amount of ground, in the Ladies Mile last time.
Moonsong Magic (Karl Neisius), third in the Stormsvlei Mile and second in the Winter Oaks, represents Greg Ennion who will be on crutches and wearing a surgical boot for the next two months after breaking his right leg when he slipped in a Cape Town restaurant.
Andrew Fortune, who has been riding in Johannesburg recently, returns for six rides including the Glen Kotzen-trained Omaticaya in the Final Fling.
This 1 800m Grade 3 has been hit by the weather in the last two years and has had to be transferred to the new season. Windguru is forecasting an ominous 60mm of rain on Friday although Weather SA is expecting only 3mm that day.
Brett Crawford has no runner in the race but he reports that his KRA Fillies Guineas winner Alexis will stay in training next season and said: “She is having a break at the moment and, with a better draw, I think she would have been closer than fifth in the Jonsson Workwear Garden Province.
“Maybe Yes (third in the Garden Province) has gone to the farm and the owners haven’t yet decided whether she will stay in training.”
A similar decision is awaited on the Mike Bass-trained Paddock and Klawervlei Majorca winner Inara who ran below her best when only eighth in the Garden Province.
Candice Robinson said: “She hasn’t really thrived in Durban and she will probably do much better when she comes back to Cape Town. A lot of our horses in KZN have had an upper respiratory tract infection including her and Helderbeg Blue.”
By Michael Clower
Picture: Priceless Jewel (Liesl King)
