Liverpool Champ has not been out of the money since being ‘run over’ by Justfortheepenny prior to shedding his maiden but Gavin van Zyl obviously believes that the gelding is better than his last two starts would suggest.

Not too many horses are capable of backing up their maiden win but Liverpool Champ did just that when beating the consistent Techno Captain first up in a handicap.

Since then, Liverpool Champ has got himself on the wrong side of the handicappers as his handicap rating was pumped up from an 86 to a current 91 rating courtesy of a second-placed finish to Merlin From Berlin in spite of giving the winner 3kg.

The mechanics of the MR system are a mystery to most but Liverpool Champ, blinkered for the first time, does look capable of registering his third victory and defying top weight of 61kg.

Anton Marcus has ben loyal to Brett Crawford’s colt Baby Shooz after a facile maiden win. The son of Jackson has since been touched off in two races over 1600m and the step up to today’s trip of 2000 on the Hollywoodbets Greyville poly may be what he is looking for.

Greek Sword and Walterthepenniless are others to consider along with the filly American Princess who was a fast-finishing second over course and distance last time out but Marcus has deserted in order to partner Baby Shooz.

Garth Puller could hold the key to the fifth where he saddles Noemi and First Sighting.

The latter has been priced up favourite by Track & Ball

after her close-up third behind Mai Tai and the presence of Anton Marcus in the saddle along with first-time blinkers will also have trimmed some of the odds. However, stable companion Noemi may prove a better proposition. She is over her best course and distance and with a 4kg claimer up should be right there.

Lady Legend is young and improving filly that Wayne Badenhorst – who has since joined forces with his sister Barbara, now Kennedy and former KZN assistant to Dean Kannemeyer – felt was good enough to contest a Highveld feature. It was a trip in vain as Lady Legend faded out behind the smart Mill Queen, a fancied runner in the Gr2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas at Turffontein tonight, but she recouped expenses with a game win next time out on the Greyville turf.

With Gareth Wright on the injured list, Calvin Habib takes over in the saddle from a pole position draw. T&B are quoting 11-1 in the ante-post market but that will all change after the scratching of ante-post favourite Marsanne who spiked a temperature over the weekend.

By Andrew Harrison

Paul Peter has been unable to work his string ahead of the rescheduled Gauteng Guineas meeting at Turffontein Standside on Wednesday as the tracks are waterlogged but he doesn’t believe they could have lost much fitness.

He said, “They are looking bright, eating well and we have been taking them for long works.”

Summer Pudding is the favourite in the Grade 2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas and he is bullish about her chances.

Although she is unbeaten in three starts some have questioned the strength of her formlines.

However, he said, “She is a very smart filly and is improving all the time. Her mission is the Triple Tiara and the further she goes the better she will be. So this race is going to be her most difficult leg as it is over a mile, but I’m sure her class will pull her through.”

Summer Pudding is by Silvano out of the Strike Smartly mare Cherry On The Cake, who is a half-sister to Triple Tiara heroine Cherry On The Top, so it is not surprising she is progressive.

Peter runs three in the Grade 2 Gauteng Guineas and said both Riverstown and Astrix should definitely be included in the Pick 6 and Arapaho should be included in quartets etc. 

Peter’s admiration for Riverstown is well documented but he pointed out, “There is not much between Riverstown and Astrix at home. Astrix is much better than his last run (in the Dingaans) as he was caught wide and needed gelding at the time. Arapaho has had a wind op and has improved so can also be thrown into the exotics.”

He concluded, “All three runners are well in themselves.”

He runs the talented What A Winter filly Fly Away as well as Chief Of State in the Grade 3 Tommy Hotspur Handicap over 1000m and said, “Fly Away is a very fast filly. My only concern with her is that she would prefer the going to be on top. She has a perfect action so doesn’t enjoy soft ground. Hopefully it will have dried out a bit by the time of the race. If it has she is a massive runner. Chief Of State has improved with blinkers and has been working exceptionally well.”

Fly Away hasn’t run since October 31 due to a persistent mouth abscess but the lack of a recent run doesn’t worry Peter.

He said, “She is hard on herself at home so doesn’t need much racing.” 

Peter’s meeting starts with Fromheretoeternity in the first over 1160m and he said, “She is drawn on the wrong side but she could still place.”

In the second he has South East and said, “”He is drawn on the right side. He needed his first start and I will be disappointed if he does not finish in the first three.” 

He continued, “My best runner on the day is Diamond Dancer (fourth race 2000m). We have been trying him over further but those distances stretched him. He is now ideally distance suited. He is very well, fit and sound and has been working so well. He doesn’t have to go to the front, he can sit second or third.”

In the fifth over 1600m he runs Shukamisa and said, “I am quietly confident with him. He likes the wet and it’s his third run after a rest and is the best I have had him since acquiring him. He doesn’t take much work so the interruption to the preparation in the last few days shouldn’t affect him.”

In the last race over 1160m he runs Var filly Carioca and said, “It’s her third run after a rest and she has been doing exceptionally well at home. If she had been drawn on the outside I would have made her a massive runner but she unfortunately has draw 2. But she should still run into the quartets.”

By David Thiselton

David Nieuwenhuizen has three feature runners at the rescheduled Gauteng Guineas meeting, which is now to be run at Turffontein Standside tomorrow evening.

Nieuwenhuizen’s Querari filly Mill Queen has not had an ideal preparation but he is still upbeat about her chances.

