Charles has not hit his straps since arriving in KZN for Champions Season but there is no doubt that he is a colt with ability. He is one of only two horses to have beaten Cape Winter Classic winner Vardy – Cape Guineas winner One World the other – and he finished second to Atyaab in the Investec Derby.

Charles lines up in the Gr3 Track & Ball Derby at Scottsville tomorrow, a ‘derby’ only in name with just two of the 10 runners being three-year-olds.

In both KZN races, the KRA Guineas and the Daily News 2000, Charles sported blinkers. They obviously did not have the desired effect as Brett Crawford has removed them for tomorrow and their absence will hopefully correspond with an improvement in form as he will need a convincing performance if he is to have any chance of making the final field for the Vodacom Durban July, the field being announced next Tuesday.

Charles will not be short of opposition with the filly Secret Potion, Roy Had Enough and Top Classman three others with their names still in the VDJ hat.

Frank Robinson was less than complimentary about the pace of the Cup Trial where Roy Had Enough fell victim to a pedestrian gallop as the riders played cat and mouse in the stiff breeze that chased them home.

Anton Marcus has stayed with Roy Had Enough but if there is no pace he may have to go forward and make his own.

Geoff Woodruff saddles Secret Potion, the only filly in the race, and if she can put one over her male counterparts then she must have a shout of at least being invited to make the VDJ line-up.

She has the best of the draw and Woodruff said mid-week, “From there you can just about pick your spot. She is a good filly, she just needs the opportunity to show it. If there is a good pace and she finds a nice spot, she is a big runner, because she can really turn it on.”

Top weight Dawn Assault is as game as they come and was beaten just over a length in the WSB 1900 which boasted a stronger line-up than what he meets here.

Mr Winsome will be defending his title but has been winless since that last win and comes into the race off a barrier trial and a blow-out in a handicap.

However, Dean Kannemeyer is a master craftsman and a win for Mr Winsome would not come as a major surprise.

Silver Rose is a course and distance specialist and White Lightning is hopelessly out at the weights but boasts a highly consistent recent record and was doing his best work late behind The Sultans Bazaar suggesting that the extra two furlongs may be what he’s looking for.

The Track & Ball Oaks is equally tricky but since the race was opened to older horses, it has been difficult for three-year-olds. Blossom is close to the top of her class having finished runner up in the SA Oaks at Turffontein and a useful third in the Woolavington 2000.

She looks to be the best of the sophomore contingent but Sabina’s Dynasty, Insignis and Roy’s Riviera will be difficult to get past.

East Coast Handicap winner Roy’s Riviera looks to have the wood on top weight Sabina’s Dynasty but the latter is having her third outing for Brett Crawford and was reeling in VDJ hopeful Mayabi Gold quickly in the Scottsville mud in The Scarlet Lady, that race possibly more of a guide.

Insignis, along with Roy’s Riviera are VDJ hopefuls, but both will need spectacular performances if they are to make the final field.

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By Andrew Harrison

While Hawwaam, Do It Again and Rainbow Bridge dominate the headlines and the betting for next month’s Vodacom Durban July, a closer look at the weights that were published on Tuesday provide food for thought.

There was little separating Do It Again and Rainbow Bridge in the Sun Met and the recent Rising Sun Gold Challenge, Rainbow Bridge arguably a little unlucky in the Challenge not to have finished closer to his rival. They met at level weights in both those races. In the VDJ Rainbow Bridge will be in receipt of 0.5kg which could swing it in his favour.

Hawwaam has been the ‘talking horse’ of the race but to be fair, he has yet to be truly tested and not in open company, a point borne out by the fact that he carries 56kg, one 1kg less than the maximum weight for a three-year-old male. He had everything go his way in the Daily News 2000 where the winner would ordinarily cop a penalty. In this instance the handicappers saw fit to leave his handicap mark unchanged.

Second-placed Twist Of Fate was clearly second best in the Daily News but was less than two lengths behind and well ahead of the balance. His merit rating was also unchanged but he is now in receipt of 2kg from Hawwaam.

