Tropical Hibiscus can start off punters on a winning note in the opening Itsarush.co.za Maiden Juvenile Fillies Plate at Kenilworth today.

Paddy Kruyer freely admits that he was surprised to see her run so well on debut – she was completely unfancied at 22-1 yet she was only beaten a length and a half into third behind the highly regarded Santa Clara who had the advantage of a previous run – and he is pleased with her subsequent progress.

Glen Kotzen

He said: “She hadn’t even seen Kenilworth before and the racing experience will have brought her on.”

Donovan Dillon’s mount has hardened from 5-2 to 18-10 favourite with World Sports Betting and has the advantage of being drawn on the wide outside. The penetrometer reading for Sunday suggested that the ground on the inside is marginally faster but try telling that to the jockeys. In the Somerset most of them made a point of making for the outside. Monday night’s rain might swing the balance but the riders are likely to stick with what they believed on Sunday unless and until they are convinced otherwise

The one negative about Tropical Hibiscus is her temperament – Kruyer said she has “a bit of a nervous disposition.” Second favourite at 4-1, and on paper the most likely danger, is Star Angel representing the Somerset winning combination of Joey Ramsden and Bernard Fayd’Herbe. This one has steadily improved in three runs and ran well against three-year-olds at Durbanville last time.

Next in the market at 11-2 are the Candice Bass-Robinson newcomer Go Snow Girl and Green Savannah who makes her debut for Glen Kotzen. Mrs Robinson’s juvenile fillies number some future stars so her’s has to be respected. Significantly stable jockey Aldo Domeyer is on the daughter of What A Winter rather than stable companion Profound.

The TAB Telebet Maiden Juvenile 40 minutes later is nothing like so clear cut. Shadowing, the 18-10 favourite and the selection, had Perfect Symmetry (11-2) two lengths behind when going under by a head in a hard-fought tussle with the Kotzen newcomer Crown Guardian but Perfect Symmetry suffered interference in the final furlong and so can be expected to finish quite a bit closer. Also Rock Of Asia (9-2) was only three-quarters of a length behind Shadowing and possibly has more scope for improvement. But note Sacred Night. This colt is another Kotzen newcomer and is significantly short at 5-1.

The Boston Rose was only raised a kilo for justifying favouritism in fairly convincing style on her second run out of the maidens and she can go in again in the Book Your Seat Handicap. The biggest danger could well prove to be stable companion Omega Force who has already been supported and is now favourite.

Magic Mountain steps up to a mile to take on older horses in the Betting World Maiden. She is 15-10 favourite but her outside draw spells caution. Hopefully Robert Khathi, deputising for the sidelined Richard Fourie, can overcome it.

By Michael Clower

The interrupted comeback of five-time South African champion jockey Mark Khan reached a new high when he sprang a 55-1 shock on Hero’s Honour in the South African Derby at Turffontein on Saturday.

Khan, 49, was forced to retire in 2010 after suffering injuries in a fall the previous year. To almost universal surprise, he returned at the beginning of this season in August but in October he hurt his knee so badly riding work that he was out for six months.

Yet he persuaded trainer Gary Alexander that he was fit for Hero’s Honour, had him well placed throughout and led a furlong from home to beat 100-30 favourite Surcharge by a length and a half.

Mark Khan

Khan said: “There were reservations about my rehabilitation but I did my best and, while I have ridden many Derby winners, this must be a wonderful achievement.”

Alexander added: “This is my third South African Derby winner and Mark and I go back to 2002, when we won the race with Timber Trader.

“I said to Mark that there had to be a question mark about his fitness and he replied, ‘I’m a professional – I won’t let you down’.”

Joey Ramsden, who was one of Markus Jooste’s most successful trainers, has had to work hard to fill the void.

However, his decision to persuade a group of owners to buy Attenborough from Jooste’s Mayfair Speculators was rewarded when Richard Fourie delivered the 16-1 chance fast and late to capture the country’s top sprint race, the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint.

Fourie said: “Well done to Joey. Attenborough moved so well down to the start that I felt it was his race for the picking and he did it in impressive style.”

Anton Marcus broke a wrist when unseated in the parade ring at Greyville on Friday evening and the four-time champion’s place on 47-20 favourite Legal Eagle (twice Horse of the Year and Jooste’s best before his sale) was taken by S’Manga Khumalo, himself champion on two occasions.

