It’s the match of the day. Chevauchee and Bela-Bela, the two best Cape Fillies Guineas candidates not to run in last Saturday’s Choice Carriers Championship, take each other on in the Place Your Bets Handicap at Kenilworth today.
Both have won their only starts, despite dawdling out of the pens, and both earned rave reviews for the talented way they disposed of the opposition.
There is no form line but the handicappers have assessed Chevauchee as about a length the better and have weighted the pair accordingly. The bookmakers have also stuck their necks out with Betting World opening Chevauchee favourite at 8-10 yesterday and offering 15-10 about Bela-Bela. World Sports Betting favours Chevauchee even more, quoting her at 6-10 and her rival at 2-1. Speedball, considered by both firms to be the biggest danger, is as big as 8-1.
The evidence of the form book is far from conclusive. The three who finished immediately behind Bela-Bela were fourth, first and second on their next start. Chevauchee (pronounced Chev-O-Shay according to Ridgemont manager Craig Carey) ran more recently and the only placed horse in her race to have run since is the second, Honest Ally, who started favourite last Saturday and finished third.
The one person really in a position to judge their relative merits is Bernard Fayd’Herbe who won on both and this time is claimed by Ridgemont for Chevauchee. “They are two very good fillies but they are very different,” he says. “One is very athletic and the other is a big strong sort.”
In other words it is just as difficult for him to choose between them. So what do the trainers think?
“Bela-Bela is a very nice filly and she is doing well,” says Justin Snaith. “I didn’t want to run her from a bad draw in the Choice Carriers. She again has a bad draw here so we will give her a chance in the race.”
But the field has since been reduced to six and Chevauchee’s draw advantage much diminished. Joey Ramsden says: “The Choice Carriers would have been a bit soon for Chevauchee and she would have been drawn wide. Also she might not have got a run. Going round the turn will suit her and this time we’ve got the draw.”
It’s Chevauchee who gets the writer’s vote but it’s not much more than a coin-tossing decision. It promises to be a fascinating contest and the winner could well prove a worthy opponent for Silver Mountain.
Half Moon Hotel ran way above his rating when fourth to Blarney Bay and Captain America in the Hollard Humdinger Pinnacle at the end of last month and on that performance he is absolutely thrown in with only 53kg in the Itsarush.co.za Handicap (race six).
But at the age of six he hasn’t suddenly made miraculous improvement – “It was a big surprise,” says Vaughan Marshall. “But they went a decent pace and what he likes is a good, hard gallop.”
Anthony Andrews’ mount has to be the selection – particularly as you can get 8-1 about him. In The Cruise (4-1) and Sheer Trouble (22-10) look the dangers.
Dean Kannemeyer’s Cape Laddie opened 18-10 favourite for the first but Angkor Wat looks better at 2-1 despite not having raced since Durbanville in July, while evens favourite Duke The Duke should recoup last time’s losses in race three.
By Michael Clower
Picture: Bernard Fayd’Herbe (Nkosi Hlophe)