Head Honcho warmed up nicely in a Pinnacle Stakes behind Matador Man and was only caught late in the Sun Met, again at level weights with Rainbow Bridge and Do It Again. He is now 1kg better off with the former and 1.5kg with the latter.

Legal Eagle has fallen steadily in the ratings as his form has dropped off and he did not look anywhere himself at his last start where he was difficult to load and never really raised a gallop. However, on his day he looks well weighted off 55kg. His wellbeing must be taken on trust as Sean Tarry has a knack of peaking his charges on the day.

Lady In Black was three lengths back to Do It Again in the Gold Challenge and will meet her rival on 4kg better terms in the VDJ. She will be stretched to 2200m for the first time but was under a length back to Oh Susanna and Fiorella in the Woolavington 2000 last season. She carries 53.5kg, 1.5kg more than the 52kg minimum benchmark for fillies – 59kg being the maximum.

Barring the top seven in the weights, the balance are under sufferance.

However, two that catch the eye are Barahin and Eyes Wide Open.

In a recent television interview, Mike de Kock was bullish about the chances of Barahin, believing that he comes into the race under the radar. Barahin’s career to date has been interrupted by various training setbacks and although well beaten by Hawwaam in the SA Classic, De Kock said that he had not been at his best on the day and was lengths better than that effort which was a good one in its self. Barahin races off the minimum 53kg.

Last season’s Investec Cape Derby winner Eyes Wide Open, who had Do It Again behind him that day, missed the VDJ cut last year and had been winless since that triumph before a narrow victory in the WSB 1900 booked his place in this year’s line-up.

More recently he was a fast-closing second in the Cup Trial, a race run at a muddling pace.

Added to that, in his last two runs he beat Magnificent Seven, Doublemint and Made To Conquer and meets them all on better terms

Glen Kotzen said he had been battling with the colt haemoconcentrating but was reluctant to geld as he believed that as a Grade 1 winner the son of Dynasty would make a stallion. The blood problem appears to have been solved and off the 53kg minimum, Eyes Wide Open will be in receipt of 7kg from Do It Again – even if it is over a year down the line.

The draw for barrier positions takes place at Gateway Mall next Tuesday and will add further intrigue to what is already a fascinating contest.

By Andrew Harrison

The funeral of Pat O’Neill, who died a week ago at the age of 93, will take place at Doves Funeral Parlour in Somerset West at 2.00pm on Thursday.

The famous eccentric detailed her extraordinary lifestyle, centred on wild animals treated as pets, in her two volumes of autobiography A Lion In The Bedroom and A Chimpanzee in the Wine Cellar while those that other people treat as pets were elevated to almost human status. People invited for afternoon tea were apt to find that a host of cats were also on the guest list and had at least equal rights to everything on the table.

She played a significant part in racing. She moved from Kenya to join her mother, the Countess of Kenmare, at the Broadlands Stud on the N2 in the late 1960s and the stallions they stood included the St James’ Palace Stakes winner Averof and Royal Prerogative, a tough campaigner who reached far higher levels as a stallion than suggested by his racecourse performances. He was several times champion sire, 13 times champion broodmare sire and his 60 stakes winners embraced 25 Grade 1 horses including Royal Chalice and the Met winner Mark Anthony.

Pat and her mother were also regular importers of mares from Australia. She rode in races and had considerable success as a trainer. Cape Town punters nicknamed her Mama Marysa after her champion Marysa whose long winning career proved profitable for backers. Other notables that she trained included Swan River, Miss Lindeman, Rose Bay and Mexican Summer and her achievements are commemorated in a montage of photographs on the second floor of the Kenilworth grandstand – an honour reserved for the likes of Terrance Millard, Mike Bass, Peter Kannemeyer, Laurie and Jean Jaffee, and Graham and Rhona Beck.

By Michael Clower

David Payne, a top jockey in his youth before turning his hand to training, left an indelible mark on horse racing in South Africa with some of today’s top trainers and jockeys passing through his Summerveld yard before he upped stake and moved to Sydney, Australia where his talents were quickly recognised. He is currently one of the leading trainers based at Randwick.

