Scottsville can be a tricky course but Brett Crawford had it all sussed as Bold Respect made all the running to win the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint on Saturday. For good measure he saddled Sunset Eyes for third, his pair split by Dorrie Sham’s Computaform Sprint runner-up Pinnacle Peak.

It was an afternoon that had the stipendiary stewards earning their keep and punters guessing as Van Halen turned the tables on hot favourite Cue The Music in the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion and Mighty High had them guessing in the Gr1 Allan Robertson Championship.

The Gr1 SA Fillies Sprint proved fairly predictable as Sommerlied kept her clean sheet at Scottsville and probably bowed out on a high note, destine for the paddocks of Maine Chance Farms.

Crawford’s carefully laid plans came to fruition as Bold Respect built on his win in the In Full Flight Stakes, Crawford magnanimously giving credit to his Summerveld assistant Peter Muscutt. Corne Orffer had him out in a flash and the gelding was never headed. Pinnacle Peak, a game second in the Gr1 Computaform Sprint, tried his best to get on terms but Bold Respect was always in command. Sunset Eyes, second in the In Full Flight Stakes, stayed on well for third.

“He pinged the gate,” said Orffer, “and he’s a happy horse when you leave him alone. At the 400 I let the reins slip through my hands and he took off.”

This was Orffer’s fourth Gr1 for Crawford all in the same colours for Delma and Lance Sherrell.

Sommerlied was back on her favourite track and scored an emphatic victory in the SA Fillies Sprint.

“Nothing went her way in Cape Town,” confessed Sean Veale. “After that there was a little bit of pressure and I thought I would be ‘jocked’ off.”

Veal gave the filly the perfect ride and she responded with a smart turn of foot to hold off the attentions of favourite Magical Wonderland with Neptune’s Rain staying on for third.

“There’s nothing left for her now,” said Maine Chance Farms ambassador and former jockey Glen Hatt. “I think’s she done enough and there are no more races for her unless she takes on open company. She doesn’t like Cape Town so the next races for her would be next season. I don’t know for sure. We will discuss it later.”

Mighty High, racing in the familiar yellow and purple silks of Braam van Huyssteen, scored something of an upset as Mark Khan managed to extricate himself from a blind alley on Johan Janse van Vuuren’s filly to snatch victory ahead of Celtic Sea and Inverroche in the Allan Robertson Championship.

Celtic Sea looked to have the race in the bag approaching the final furlong, but Khan, hunting for a run as the door was shut in his face up the inside, fortunately found the heels of Sean Tarry’s runner as he switched out and followed her through.

“I like this feeling of leading in Gr1’s,” grinned Van Huyssteen in the winner’s box, Legal Eagle’s Cueen’s Plate victory being his first.

Khan has made a spectacular comeback from injury, winning two Gr1’s in a matter of a month and Mighty High was his only ride for the afternoon and the win all the sweeter as it was for his old jockey’s agent who was recording his first Gr1 victory.

Cue The Music was all the rage in the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion but few, including seasoned trainer Tobie Spies, predicted victory for Van Halen.

The two had met previously in the Godolphin Barb, Van Halen finishing three lengths behind Dennis Bosch’s runner.

“I didn’t think we could turn the tables,” he said. “He beat us so easy last time and I wasn’t sure if he would see out the trip.”

But things did pan out for the good, although not as expected. “When he starts good he doesn’t finish it off. Today he started bad and finished it off.”

This may be the end of the season for Van Halen as Craig Zackey pleaded that the gelding be given a break.

Sergeant Hardy proved friendless in the market for the fourth in spite of him being very well in at the weights and many punter’s idea of an exotic bet banker. However, he does have his quirks and nothing worked in his favour yesterday.

“I feel sorry for the jockeys on my left,” said Bernard Fayd’Herbe prior to the start. “This horse jumps left and there’s is nothing that you can do about it.”

So Fayd’herbe was deliberately slow away to avoid trouble and as predicted Sergeant Hardy took a left turn out of the gate and kept going left which did his chances no good.

There was no skulduggery as intimated by some with empty pockets.

But it did leave the way clear for the diminutive Hashtag Strat. There is not much to Louis Goosen’s filly but she is quick and with apprentice Khanya Sakayi taking 4kg of her back, there was no catching her yesterday.

It was a fine day for Avontuur Stud as Oratorio was the sire of both Van Halen and Cue The Music while Sommerlied gave the studs stalwart stallion Var another Gr1 winner.

The Allan Robertson was delayed 10 minutes as the stalls were not positioned correctly, and the inexperienced tractor driver struggled to get them re-aligned. Eventually a frustrated MJ Byleveld, who has had experience driving tractors on a farm, took over and move the stalls into position before remounting.

• At Kenilworth, Rainbow Bridge earned himself a possible crack at the Vodacom Durban July after an emphatic victory in the Gr3 Highlands Stud Winter Classic. Eric Sands intimated that should his gelding win well enough he would think of supplementing him for the country’s biggest race.

By Andrew Harrison