Khumalo set out to make every post a winning one in the 2000m Champions Challenge but his mount’s suspect stamina gave out well before the end and he finished only eighth.

Victory went to 71-10 shot Coral Fever, a son of the Sir Henry Cecil-trained Judpot, trained by Robbie Sage and ridden by Muzi Yeni, who said: “I was praying for a good pace. I got it and I always felt I was going to win.”

By Michael Clower

Anton Marcus, side-lined with a broken wrist, is going flat out to speed up recovery.

Marcus underwent surgery at the weekend to have screws inserted in the wrist and is not sure how long it will be before he makes it back into the saddle, although if he has his way it will be sooner rather than later.

“I’ve been reading up on all sorts of treatment to expedite recovery. Whether they will work or not, I don’t know, but I’m trying my best.”

He started intense treatment yesterday. “I’m going for four treatments a day. I started this morning at 9 o’clock in the hyperbaric chamber, at 12 o’clock I went for electromagnetic radiation. At 1 o’clock I was in the cryotherapy chamber and at 4 o’clock I’ll be back for more radiation treatment. Four treatments a day for 10 days.”

“Hopefully one or all of them will work, I don’t know, but I just want to get back as soon as possible. When?  I have zero idea.”

Marcus was dumped heavily from his Daisy Guineas mount White River at the exit to the paddock enclosure when the colt reacted to the bell signalling for horses to leave the ring. Half an hour earlier Marcus had ridden a tremendous finish on the Duncan Howells-trained Fiorella to edge out hot favourite Snowdance.

By Andrew Harrison

Sun Met winner Oh Susanna has already made a complete recovery from the bruised heel that caused her to miss last Friday’s clash with the colts in the Daisy Guineas.

Justin Snaith said yesterday: “I had to change the off-fore shoe as it was uncomfortable but she is fine again now. With some horses I might have taken a chance but not with this one. She is only three and she has a hell of a future ahead of her.”

Oh Susanna (Liesl King)

She will now make her KZN debut in the Woolavington on June 2 and this means, that if she is to go on to the Vodacom Durban July, the great race will – ominously – be her second run after a rest. Does Snaith believe in this red warning signal?

“It doesn’t really bother me and certainly I am not going to let it do so,” he answered. “Sometimes the second run is a horse’s worst but sometimes it’s the best. And, don’t forget, I never really planned to run her in the Guineas but she was doing so well that I thought we would let her have a go at it.”

Snaith blames the unaccustomed floodlights for Snowdance’s shock defeat at 1-4 in the Daisy Fillies Guineas and said: “As soon as she came into the parade ring I could see there were problems and in the race itself she wasn’t as settled as she normally is. Had it been run during the day I believe she would have won. Hopefully she has learned and will be more settled next time.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe added: “She got revved up in the parade ring and, as she is a big-striding horse, I let her go on. In the straight I thought she would quicken but she didn’t.”

But apparently the benefits of the race are already beginning to show as Snaith said: “She has come on a lot since Friday and she already looks a lot fitter.”

He is now looking for a suitable prep before the Garden Province on July day. Do It Again’s win the Daisy Guineas, though, has convinced him that all is on course with his 2018 KZN ambitions. “I am happy where my horses are – we said we would come in quietly – and we are in a happy place with them all.”

The fact that Sean Tarry was able to peg back less than a third of Snaith’s R3.1million trainers’ log lead on Champions Day at Turffontein also played a part in boosting the feeling of well-being!

By Michael Clower

Twist Of Fate booked his Scottsville ticket – and Bernard Fayd’Herbe’s place on his back -by giving weight all round in the Somerset 1200 at Kenilworth yesterday.

But apparently it’s runner-up Arabian Air who should go into the notebooks. Rarely have I heard Joey Ramsden raving about a horse as he did this one.

“Jesus, this is a good horse,” the Milnerton trainer insisted. “And he had the worst preparation – only ten days to get over his first run – and that’s very hard for a two-year-old.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe (Liesl King)

Almost needless to say, he promptly confirmed that the Silvano colt is a Guineas prospect but it is Twist Of Fate, owned by the Mauritius-based River Palace Racing Syndicate, whose name goes into the record books as Ramsden’s fifth Somerset winner in six seasons.