All will tell you that Payne was a difficult man to work for, demanding dedication and perfection and if you were not up to the mark you were quickly shown the door. Duncan Howells and Peter Muscutt were two to pass the Payne school of training while on the riding front, Jeff Lloyd and Kevin Shea were graduates, to name but a few.

Payne was also one of the first trainers to have a black assistant in Opensea Mhlamvu, now long-time assistant to Gavin van Zyl after Payne’s departure.

Opensea will not be running in the fourth at Scottsville today, rather the horse named after him and fittingly trained by Van Zyl. The son of Pomodoro has not been out of the money since joining Van Zyl from the Highveld and was a close-up second when running on late behind Sovereign Spirit over a mile on today’s course. He goes 1950m for the first time and Warren Kennedy stays with the ride.

Dennis Bosch’s runner, What A Blast, was a length behind Opensea when they last met and with the worst of the draw that form is likely to be franked. A further threat could be the year older World Cruise. Frank Robinson’s charge is proven over ground and with Bernard Fayd’herbe in mustard form, World Cruise is a must for all exotics.

Born To Perform, the lightly raced son of former Vodacom Durban July winner Dancer’s Daughter, may not be as talented as his dam but he is no slouch and may yet prove himself in feature company. He has won two of his three starts, his defeat a narrow one from a wide draw to the useful GG’S Dynasty who lines up in the sixth.

Bosch has declared blinkers on Born To Perform and given his pedigree he should relish the step up in trip.

GG’S Dynasty is a diminutive son of the recently deceased champion sire Dynasty but what he lacks in stature he makes up for in heart as he showed with two narrow recent wins. He bids for a third on the bounce in the sixth and encouragingly, Anton Marcus has jumped ship from the consistent Collabro who – on paper anyway – should be able to turn the tables given that he is 5.5kg better off in the handicap and beaten less than a length by GG’S Dynasty when the two last met over course and distance.

Making his turf debut and a possible threat to both is The Master. Dennis Drier’s charge made a winning handicap debut, beating the older and in form Zanzibarian albeit narrowly. He has the best of the draw here and gets lumps of weight from the top two.

Winter Blues is another that has not been hampered by his diminutive size, having scored five wins for Louis Goosen, four of those on the trot. It will be a year, almost to the day, since his last win and he has dropped 12 pounds in the handicap since then. He now looks competitive again off his new mark, finishing less than a length behind Kingsmead over course and distance at the end of last month. He also takes a big drop in class and although he takes a corresponding rise in weight, he looks primed for a sixth win.

The last, a lowly fillies and mares handicap, could be lucky for some, but more likely a misery for most. It is a tricky race but Michael Roberts could hold the key in Be Happy. She showed good pace in the recent work riders’ race and prior to that was a close-up second on the Greyville poly. With the work rider replaced by champion jockey Lyle Hewitson, she should be good for an extra couple of lengths.

But the list of possible winners is a long one. Linear is the current luke-warm ante-post favourite at 9-2 with Be Happy and Starlight bracketed on 11-2.

By Andrew Harrison

The nine race meeting at Turffontein Inside track tomorrow starts with a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1600m.

The Mike de Kock-trained Vercingetorix gelding Vaseem made a good debut over 1200m against older mixed maidens and was a bit short of room in the latter stages when in a threatening position. He now has a good draw over a step up in trip he should relish and Anton Marcus is up, so he looks the one to beat. Steak And Ale ran well third time out when stepped up to this trip, just failing after being green and producing a late rattle. He has scope for improvement and is a threat from a good draw. On My Mind was a touch outpaced late over 1400m last time when run out of it and he should relish the step up in trip.

