When Johan Janse van Vuuren raids KZN he generally returns home with some rich pickings but it all went pear-shaped for him and his supporters at Greyville this weekend.

The omens were good when Ottawa scored a bloodless victory in the first on Friday night, but it was all downhill from there as his fancied runners failed even to hit the boards yesterday.

Some rain on Saturday saw the track on the softer side of good but that did not faze Mark Khan who scored a quick double coming from way back at the top of the straight.

Mr Greenlight had surrendered tamely in the soft when making his debut at Scottsville but Duncan Howells instructed Khan to switch his mount off and come at them late.

“Duncan knew what was going through my mind on the way to the start and I was tempted to sit handy after we jumped well,” confided Khan.

“In the end I listened, but I was lucky to have the right horses around me and I followed Anton through.”

Marcus was on the odds-on favourite Uncle Charlie who was soon in trouble as Mr Greenlight came from last to whistle past the opposition.

Khan employed similar tactics in the third. Coming back from a lengthy break and gelding, Be The Right revelled over the extra ground. Again, Khan sat patiently at the back of the field and came sailing through for a smart win for Ashburton-based Belinda Impey.

The Green Point Stakes finish at Kenilworth yesterday had all a-twitter with four smart horses finishing within a short head of each other, but there were a few close calls at Greyville too yesterday.

Rae’s Dyna Jet, Red Al and Pumpkin Queen was involved in a similar finish to the fifth race with Rae’s Dyna Jet prevailing by the shortest of short heads.

Warren Kennedy has generally flown under the radar as far as being a ‘celebrity’ jockey is concerned but there is not doubting his talent. He is making the most of some better opportunities of late and currently sits sixth on the national table with 48 winners, including his double yesterday on Rae’s Dyna Jet and Ovation Award for Gavin and son Gareth van Zyl respectively.

Taking out a trainer’s licence in these tough economic times is a risky business and with owners an endangered species, so much can go wrong. But Daryl Moore has had a better grounding than most, being assistant to Charles Laird for many years and then joining up with grandfather Ivan Moore, a top jockey and trainer in his day, he has a better chance than most to succeed as he showed when Golden Pheasant got the better of Exclusive Quantity in the seventh.

It was another good day for Ashburton trainers who are generally out-done by numbers and the class of horse and Shane Humby rounded off the meeting with a close victory as Cause And Effect got home in another tight finish.

By Andrew Harrison