Fayde’Herbe made for the faster ground on the stands side on the 6-1 son of Master Of My Fate, led a furlong out and held Arabian Air’s renewed challenge by a hard-fought fifth of a length.

Ramsden said: “This is one of the toughest two-year-olds I have ever trained. He also runs straight and true, and he is such a hard-knocking horse that it would be ridiculous not to have a look at the Gold Medallion.”

If Ramsden has some of the top juvenile colts it is Candice Bass-Robinson who has the dominant hand among the fillies and her two runners totally dominated the Perfect Promise Sprint. Unfortunately for punters the wrong one won.

They plunged on Nous Voila, backing her from 2-1 to 8-10, and allowed Lesedi La Rona to drift from 18-10 to 9-2. It was only in the last few strides that they found they had got it wrong.

Grant van Niekerk somehow conjured some hidden reserves from the supposed second string and, despite his mount drifting left towards the other horse, he snatched a head verdict with the next closest a full four lengths back.

Van Niekerk said: “I know Aldo was very bullish about Nous Voila but I rate mine highly and I think she is a filly worth following.”

Gaynor Rupert named her Trippi homebred shortly after the third-largest diamond ever found was discovered is Lesotho. It was subsequently sold for R704 million (“About what our filly is now worth,” quipped Drakenstein racing manager Kevin Sommerville).

Domeyer, though, remains loyal to Nous Voila, saying: “I was always going well and when she quickened I thought I would win. It will always be close between them but I do think mine will prove the better.”

Their trainer added that both are likely to go for the Kenilworth Fillies Nursery on June 9 rather than travel to Durban – “they have too much of a career ahead of them for that”- and that both are Fillies Guineas prospects. “And, don’t forget, there is also Santa Clara and Clouds Unfold.”

By Michael Clower

Do It Again was yesterday cut from 14-1 to 8-1 joint second favourite for the Vodacom Durban July following his last-to-first Daisy Guineas win on Friday evening. Stable companion African Night Sky still heads the market with Betting World but has been eased from 6-1 to 15-2.

Sun Met winner Oh Susanna, yet another of Justin Snaith’s aces, remains on 8-1 despite being forced to miss the Daisy Guineas because of a bruised heel.

Do It Again (Candiese Marnewick)

Coral Fever is 16-1 (from 25-1) after his Premier’s Champions Challenge triumph while Perovskia has been slashed from 125-1 but is still among the 50-1 shots despite winning the Independent On Saturday Drill Hall- surprising perhaps in view of the Drill Hall’s recognised place in the July build up. Marinaresco won in last year!

Undercover Agent, beaten a head in the Drill Hall, will give both the Daily News and the July a miss and instead will accompany Sail South – who was three lengths back fourth – into the Rising Sun Gold Challenge at Greyville on June 9.

Brett Crawford explained: “Maybe the July next year for Undercover Agent but at the moment he won’t get beyond a mile. Sail South will come on from his Drill Hall run. He needed it and ran well up to a point but the ground was very firm.”

Joey Ramsden is toying with the idea of running Saturday’s Computaform Sprint winner Attenborough in the Tsogo Sun Sprint at Scottsville on May 26 even though the Grade 1 is a handicap and the four-year-old is likely to be hiked above his present 110 mark when the handicappers convene by video link today.

Plans are fluid for stable companion Speedpoint, who was beaten just over two lengths into third. But he is apparently even better than the Turffontein run would suggest because Ramsden said: “I have always though that he is a genuine Group 1 horse. He has tons of little niggles and one day he is going to get over them all.”

By Michael Clower

Harold Crawford is a doyen of Western Cape racing and a rare visitor to KZN but his decision to send Perovskia for Champions Season paid dividends first up at Greyville on Friday night and there may still be more to come.

Perovskia has a reputation of being a difficult horse to pass as favourite Undercover Agent found to his detriment in the Gr2 Independent On Saturday Drill Hall Stakes as Callan Murray kept his mount hard to his task and the gelding lived up to his reputation.

Perovskia (Candiese Marnewick)

“I was always sure that I was going to get there,” said Murray. “I was only worried about what was behind me.”

From a small yard, Crawford does not have the luxury of spending big at the sales and must live off what’s on offer at the bottom end of the market. Russian Sage, a smart galloper in his time, did not make it as a commercial stallion. The aptly named Perovskia is probably the best of his progeny and Perovskia being the proper name for a flowering plant commonly called Russian sage.