Annatjie looks the one to beat in the second from pole position over 1600m. She stayed on well when going handy from a wide draw over 1450m last time but was caught be a flying Lady Defiance. She should prefer this trip and has the advantage of a 4kg claimer up. Irish Dame caught the eye running on well over this trip on debut and she only finished three-quarters of a length behind Annatjie that race, so has a shout here, although she has to contend with another wide draw. Flagship Fund beat Annatjie over this trip when they last met down the straight but she has a wide draw to overcome. Escape To Victory also has a form chance and is well drawn. Diorama could improve too over this trip and has Marcus up.

In the third over 1450m Arabian Air just failed from the front in his first run on the Highveld over this course and distance and he should have come on from that run. He is the best weighted horse in this Assessment Plate. Crown Guardian has class and should enjoy the step up in trip and will be a big threat and Flash Burn can also make it onto a trifecta position.

In the first leg of the Pick 6 over 1200m Orchid Street has a nice stride and is knocking on the door over this trip. Endangered can also be included as this gelding has substance and plenty of scope for improvement and he is drawn in pole over a step up in trip he should enjoy.

In the first leg of the Jackpot over 1200m the two-year-old Frankel filly Lagertha can improve on her good course and distance debut from a slightly better draw and with Marcus now up. Britannia Queen and Notquitethereyet look to be the dangers.

It gets tricky from then on as the handicaps start. In the sixth race Rocky Night is a decent sort and he is drawn in pole over an ideal 1450m trip. The filly Gimme Hope Johanna can’t be ignored here as a consistent, course and distance suited horse.

In the seventh race over 1600m Silver Spectrum is a progressive sort who looks the one to beat. Kings Archer is off an attractive mark and Eurostorm makes some appeal.

Anneka, Jamra and Pale Lilac all have ability and could fight out the eighth over 1600m.

In the last race Hareer is no great shakes but should be improving being by Silvano and she should enjoy the step back up to the trip of her maiden win. She is drawn in pole too and can beat Ruby Dancer and Sans Regrets. 

By David Thiselton

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Top weights Kasimir and Bold Respect are the class horses in today’s Gr2 Post Merchants but being a handicap, this race has a reputation of throwing up a surprise package or two so punters are advised to take a wide view of the field. These two are the only runners quoted in single figures with 10-1 bar so there is plenty of value if you can find one to beat them.

With 62kg on his back, the Justin Snaith-trained Kasimir has a big task ahead of him but he comes from a very much in form stable and his Cape form is strong. He appears to have come into his own as a late four-year-old, winning three of his last four starts including the Gr1 Cape Flying Championship and Gr3 Diadem Stakes.

The one chink in his armour may be the three-month break since his last race and he will need to be sharp to win this one and Snaith may just have the Gr1 WFA Mercury Sprint in mind as his ultimate goal for the season.

Bold Respect, on the other hand, a well beaten fourth in the Diadem but not far back in any of his meetings with Kasimir, has had a blow-out this winter, finishing under two lengths back to Chimichuri Run in the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint. He is in receipt of 2kg from Kasimir and with a run under his girth Brett Crawford’s runner could put one over his nemesis.

Take out the top two and you have a race on your hands. Last year’s winner Sniper Shot has been winless since and was among the longer priced runners that evening. Given his current form one is hard-pressed to make out a solid case for Paul Lafferty’s runner and a better proposition could be the filly Green Plains. Sean Tarry is a master at planning and peaking his horses for the right races and at around 25-1 in the current market Green Plains looks fair value for money.

She has been dropping steadily in the handicap and although down the field in the recent Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint, she did not have the best of luck in the running. Tonight, she has a plum draw and a handy galloping weight and Lyle Hewitson will get the best out of her.

Barrier trials are not every trainer’s want but just as in any race, if one can read between the lines, they are a valuable tool in a punter’s armoury.

Dean Kannemeyer generally has a better type horse in his yard than most and Captain Elliodor turned in an eye-catching barrier trial. Although only a neck in front of his nearest ‘trialist’ he could hardly go slow enough for the rest to keep up.

