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)

Red Ray, officially the best three-year-old in the country when he bowed out 18 months ago, may yet return to South Africa after his so far abortive overseas campaign.

Racing manager Derek Brugman said: “At the moment he is still in England, and there are some soundness issues.”

Brugman stressed that it has not been decided whether he will race again and added: “We might bring him back to South Africa to stand at stud but that decision is still some way away.”

Red Ray was trained by Joey Ramsden to win the 2013 Cape Classic before going close in the Cape Guineas, Cape Flying Championship and Golden Horse Sprint. He joined Mike de Kock and went via Mauritius to Dubai and Britain but his only run has been in a Group 2 seven furlong race at Meydan in January when he started favourite but finished seventh.

By Michael Clower

Picture: Red Ray (Liesl King)

Dean Kannemeyer will wait until the day before the race before sending Vodacom Durban July winner Power King to Johannesburg for the Sansui Summer Cup on November 28

He said: “I have done this before from Durban and I will arrange the journey so that he arrives there in the afternoon that Friday.”

Kannemeyer was delighted with the five-year-old’s prep in the 1 200m Pinnacle at Greyville ten days ago and understandably so with the gelding running on strongly over a trip too short for him to finish a length and a half second to Flyfirstclass.

He said: “That was a very nice run and he won’t run again in the meantime – one gallop is all he now needs. Of course he has quite a bit of weight to carry but I am very happy with the horse.”

By Michael Clower

Picture: Power King (Nkosi Hlophe)

Given the heatwave gripping the country it will be a relief for racing at Turffontein tomorrow evening where temperatures will hopefully be a little kinder come sunset. The heat may be brutal but just how Brutal Force fares in the Pinnacle Stakes that heads the card will be interesting. The big purses of the Highveld have lured Western Cape-based trainers out of their stronghold and Joey Ramsden teams up with old ally Andrew Fortune in a Pinnacle Stakes sprint that heads the card.

Trip To Heaven (JC Photo)

Brutal Force’s merit rating may have suffered as a result of the hype that surrounded him early in his career and although has been pitted against the best around his successes may not quite have warranted his current rating.

However, given that this is a conditions event Brutal Force looks to be up against it and it’s difficult to look past top weight Trip To Heaven. Hardly a meeting passes on the Highveld or in KZN when Sean Tarry’s name does not appear in the results column and he looks to have picked another plum for the son of Trippi.

Lightly raced, Trip To Heaven has won four of his eight starts and the form of his last two have held up very well. He had the wood on recent Charity Mile winner Bouclette Top last time out and prior to that beat Bloodstock SA Ready To Run winner Lineker. He does have a fair weight to shoulder but is not giving much away to his rivals and given his rating he should prove too good for this line-up.

An interesting runner is the return of Forest Indigo. One of the stars of his sophomore year it all went wrong for Alec Laird’s runner and he goes to the gate for the first time since March this year.

There is no doubt that he will prefer further but with the Highveld season upon us, just how he fares will no doubt determine his future.

Mike de Kock appears to have unearthed another smart performer in Perfume Lady who does duty in the sixth, a handicap sprint over 1000m. The daughter of Captain Al landed the odds on debut and was then pitted against feature company on the Vaal sand. She was far from friendless in the market and duly obliged at just her second time at the track.

Her sand rating is significantly below her turf rating so she looks well in at these weights and along with Trip To Heaven should make a strong double.

By Andrew Harrison

Miss Varlicious is relatively lightly raced, having had only seven starts, but she has hardly missed a beat, earning a stakes cheque on every occasion and that trend could continue in the fifth at Greyville tomorrow. Paul Gadsby’s runner comes off a comfortable victory at Scottsville, the third of her career, but she faces a useful field and victory could be hard-fought.

Apart from her debut on the Greyville poly where she finished second to the speedy but temperamental Regardstobroadway, Miss Varlicious has raced exclusively at Scottsville with all except her last race being over 1000m. The step up in trip last time out did not faze her and she romped home ahead of Chestnuts N Pearls. It was a strong conditions race field but the win was tempered by the fact that she only had 48kg to shoulder.

Miss Varlicious (Nkosi Hlophe)

Tomorrow she has been lumped with 64kg but Eric Ngwane is back aboard and she takes 4kg relief which puts her in very favourably again. Miss Varlicious has already shown that she acts on the poly and given her recent form and the fact that most of the serious opposition would probably prefer it a tough further she should be difficult to beat.

