Head Honcho, who ran the race of his life to take third in the Sun Met, heads for KZN and the Vodacom Durban July in a week’s time.
Andre Nel said: “He went to the farm in George in the week after the Met and he leaves there for Durban on either the 25th or 26th. I calculate that he has improved some 40lb as a five-year-old – and this year I will be prepping him to run in the July rather than to qualify him for it and that will be a lot easier.”
Head Honcho was raised eight points to a new merit rating of 122 for his Met performance and is an 18-1 chance in World Sports Betting’s recently-issued pre-nomination prices. Entries for the great race do not normally close until April.
Met winner Rainbow Bridge is 5-1 favourite with Buffalo Bill Cody on 13-2 and last year’s winner Do It Again on 15-2. Other leading prices are 17-2 Hawwaam, 11-1 Doublemint, 18-1 Soqrat, 20-1 Cascapedia.
Undercover Agent, fourth in the Met, is a 25-1 chance but punters should hold fire because at the moment the race is not on his agenda. “He will go Drill Hall, Rising Sun Gold Challenge and Champions Cup,” said Brett Crawford on Saturday.
By Michael Clower