Crawford gave all the kudos to his daughter Michelle Rix. “She’s done all the work with this horse. She’s been here a month. She must take all the glory.”

“We’ll go for the Cup Trial next and see how he goes there, then maybe the July. I don’t know at this stage.”

Perovskia has not been further then 1800m, second to Kampala Campari at Durbanville at his penultimate start, but Crawford has no doubts that he will stay the trip.

“Richard Fourie rode him before he even raced and came back and said he would win the stayers race on Met day or the Gold Cup.”

“But he makes a bit of a noise,” said Crawford, pointing to his throat. “I’ve had him scoped but they found noting. Still I have been scared to go too far with him. If we don’t go for the July, maybe the Gold Cup.”

By Andrew Harrison

Tomorrow’s Champions Day at Turffontein is the richest meeting in South Africa and Legal Eagle could cement his chances of landing a third Equus Horse Of The Year title.

Legal Eagle is unbeaten over a mile but his effectiveness over the 2000m trip of tomorrow’s Premier’s Champions Challenge is illustrated in his course and distance record which reads two wins and a neck second in three starts. Things did not pan out well for him in the Met or in this race last year, but now from a good draw he will be hard to beat. Nother Russia challenged Legal Eagle strongly over 1600m last time and they meet on weight for age terms again, but she is drawn outside of him, unlike last year. Coral Fever has proven over and over this season that he is a horse to be reckoned with. He is better draw here in seven than he was in the Summer Cup where he finished third. He did carry only 52kg in the latter race, and this is now a weight for age event, but he looks up to it.

Nother Russia (JC Photographics)

Abashiri will likely have come on from his last start when a touch laboured in the finish and at his peak this long-striding Triple Crown winner will be a threat. Glider Pilot is also long-striding sort and is still improving. Tyrone Zackey is a fine big race conditioner and this horse has a chance. Orchid Island has disappointed in her last two starts in the Horse Chestnut and the Empress Club, but will relish the step up in trip and is drawn in pole position. Dawn Assault is a progressive sort who is well drawn over an ideal course and distance. Silvan Star appears to be thriving on the Highveld and stays this trip. She only has 1,7 lengths to make up on Nother Russia from the Empress Club but has a wide draw.

Fort Ember can be a touch headstrong and thus went to the front last time from a wide draw and might have to do the same here which will make it tough. Safe Harbor is drawn well and has the top jockey Lyle Hewitson up so if bouncing back to the form of last season could surprise. Deo Juvente showed his class last year when winning this race but his three runs since then have been below par. Brazuca finished third behind Legal Eagle in this race two years ago and was only 4,5 lengths back last year, but his recent form has been uninspiring and he has a tough draw. French Navy has become disappointing and also has a tough draw.

The Grade 1 SA Derby could see Majestic Mambo making up for the bad luck he had in the SA Classic when nearly brought down. He was slicing through the field like a hot knife through butter at the time. He should stay this trip being out of a mare who won over 2400m and his exceptional turn of foot could carry him close after being dropped out to his usual last place. Surcharge was probably used up a bit much to overcome a wide draw in the SA Classic last time and it proved costly. He is likely to be dropped out and will go close as a relaxed type with a big action. Like A Panther has always struck as Derby type and being trained by Mike de Kock will go close.

The Computaform Sprint has attracted a weaker field than usual and is the hardest race on the card, especially considering the low draws are sometimes difficult to win from on the big days. Rocky Valley is given the vote as he won with a bit in hand last time over course and distance, so he can defy the handicapper. Sergeant Hardy should go close despite a low draw due to his exceptional cruising speed and the ability to stay on.

In the SA Oaks Takingthepeace goes for the Triple Tiara and despite having a stamina doubt in pedigree can do it due to her relaxed style of running coupled with her good turn of foot and resolute finish.

Bold Eagle is the one to beat in the SA Nursery but Hit The Green impressed last time and could be a threat.

By David Thiselton

Mr Crumford can ram home the message that there was no fluke about the impressive way he floored the odds laid on Frank Lloyd Wright four weeks ago by giving Brett Crawford his first Somerset 1200 at Kenilworth on Sunday.

Greg Cheyne’s mount, despite starting at a little-considered 15-1, led two furlongs out and strode clear to win by three lengths with third-placed Machiavelli boosting the form by winning last Saturday.

