David Thiselton

The first entries stage for the Champions Day races to be held on April 4 at Turffontein Standside closed on Monday and the Gr 1 World Pool Premier’s Champions Challenge over 2000m had some interesting entries.

The WSB Met winner See It Again, who comes off a second place finish in the Gr 1 wfa Wilgerbosdrift HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes at Turffontein,  is one of the raider entries.

His Justin Snaith-trained stablemate Okavango, who comes off a fine fourth in the Met and a win in the Listed King’s Cup, is also entered.

Both of these Cape horses are being prepared out of Summerveld.

The Nathan Kotzen-trained Madison Valley is a Summerveld resident who has also been entered, although he has a bit to find under weight for age conditions.

Kotzen’s former winner of this event, Royal Victory, is also an entry although he is now trained by Weichong Marwing.

Last year’s winner the Alec Laird-trained Fire Attack is entered and so is his former Betway Summer Cup-winnning stablemate Atticus Finch.

Tony Peter has two entries in The Ultimate King and The Equator, who both have tough tasks off 117 merit ratings.

This season’s Summer Cup runner up Olivia’s Way is an entry and she will have a tougher task under wfa conditions than she did in the Summer Cup, although going on the actual form of the Summer Cup makes her an interesting runner.

The talented Jimmy Don returned recently for a new stable, that of Joe Soma, after a layoff of about two-and-a-half years but Soma has worked miracles before in Gr 1 events.

The Gr 1 HKJC World Pool SA Classic winner and runner up Grand Empire and Trust are entered and another three-year-old, Copper Eagle, is also entered but will be severely under sufferance.

It is certainly going to be an intriguing race.