But she does face another lightly raced filly in the Sean Tarry-trained In Other Words, a winner of three of her only for starts but all over 1400m. Like Miss Varlicious she was a late starter only making her debut in April this year as a four-year-old and all her wins have come on the poly. She has not been out since August and in Miss Varlicious faces more serious opposition than she has beaten to date.

However, the Tarry stable is on the boil and even though In Other Words may be a little race rusty she looks a big threat to Miss Varlicious.

Red Label is another in good form but like In Other Words she does look more at home over a touch further.

Miss Varlicious looks a possible banker in the exotics but an even better bet could come in the final leg with Ten Gun Salute. The Duncan Howells-trained colt has improved with every outing and will never meet a weaker field than he faces tomorrow.

The closure of the Vaal sand will not have pleased St John Gray whose runners did particularly well on that surface and it was fitting that his runners finished first, third and fourth in the final race on that surface.

This has forced him to cast around and we can expect more of his runners on the Greyville poly. The first of these lines up in the second where he saddles Ciao-Ciao and he has booked Anton Marcus for the ride. The gelding has a sand rating of 73 but here races off his turf rating of 60 which puts him well in at the weights.

However, he faces a Tarry runner that also comes off the sand with a 9-point lower turf rating. With a pole position draw and Delpech up, he could be the right one in this field.

Gray sends out two runners in the opening leg of the Pick 6 and both Don Vito and Mind Games need to be included in the Pick 6. Guilty As Charged is the form runner having taken to the poly surface however, he may just find this trip a touch sharp which opens the way for the opposition.

By Andrew Harrison

Durbanville will have a synthetic-surface track alongside the grass course within six months, the grass track at the Milnerton training centre will be more than doubled in length and land surplus to requirements at Kenilworth will be sold to fund the upgrading of facilities.

Hassen Adams revealed his ambitious plans at Saturday evening’s launch of the ‘Summer of Champions’ season. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect is that he and his fellow directors have managed to persuade the supposedly hidebound City Of Cape Town (CCT) authorities to agree to swap land at Durbanville that Kenilworth Racing doesn’t want for that at Milnerton which it does.

Durbanville race track

Adams said: “We are basically unlocking the three entities and we are trying to extract value from them without selling the silverware.”

The CCT owns the actual course at Durbanville but Kenilworth Racing will use part of its land on the outside of the stands area for the land swap while chutes/spurs will be added to the course to cut out some of the bends on the sprint course.

Adams said: “We will introduce the synthetic track so we can race there a lot more and we hope to have this and the spurs installed by the end of March. I am not calling it an equitrack at this stage – we have been having discussions with various suppliers – but it will be the best artificial-surface track in the country while the infield will be used as a park.”

Traditionalists will be relieved to hear that there are apparently no plans to install a polytrack or similar at Kenilworth, and not just traditionalists either. Justin Snaith recently voiced fears that this could happen, saying that soft ground horses wouldn’t get a chance because racing would be switched to the polytrack whenever rain threatened the grass.

It is at Milnerton where the most badly needed improvements will take place. For years trainers there have had to race horses to get them fit because the gallops at the training centre are not long enough.

Adams said: “The place looks like a dog’s breakfast but we will redevelop the middle part and we are going to have a 2 000m grass track going right round. We are looking to see if we can do the same with the cinder track and also have a synthetic track.”

The area where the old grooms quarters used to be will be sold, more stabling will be added and the front façade will smartened up.

Adams added: “At Kenilworth we have submitted rezoning applications that will bring us a huge amount of money. There is a big demand for upmarket residential and commercial plus an opportunity for a hotel.”

BLOB The two main supporting features on J & B Met day – the Investec Cape Derby and the Klawervlei Majorca – will be run a week earlier next year to be added to the card on the day of the CTS Million Dollar (Jan 23).

The Betting World Cape Flying Championship, originally scheduled for January 23, will replace those two Grade 1s on the Met day programme.

By Michael Clower

Under a masterful ride from Anton Marcus, Exit Here booked his place in the Gr1 CTS Cape Guineas with a tactical victory in the KZN Guineas Trial at Greyville yesterday.

