Races being used as warm-ups for bigger events can often prove tricky and as the SA Champions Season approaches the three features at Greyville tomorrow are no different. Given the weights the Highland Night Cup would be at the mercy of stable companions and top weights Ovidio and Krambambuli but the spectre of a false pace and the fact that there are more lucrative races on offer over the coming months, conjures some doubt.

Top heavy-weight rider Bernard Fayd-Herbe has recently signed on as stable jockey to the powerful Justin Snaith yard and although Ovidio has cracking staying form in the Cape, Krambambuli looks to have more speed and this 2400m trip should be right up his street.

Dean Kannemeyer’s runners appear to be over their summer hiccup where many were the victim of a low-grade virus and the stable came within an ace of a treble at Scottsville mid-week. He saddles last season’s Track & Ball Derby winner Cape Speed that has been lightly raced since finishing down the field in the Gold Cup where he cast a shoe.

He has only had three outings since, the last being in the Sun Met where he was fitted with blinkers in an effort to sharpen him up over what in hindsight now looks to be a trip on the sharp side.

The Gold Cup is an obvious winter season target with the Gold Vase in the offing on July Day.

All will be hoping that the front-running Serissa sets a reasonable gallop but one runner that will be suited to a slow pace is the filly Forbidden Jewel. She has a smart turn of foot, stays the trip well along with a light weight. But in the final analysis the Snaith pair are the two to beat.

The Listed Sledgehammer Handicap is another warm-up event and with some betting shops having already priced up on the Vodacom Durban July, races such as this will be closely monitored. Snaith has two early July entries in the line-up in Prince Of Wales, last year’s Betting World 1900 winner, and Elusive Silva, both coming off breaks. Snaith was quoted earlier in the week as saying both were in good order. Greg Cheyne is up from Cape Town to partner some of the Snaith runners but Anthony Delpech could be on the pick of the pair. Although not having been out since winning the Winter Derby last term, he is lightly raced, stays the trip and has the benefit of the inside gate.

Epona will be one of the leading candidates for the Gr1 Woolavington 2000 and the half-sister to champion galloper and leading sire Jay Peg has the form to back her claims in the Listed The Scarlet Lady.

The lure of $500 000 US for the CTS 1600 at Kenilworth on Met day was a carrot for all that were eligible but they ran into the now retired William Longsword with Epona some seven lengths back. However, prior to that Epona had opened her feature race account with a fluent victory in the Jamaica Handicap. Regular pilot Donovan Dillon is back aboard and he is no stranger to Greyville.

Snaith is three-handed in the race with Francia, Qing and Nima, all with smart form but with the Qing possibly the pick of the trio. She looks held by Epona on the Jamaica Handicap form but the drop to 1800m could see her more competitive. Nima finished just over two lengths back to Epona in the Jamaica and was then touched off by The High Life over the Kenilworth 2000m, so also comes into the reckoning.

Even trainers at the top of an already difficult profession admit that they learn something new almost every day and Justin Snaith has taken a leaf out of the Mike Bass book as he saddles Star Express for the Gr1 HSH Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes to be run at Turffontein this afternoon.

Bass sent up Inara from her Summerveld base to triumph last year and although Star Craft lacks the Grade 1 pedigree that Inara took into the race, she comes off some solid Western Cape form which often proves superior to that on the Highveld.

Star Express has been given plenty of time to acclimatise to her Summerveld surroundings and those with long memories will remember that the likes of David Payne and Herman Brown Snr often raided the Highveld with impunity from their Summerveld base.

Narrowly beaten in the Gr1 Majorca Stakes and running the smart filly Bela-Bela to a neck at level weights puts Star Express up there with the best.

Sean Tarry has a knack of getting his runners spot-on for the big events and sends out five fillies all in with chances. Safe Harbour has proven Cape form having run Bela-Bela to less than a length in the Gr1 Paddock Stakes and more recently failed narrowly in the Gr1 SA Fillies Classic behind Orchid Island. That was her first run in a tongue-tie and she is the narrow choice ahead of stable companion Trophy Wife. Beaten two lengths by Inara last year, Trophy Wife is often a tardy starter but ran an excellent race behind crack sprinter Carry On Alice last time out. She will much prefer this trip. Of the others, Fort Ember, Juxtapose and Nother Russia could all feature in what stacks up as a tough call.

By Andrew Harrison