Scottsville turned up three gems yesterday and if you have a notebook of horses to follow, add Solid Gold, In The Stars and Thanksgiving to a list of horses that look headed for the top.

Master Of My Fate was not the easiest of horses to train as Dennis Drier will attest to and he appears to have passed on both his ability and temperament to In The Stars. Master Of My Fate stands at Varsfontein Stud and the filly races in the stud’s silks.

Seemingly hopelessly left at the start of the second race, she made up ground relentlessly. “When we got left five lengths, I thought I would just ride her for a place,” confided Sean Veale. “But going through the 500 I knew it was race over. I just had to find the right gaps.”

Well Veale’s name could have been Moses as the field opened up like the Red Sea and In The Stars simply cruised home.

“She’s not easy but she’s not a dilly filly. In her barrier trial she was well behaved until she got to the pens,” explained Drier. She was promptly hopelessly left which accounted for her seemingly poor trial.

“I rate this filly very highly. Her work at home has been phenomenal and I think she has a bright future.”

Duncan Howells expressed similar sentiments about the Dave MacLean-owned colt Thanksgiving in the Soccer 6 Maiden. Drawn wide, Muzi Yeni allowed the big-striding son of Dynasty to use his action and with a clear run to the line Thanksgiving won in the manner of a decent horse.

“I knew that I had a good horse coming to the races today and with a bit of luck he would pull it off for us,” said Howells. “Like all Dynasty’s he’s maturing and starting to come on nicely.”

Yeni had little more to do than keep his mount out of trouble and his mind on the job without using his stick as Thanksgiving was still green. “He’s a scopey horse. He takes time to get rolling so he should be well suited to a track with a long run-in like Turffontein.”

The third on the list of horses to follow got home by the smallest of margins but Solid Gold won like a good horse as apprentice Ashton Arries gave him a tremendous ride, coming from off the pace to snatch victory on the line.

“He’s a bit of a handful,” said Michael Roberts, rolling up his sleeve to reveal a bite-sized bruise on his bicep. “He’s not nasty, just playful.”

“He’s a horse that should go a mile easily but he shows a lot of pace. I was looking for a 1200 for him but because he shows so much pace I took a chance over the 1000.

Solid Gold has the pedigree for a mile and further and the fact that he was able to win over 1000m is usually a sign of a good horse.

By Andrew Harrison