Brett Crawford has five runners at tomorrow night’s opening meeting of the SA Champions Season at Greyville and will contest two of the headliners, the Grade 2 Daisy Guineas and the Grade 2 IOS Drill Hall Stakes over 1400m.
Crawford’s assistant trainer Peter Muscutt spoke about their chances.
In the Grade 2 Daisy Guineas they run White River. This Trippi colt made up a lot of ground in the straight in both the Selangor Cup and the Cape Guineas and also in his KZN debut in the Byerley Turk over 1400m.
Sail South (Candiese Marnewick)
However, in order to have a winning chance tomorrow night he will likely need to be closer to the pace.
Consequently, he will run in first time blinkers and Muscutt said, “It is a tight course and the idea of the blinkers is to put him into the race earlier. They appear to have had the desired effect (in training) and he is very well.”
Anthony Delpech had originally been earmarked to ride him before his terrible recent fall put him on the sidelines and Anton Marcus is the more than able replacement. White River has always struck as one who would stay further, but his only disappointing run to date has been when strongly fancied for the Investec Cape Derby over 2000m. However, Muscutt confirmed, “He will ultimately go further (than a mile).”
Crawford runs Sail South and the three-year-old Undercover Agent in the Drill Hall. The latter was drawn 18 out of 18 among the initial Daisy Guineas entries and Muscutt said it was a “no-brainer” to run him instead in the Drill Hall, where he has drawn six out of 13. Muscutt was bullish about the chances of this well regarded Captain Al colt. He said, “He is quick out of the gates and comes into this race very well.” He is coming off impressive victories in both the US$500,000 CTS 1600 and the Byerley Turk over the Drill Hall course and distance.
Sail South, who won last season’s Grade 1 Champions Cup over 1800m, has cracked a fine draw of two in the Drill Hall. He is effective over this trip and was just 0,45 lengths back in sixth in last year’s blanket finish won by Marinaresco. Muscutt said, “The draw might be contrary to his racing style and I would have preferred our pair to have been drawn the other way around. You can get into traffic on the fence and he has always finished better when ridden quietly. But he is very well and runs well fresh. He has to give the others weight but is Grade 1 class while the rest of the older horses look to be hard-knocking handicappers.”
Both Undercover Agent and Sail South will be going for the Grade 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge next.
In race four, a Pinnacle Stakes race over 1200m, Crawford runs the promising three-year-old Sail From Seattle gelding Pacific Trader who finished close up on debut over 1000m at Kenilworth and then easily won his next two starts over that same course and distance.
He said, “He put up a very impressive recent gallop.” He is drawn perfectly in two, especially considering he has been up with the pace in his last two starts. Feature races will be beckoning if he does well tomorrow night.
The yard also run Twice Over gelding Game Changer in the last, a Maiden over 1400m. He ran quite well in his second barrier trial when finishing 6,9 lengths behind Zodiac Ruler over 1000m on the Greyville poly. Muscutt said, “He is quite a nice horse and we expect him to be effective over further.”
By David Thiselton