Bookmakers were quick to cotton on and Captain Elliodor is currently joint favourite in the ante-post market with the already exposed Land Of Mystery. Also in the mix for the opening leg of the Pick 6 is Thomas Shelby, a beaten favourite last run but possibly a better proposition over the extra two furlongs.

Johan Janse van Vuuren saddles Thomas Shelby and he has a chance of a quick double with Ultra Boost in the next.

A lightly raced three-year-old, he has been tossed in at the deep end as he takes on some salted opposition having only had a barrier trial after a five-month break. It may be a bit much to ask but he does appear to have some scope and with only 49.5kg to should courtesy of claiming apprentice Jason Gates, he could have enough gas in the tank.

By Andrew Harrison

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Gavin Lerena will be riding the Eric Sands-trained Rainbow Bridge in the Vodacom Durban July and Anton Marcus will be aboard the Mike de Kock-trained Hawwaam.

Sands and owner Mike Rattray had been under the impression Anton Marcus would be aboard their charge Rainbow Bridge.

However, Marcus made his intentions of riding Hawwaam clear even before he rode Rainbow Bridge in the Grade 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge on Saturday.

Sands said he would not want somebody on his horse who did not want to be there and a replacement was sought.

Lerena had stated some time ago he would jump at the opportunity to ride Rainbow Bridge in the July, although at the time of making that statement he was probably not reckoning with Hawwaam being in the big race.

Lerena was originally the regular rider of Hawwaam but as he is retained by Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein Studs he had to ride Cascapedia in the Grade 1 Premier’s Champions Challenge in early May and thus lost the Hawwaam ride to Marcus.

Hawwaam duly won the Champions Challenge and De Kock stuck with Marcus for the Grade 1 Daily News 2000, which Hawwaam also won.

Sands said he had been “a little disappointed” with Rainbow Bridge’s third place finish in the Gold Challenge on Saturday.

He said, “I would like to see what the result would have been with a clear run.”

Rainbow Bridge’s path was blocked by a hanging in Cirillo just as he was coming to challenge the eventual winner Do It Again. Marcus had to check and switch outward.

Sands was surprised Rainbow Bridge, under the circumstances, was still able to rally back for third.

He said Marcus’ only comment after the race was, “He definitely needs further.”

Rainbow Bridge was seen to be a little bit keen in the running early on when Marcus reined him back in order to slot in to a midfield position.

However, in Sands’ opinion the Ideal World gelding did not “over race.”

He said, “He is the sort of horse if you just touch his mouth he will lift his head, but I don’t think he was fighting.”

Rainbow Bridge will receive half-a-kilogram from Do It Again in the July.

Do It Again has beaten Rainbow Bridge three times over a mile but in their only other meeting, in the Grade 1 weight for age Sun Met over 2000m, Rainbow Bridge, with Marcus aboard, was the victor by three-quarters of a length.

Sands said Rainbow Bridge had come out of Saturday’s race well and he would just keep him ticking over until the July gallops on Thursday, 27 June.

By David Thiselton

Gavin Lerena has landed the plum mount on Rainbow Bridge in the Vodacom Durban July. The Sun Met winner will be the former champion’s ninth July ride and the closest he has come so far is fourth on Tellina in 2014 when Legislate got the race in the boardroom.

Eric Sands has had calls from as far afield as Hong Kong since it became known that Anton Marcus had opted for Hawwaam but Lerena was already in pole position, not least because he had asked for the ride in the Met. Intriguingly he used to be the regular rider of the big race favourite, partnering him four times on the trot to win the Dingaans, Tony Ruffel and the SA Classic plus finishing second in the Gauteng Guineas.

Sands reported yesterday that the horse “took his race well” after finishing a possibly unlucky third to Do It Again in last Saturday’s Rising Sun Gold Challenge. The Milnerton trainer did not claim that he would have won had Anton Marcus not been forced to switch inside the final furlong “but maybe it would have been a tighter finish.”

Nooresh Juglall will fly in from Mauritius to partner Daily News runner-up Twist Of Fate for the River Palace Racing Syndicate who are based in Mauritius and have been keen to have “their man” in the irons for the big one.

