Defending Vodacom Durban July champion trainer Candice Bass-Robinson said she would be unlikely to have a runner in the big race this year and her chief focus of this year’s SA Champions Season will be the Scottsville Festival of Speed meeting where she will likely run Dutch Philip, Live Life and Magical Wonderland.
Her best male sprinter Dutch Phillip, who became an instant multi-millionaire when winning the US$500,000 CTS 1200 on Sun Met day, has been merit rated 115, so his task won’t be easy in the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint over 1200m on May 26 at Scottsville. Bass-Robinson said this three-year-old What A Winter colt was the only one of her horses who would be a possibility for the Grade 1 weight for age Mercury Sprint, although she was not yet sure what route he would be taking.
Dutch Philip (Liesl King)
Bass-Robinson also won the CTS 1200 last year with the filly Live Life and she is coming off a fine third place finish in the Grade 1 Betting World Cape Flying Championship over 1000m. The Grade 1 SA Fillies Sprint over 1200m is her obvious target. This Trippi four-year-old has responded well to the use of a new bit after choking up on her seasonal reappearance in the Laisserfaire Stakes over 1100m. However, her two best efforts in three subsequent runs were both over 1000m. In her other run over 1200m she was perhaps too handy, so settling in the running and finding cover will still be a slight issue at Scottsville. She raced twice at the Pietermaritzburg track last season, finishing a narrow third in the Grade 3 Poinsettia Stakes over 1200m and a disappointing 5,65 length ninth in the SA Fillies Sprint.
The three-year-old What A Winter filly Magical Wonderland will also be going for the SA Fillies Sprint and will likely be the yard elect. She went into the CTS 1200 unbeaten in five sprints and had proved her class by also finishing second and fourth respectively in the Grade 2 WCF Championship over 1400m and the Grade 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas. However, sprinting is her forte, and starting 11/10 favourite for the CTS 1200 she finished a good two length third, 1,65 lengths clear of the next best filly. Bass-Robinson did not mention whether Magical Wonderland would be earmarked for the Grade 2 Tibouchina over 1400m two weeks after the SA Fillies Sprint, but she would be a good candidate for that race.
She mentioned Ollivander and Leaves Of Grass as two other horses who would be among the smallest Bass yard SA Champions season string for many seasons.
The former, a four-year-old Silvano gelding, has achieved numerous stakes places from 1800m up to 2800m. In his penultimate start he finished a 2,05 length third in the Grade 2 Western Cape Stayers and in his only other attempt at a staying race, he finished third in last year’s Grade 3 Winter Derby. The 99 merit rated-gelding looks likely to be a candidate for the Gold Cup and other middle-distance and staying events.
Leaves Of Grass, an Australian-bred four-year-old filly, won the Listed Jamaica Handicap over 2000m last time out when 2kg under sufferance off a 76 merit rating. She has been raised to an 84, but minor features look to be her target.
Bass-Robinson said her hopes of having a July runner would rest on any of her three-year-olds excelling in the Cape Winter classics. However, after mentioning two candidates for that series, Selangor Cup winner Rocket Countdown and the improving Ben-Hur, she added they had some way to go to be up to July standard.
By David Thiselton
Featured Image: Candice Bass-Robinson (hamishNIVENPhotography)