Marcus is at his most lethal when allowed to dictate matters and he played the field on the brake from the jump as Charles Laird’s runner notched his fourth consecutive victory.

Not a cheap buy, prolific owners Alesh Naidoo and Markus Jooste pushed to R1,1 million at the Cape Thoroughbred Yearlings Sales to acquire the son of Jay Peg, but after yesterday’s victory things are looking up.

Rikitikitana was the talking horse of the race in spite of Exit Here having reeled off three straight, much to the surprise of Laird. “I’m surprised that he was written off. He had the best form and he’s a fighter. He hasn’t reached (his potential) it yet. He’s not a horse that shows much at home but as I say you don’t win at home, you win at Greyville.”

Exit Here (Nkosi Hlophe)

Marcus echoed Laird’s sentiments. “The penny still hasn’t quite dropped. He shows absolutely nothing at home and if you had seen his work on Tuesday you would not have backed him in a maiden.”

But all credit must go to Marcus. He set his own fractions and when first challenge by Beluga and then Rikitikitana, Exit Here kept finding and eventually drew off to win as he liked.

Duncan Howells was bitterly disappointed that Saratoga Dancer didn’t make the field for last week’s Charity Mile after the handicappers, in a rare show of charity when not needed, they failed to raise the gelding’s merit rating that would have seen him into the race instead of first reserve

The Sansui Summer Cup was planned but after yesterday’s hard-fought victory in the seventh over ten furlongs, Cup pretentions were shelved.

“He was so well for the Charity Mile that I had to run him. But I think it was his class that got him through today and I think the Turffontein 2000m would be beyond him.”

Exit Here and Saratoga Dancer restored some sanity to what proved a day of upsets with the two Apprentice Handicaps the culprits.

Four-claiming Ntokosi Gumede has not had many opportunities but if he needs any racing tutelage it cannot come from better than veteran Garth Puller, one of the legends of the South African turf. In what always looked to be a difficult race, Gumede produced Rumbullion with a wet sail to nail favourite Kolinsky.

Puller was critical of the handicappers, echoing what has long been a gripe among trainers. “I know handicapping is a difficult job but rating young horses up in the eighties after their first win is tough.”

From an early rating of 82, Rumbullion raced off a MR of 62 yesterday plus a 4kg claim.

“With money so tight owners can’t wait a year-and-a-half for their next win,” said Puller.

Hevlan van de Hoven replaced Xavier Carstens on rank outsider Lady Cougar in the second of the apprentice races and the pair torpedoed the majority of Pick 6 tickets. In a driving finish, with short-heads separating the first four, the mare got up to shade Fantasy Art, Secret Warning and Bermuda.

By Andrew Harrison

There is a double header at Greyville this weekend with an eight race meeting tonight, the first on turf and the rest on poly, and an eight race meeting on Sunday, which has an even split of turf and poly events.

The highlight of Sunday’s meeting is the Listed KZN Guineas Trial on turf and the classy Rikitikitana could make amends for his last start when the rider dropped the whip 200m out at Scottsville over 1400m. He will prefer this trip and has a good draw which is a significant advantage on this track. Exit Here has won his last three on the poly from 1400-1600m but before that finished a 3,25 length second to the top class Rabada over 1400m on this track when receiving only 2kg. Jumping from a good draw will allow him to be up with the pace or dictating, as he likes it. Beat The Retreat is likely looking for this trip and put up a good recent gallop. However the concern is his tricky draw. Thunderwood ran a cracker last time over 1200m and should enjoy the step up in trip, but he also has quite a tricky draw. King’s Knight has a good draw and enjoys this course. There is a question mark over this trip but he does strike as one who could stay this despite his pedigree being quite speedy. They are selected in the order mentioned

Rikitikitana (Nkosi Hlophe)

In race one over 1000m on the poly, Son Of Silver has been thereabouts in all of his starts to useful sorts and should prove too good for this field. Jason Argo ran a good race over 1200m on the poly last time and now has a plum draw so should be thereabouts. Toonani has shown some ability over this course and distance and could earn in this field despite a wide draw.

In the second over 1000m on the poly Chapel Queen has been knocking on the door over course and distance and has Marcus up, although she doesn’t have the best of draws. Heart Of Christmas didn’t start well last time but has some pace and looks to have scope for improvement. Westerly Wind could earn again over a suitable course and distance in a weak field.

