There were two meetings at Greyville this weekend and patrons had a particularly festive time at the Halloween theme gathering on Friday night.
Sunday’s nine race meeting saw the long awaited return of the turf, which staged six of the nine races on the card, and the day was dedicated to Gold Circle staff who had given over 30 years of service.
The highlight was a turf Pinnacle Stakes race over 1200m and all eyes in this event were on Ice Machine and Power King, who were having preparations before heading for big race engagements in Cape Town and Johannesburg respectively. The former had to switch at the top of the straight after a slow start and had too much to do, finishing fourth, while the latter finished a flying third. The Craig Eudey-trained Flyfirstclass was more at home over this trip than the two big names and won comfortably under Alec Forbes.
Future Fantastic (Nkosi Hlophe)
In the previous race, a turf Conditions Plate for fillies and mares over 1600m, trainer Stuart Pettigrew and in form Karl Zechner pulled off a successful Highveld raid with the four-year-old Lateral filly Future Fantastic, who was well weighted.
The ride of the day must have been Sean Cormack’s win on his guv’nor Dennis Drier’s Fort Wood filly Queen Delta in the second, a poly maiden over 2000m. Cormack didn’t take kindly to Muzi Yeni easing outward on the market rival Lady Linda at the 1200m mark and after initially attempting to hold his position he accepted his fate for the time being and dropped his mount in behind the trespasser. He then got the last laugh as a determined finishing effort saw him getting up to beat Lady Linda on the line.
The opening turf race, a Maiden over 1400m, saw a start to finish victory for the Charles Laird-trained first-timer What A Poet under Anton Marcus, who rode a double on the day. The Australian-bred Dylan Thomas colt was well drawn and didn’t beat a strong field but will appreciate further, so this was an encouraging introduction.
The Doug Campbell-trained three-year-old Visionaire filly Lala also did well to win the last, a turf MR 76 handicap for fillies and mares over 1200m, off a merit rating of 86 under Ian Sturgeon.
Friday night’s meeting had eight races on the poly and the most significant happenings on the racecourse were a double for in form trainer Alistair Gordon, both of them ridden by the increasingly confident Mandla Ntuli. Muzi Yeni and Sean Veale both rode doubles too.
Gordon’s second winner, the Noordhoek Flyer filly Gavea Girl, provided a first winner for Protea’s cricketing hero David Miller who part-owns her with his well-known auctioneer father Andrew and others.
By David Thiselton