Greg Cheyne (Liesl King)

Frank Lloyd Wright is the only maiden in the field – only the second time it has reached double figures in this race in the past nine years – and he may prove the biggest danger.

He was considered almost unbeatable by his stable (not to mention most punters too) last time but ran as green as the grass he was galloping on and took an impossibly long time to grasp what his jockey’s increasingly anxious urgings were all about. By the time he finally got the message the race was as good as over.

He will know a lot more about it on Sunday and the 2kg allowance he receives may well enable him to go close.

Joey Ramsden is invariably the trainer to beat – he has won four of the last five runnings – and his trio are all high up in the betting forecast. Twist Of Fate looks a good sort but he will have to be, giving weight all round. Tarsus possibly needs to step up but Arabian Air has won his only start.

Fabian made most to beat Tarsus and represents the combination who won with Dutch Philip 12 months ago. He should make the frame.

Candice Bass-Robinson and Aldo Domeyer were also successful in the Perfect Promise Sprint at this meeting last year – with none other than Magical Wonderland, the race’s first winning favourite for five years – and they can follow up with Nous Voila.

This Judpot filly looked something special when winning on debut, beating well regarded subsequent winner Canukeepitsecret with the third another four lengths away, and is held in high regard.

Durbanville winner Lesedi La Rona heads the market in the TAB sheet betting forecast but her stable companion looks a far more likely winner.

Carioca is the only one to have won more than once and as a result has to give weight all round which could well prove her undoing while Racine is probably better than last time’s run would suggest.

By Michael Clower

Justin Snaith finally broke his winter season ice at Scottsville on Wednesday, hopefully for him the start of a winning streak as he saddles his bomb fillies, Snowdance and Oh Susanna, in the two Guineas races at Greyville tonight.

The build-up to South Africa’s Champion season has delivered some mouth-watering prospects for the racing aficionado and it all begins in earnest this evening with the official launch.

The Independent On Saturday Drill Hall Stakes is the traditional season opener and the Gr2 race could fall the way of Brett Crawford whose stable is in almost invincible form at present.

Oh Susanna (Candiese Marnewick)

After drawing on Marriott Road for the Guineas, Crawford opted for the Drill Hall for Undercover Agent who comes into this evening’s race off a winning streak that includes the CTS1600 and more recently, the Byerley Turk over course and distance.

The colt does take on some hard-knocking older horses but looks to have more than just a touch of class. Peter Muscutt, who oversees Crawford’s Summerveld yard, is confident of a big run saying; “He is quick out of the gates and comes into this race very well.”

Stable companion and last season’s Champions Stakes winner, Sail South, has to give his younger rival 5kg which may prove a tough ask given that he has not been out since Sun Met day at the backend of January.

Duncan Howells will be looking to break a string of second places with Saratoga Dancer who has come back well since being side-lined through injury. The six-year-old has been putting in good work at home although Howells is weary of the deep draw.

“Drawn between one and six we nearly win it. From 12 it will not be easy.” Since Howells commented, there have been four scratchings so Saratoga Dancer jumps from stall eight which makes things interesting.

Snowdance, only once beaten in her career, will start at cramped odds for the Gr2 Daisy Fillies Guineas and is currently 1-3 in the ante post market with only Lady In Black (5-1) in single figures.

Winner of the Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas at the expense of stable companion and subsequent Sun Met winner Oh Suzanna, and beating older horses in the Gr1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes, defeat will come as a major upset.

Lady In Black looks held on all current form but Dennis Drier had a difficult time during the Cape summer with his string never firing and Lady In Black appears to have come good back on home turf. But whether she can match Snowdance is debateable.

Snaith has avoided a potential clash between Snow Dance and Oh Suzanna with the latter taking on males in the Gr2 Daisy Guineas where she faces a much more daunting task.

The WFA conditions of the Sun Met suited the filly, as did the distance, and tonight’s mile could be a tad on the sharp side especially as she takes on the likes of Gr1 Cape Guineas winner Tap O’ Noth and runner-up White River.

The Gr1 Woolavington would be her logical Champions Season target so this will be a warm-up. That said, she is a class act and current 14-10 favourite with Tap O’ Noth and White River next best in the market.

Snaith has a second string to his bow in Gr1 Cape Derby second Do It Again although he too could prove a better proposition in the Gr1 Daily News 2000.

By Andrew Harrison