In the third over 1200m on the poly Argo’s Jet ran a cracker the last time he tried this course and distance and over this distance he could get away with having had a nine month layoff. Royal Roy returns from a six month layoff but off his current merit rating he has a chance. Kolinsky won his maiden well over course and distance and hasn’t been harshly treated by the handicapper.

In the fourth over 1400m on the poly Shreya’s Star has shown some ability and is likely looking for this trip. The Deacon has shown himself suited to this distance and goes well on the poly so should be a big runner having gone close with first time blinkers last time out. Courageous King is well drawn and there is little between him and The Deacon.

In the fifth over 1600m on turf The Poet is an improving sort who was staying on over 1400m last time so this trip from a good draw looks ideal. Secret Warning won his maiden well over 1400m having shown signs of ability on debut and the handicapper has not been too harsh so he has a chance over a step up in trip which should suit. Bermuda looks to be off a competitive merit rating and has a fair draw over a suitable trip.

In the seventh on turf the exciting Satatoga Dancer tries 2000m and as a classy, progressive sort should win if he stays as he is also best in at the weights. On pedigree, his sire stayed this trip but he does have quite a speedy female line. Stormy Eclipse was staying on well behind Saratoga Dancer over 1600m last time and faces him on the same terms for a 1,5 length beating. Saratoga Dancer was not hard pressed but Stormy Eclipse has shown he can handle up to 1900m at least. Joshua’s Crown is second best in at the weights and stays the trip so has a shout for an in form yard.

In the eighth over 2400m Your Worship has a shout if able to overcome his wide draw as he is ultra consistent and distance suited. Eco Storm is close to Your Worship on form and should run a good race from a good draw as he is better than his last start when finishing moderately distressed. Star Point needed his last outing and has the class to carry top weight. Forest caught the eye running on strongly over this trip in his maiden win but hasn’t been given an easy merit rating. Battle Hammer has a shout with a light weight over a suitable course and distance.

By David Thiselton

Greyville has an eight race card tonight and as always there are some good opportunities for punters who are on the ball.

In the first over 1600m, Diamond League, a half-sister to Whiteline Fever, has run well in two 1200m races and the form has worked out well so she should take care of this weak field over a step up in trip she should handle on pedigree. Black Cat Magic was outpaced on debut over 1200m but ran on well so should improve over this trip. Attic View was doing her best work late when green over 1400m on debut. Black Cashmere found some support on debut over course and distance and Marcus now rides. Aventurine could also improve.

Surrey (Nkosi Hlophe)

In the second over 1200m Highway Explorer bounced back to form last time when running on and is drawn well here in his second run after a rest and gelding. Waltzed Home has run well after layoffs before and has Marcus up. Beloved Country is a talented filly and can’t be ignored with a 4kg claimer up. Translunar is reliable and will be running on over a trip too short. Prince Of Magic is course and distance suited.

In the third over 1200m, the hard-knocking Ice Run has a good chance in an uninspiring field. The first-timer Smart World is a full-brother to the decent Amazing Strike.

In the fourth, Surrey goes well for this 4kg claimer and could still be ahead of the handicapper while he has shown enough speed to be effective over this trip. Cunning Fox won easily over course and distance last time and could handle a six-point raise. Harrison is suited to this course and distance and was hampered last time.

In the fifth over 1000m, the exciting newcomer Free State has her second outing and as one who is going places will likely be good enough off a merit rating of 83. Super Guppy is 0,5kg under sufferance but looks very well handicapped on the form of her last run on the Vaal sand and as a front-running sort will be dangerous from a plum draw. Regardstobroadway is talented and could earn.

In the sixth, National Chimes stayed on well over 1900m with this rider in August and is now a point lower. Nanojet and Information Highway make most appeal of the rest.

In  the seventh over 2000m, Alpine Ridge will be coming into her own being by Go Deputy and ran on well over 1600m last time from a tough draw on the turf. Sword Storm is on the up and the handicapper might not have a hold of her yet. Lemon Tea could still be reasonably weighted for this course and distance.

In the last over 1400m, Argyle Bay could win if repeating his last run. Fareeq and Master Of Mischief both look talented and could go close first time out the maidens, while Burwaaz, Max The Man, In Your Dreams, Copper’s Pride and Royal Armour also have to be considered in an open race.

By David Thiselton