Juglall, 27, was twice South African champion apprentice and this will be his third July ride. He finished down the field on Wagner in 2013 and again on Safe Harbour two years ago. He has spent much of the last five years in Singapore but earlier this year he decided to return home as his wife could not get a visa to stay in the country.

Joey Ramsden said yesterday that 16-1 shot Twist Of Fate has continued to thrive since the Daily News – “He is a hardy so-and-so and he is doing fabulously well.”

Ramsden, successful with The Conglomerate in the 2016 July, was speaking from Singapore where is he doing some serious bureaucracy work as he and partner Steph decide whether to go ahead with their talked-of move to that country.

He said: “We are over here seeing how easy, or how hard, it is to set up and get things like residence permits. It is not like Hong Kong where they do it all for you. Here you do everything yourself. Nothing will be set in concrete until we can get all our ducks in a row.”

By Michael Clower

Ashburton-based Belinda Impey is due to hand in her trainer’s brief at the end of this month but after Antigonus ruled in the last at Scottsville yesterday she may have a change of heart.

Impey was assistant to Gilbert Werner for many years but went on her own after his death. It’s been a struggle since with new owners like hen’s teeth and she has no definite plans. “I’ll take a break for a while and then see from there,” she said last week.

Antigonus had been off the track since September last year and with only a barrier trial under his girth it was a smart training feat to get the gelding into the winner’s box first up.

Kom Naidoo sends out a steady stream of winners from his Ashburton yard and he produced a double yesterday along with two runner-up berths.

Two-year-old Rainbow Unicorn out-ran the year older Winter Retreat in the second and Flaming Desire, a 50-1 winner at her previous start, repeated the dose as Jarred Samuel got her home again in the eighth at generous odds of 30-1.

Naidoo was a little cautious during the week concerning Flaming Desire, fearing that the winter track may be on the firm side for the filly, but Samuel held her up for as long as he dared before pouncing late. “She was on point today,” said Samuels.

Fives Wild, the R3k purchase from a horses-in-training sale, added more to his stake earnings that have topped R200k in four starts for Naidoo. This time he was not able to match the turn around in weights with Bedazzled Joker who finally got his act together for Alyson Wright, Anton Marcus taking no prisoners as he made an early move on the leaders and Fives Wild holding on just long enough from a faster finishing Dallas.

Wright was back in the winner’s enclosure in the sixth as Bernard Fayd’Herbe got Scarlet Chill to snatch a short-head decision from the Naidoo-trained Arizona Sunset.

Fayd’Herbe is riding with supreme confidence of late and lifted his tally of winners since May 1 to 27 with a double. He started his day with a typically driving ride on Kateecador for Gavin van Zyl in one of the tightest finishes of the day.

Garth Puller has had something of a quiet time of late with his horses not firing, but has tracked it down to feed, specifically a batch of teff. He appears to have got on top of the problem as March Preview finished of his race with a rattle under apprentice Luke Ferraris and Forceful Rush, drawn wide and last for much of the early exchanges, finishing on top of the placed runners.

Miss Frankel was the talk on course and taking an early lead from her outside draw she looked on track to land the odds. Keagan de Melo ease her over from her outside draw, looking for company. When the challenges came, she stuck gamely to her task but was unable to hold the late rattle from Kateecador and the grey Isca, making it a father and son exacta.

Angel Bouquet gave Met winning trainer Yogas Govender a few anxious moments in the first as she took Lyle Hewiston on the scenic route to the line.

She was none to keen once getting her nose in front but kept going well enough to hold off the first timer Point Of Sale.

Point Of Sale did not have a barrier trial which had some observant punters hot under the collar but officials have cut some slack regarding problem horses at trainer’s requests.

Point Of Sale, sporting earmuffs, was in the paddock a good 10 minutes before the rest of the field and left the paddock five minutes before them but showed no signs of being unruly. Given that all first timers in KZN are required to trial it should be incumbent on officials to provide a public explanation as to why there was no trial!

By Andrew Harrison