He said, “We couldn’t get Gavin Lerena for the Three Troikas and she was drawn wide so we decided it would be an unnecessarily hard race and pulled her out. But she is very well, although it is a bit unsettling to have a postponement as it is not easy to keep a horse in the right place for the extra few days. This is the biggest race of her career to date and I think we have The Paul Peter filly Summer Pudding to beat. Paul Peter is quite confident but we hope we can do it. Mill Queen might go for the second leg too over 1800m, and a sprint-miler type like her might get it depending on how the race is run. But we are not thinking of that right now.”

Mill Queen ended her campaign as a two-year-old with a 0,80 length second in the Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes to the subsequently named Equus Champion two-year-old Gabor. However, she had to come from a wide draw that day and did not know the track, which was unlike the winner on both counts.

In her only start this term she won the Grade 3 HSH Princess Charlene Starling Stakes over 1400m on November 2, despite not having enjoyed a smooth preparation into the race.

Nieuwenhuizen said after that win, “Thank goodness Gavin (Lerena) has a good feel for a horse. He rode her with a bit in reserve and it looked like she did need it. She still has to mature mentally and physically, she is a late maturer who is still furnishing, so hopefully she will get a lot better. She is doing extremely well despite being backwards and that is just down to her ability, so we have to look after her. She is a filly who gives her all, so we also have to be careful with her in work.”

Lerena will be back aboard tomorrow evening.

Nieuwenhuizen is bullish about the chances of Factor Fifty and Flichity By Farr in the Non-Black Type Allez France Stakes over 2400m. Lerena was unable to stay aboard Flichity By Farr, as he is contracted to ride for the owners of Chitengo, and he is replaced by high-flying Craig Zackey.  

Nieuwenhuizen said, “They are both very well and I expect two big runs. Factor Fifty is an up and coming filly and is the stronger of the two so takes more work, but Flichity has proven class. They are very close and I hope we can have a win with either of them.”

By David Thiselton

Justin Snaith is hopeful that Kasimir, beaten less than a length when third to 25-1 surprise winner Russet Air in the Cape Flying Championship, can reverse the placings in the Khaya Stables Diadem Stakes at the now famous Prawn Festival meeting at Kenilworth on Saturday week.

He reasons: “Kasimir went into this year’s Cape Flying a run short. There was a race put on but they cancelled it because there were not enough acceptors. However he pulled up well from the Cape Flying, looks amazing and I am expecting a good run.”

Kasimir won last year’s Diadem when Russet Air, one of only three three-year-olds in the race, was three and a half lengths back sixth. There are ten other entries this time including Bold Respect who was a short head second in the Cape Flying, stable companion Run Fox Run (fourth) and Chimichuru Run who was fifth.

But Snaith, unlike Candice Bass-Robinson with Russet Air, is not going to have a crack at the Computaform Sprint in Turffontein on May 2 – “I’m not a Jo’burg person” – but he is considering the Tsogo Sun Sprint at Scottsville four weeks afterwards even though the race is a handicap and Kasimir could well have to give weight all round.

The dual champion trainer said: “I regretted not running him in the race last year and, if I don’t go for it this time, there is not all that much for him – and I don’t see a lot of top sprinters around.”

Russet Air has the altitude problem to overcome on May 2 but Candice Bass-Robinson has already decided not to send the horse to Jo’burg weeks beforehand or to raid from Summerveld – “I am going to prepare him from Cape Town. His sire What A Winter did that and he won the Computaform Sprint in 2013.”

What A Winter was flown up on that occasion but in his two previous attempts (when he was second and third) he went by road only two days before the race so that the effects of altitude did not have time to set in.

The Milnerton trainer is also going to prepare her dual Bidvest Majorca winner Clouds Unfold for her Durban targets in Cape Town. “I believe they are better off down here where they know the tracks and so Clouds will have a prep run at Kenilworth and then maybe the Tibouchina at Greyville on June 13 before going for the Jonsson Workwear Garden Province which is her main aim.”

Saturday week’s Cape Derby has attracted 15 entries headed by Glen Kotzen’s Cape Guineas runner-up Viva Rio who is rated 4.5kg clear of the next best, the Brett Crawford-trained Concorde Cup winner King Of Gems.

By Michael Clower

Yesterday’s Hollywoodbets Greyville meeting on the polytrack saw Anton Marcus scoring a treble and closing the gap slightly on Warren Kennedy in the Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge Jockeys table.

Marcus scored 51 points on the day to Kennedy’s 33 and is now 64 points behind with six meetings left.

In the trainer’s table Garth Puller had a second and a third from his seven runners and was able to pull further clear of his nearest rival Paul Lafferty, who only had two runners on the day.

Lafferty’s two runners included Bint El Malak, who gained seven more points with a sixth place finish in the fourth race to go 15 points clear of Jayden’s Shreya in the Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge Horse table.

In the first race, a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1 000m, the Mike Miller-trained Fencing Master gelding Walls Of Dubrovnik converted favouritism after being hard-ridden by Eric Ngwane down the inside.

He had come from midfield in the small field of seven and just got up to beat Ziva Da Grace by a head.

In the second race, a Maiden Plate over 1 000m, the 1,5kg claimer Jason Gates took the raiding Clinton Binda-trained Kings Road to the front and kept him going despite the Vercingetorix gelding not negotiating the bend too well. The 15-2 shot beat the fancied Nikhils Inn by a quarter-of-a-length while the favourite Macallan found little and finished unplaced.

In the third, a Maiden Plate over 1 000m, the odds-on favourite Afriel went missing as she found little down the inside having been on the rail in the running.

Keagan de Melo hooked the winner Matadora’s Parade, a Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained Toreador filly, to the outside and she won comfortably by 3,50 lengths despite starting odds of 13-2.

In the fourth race over 1000m the Yogas Govender-trained Querari filly Enrapture burst through the centre to win extending by a neck from Itsapleasure and the favourite Bell Jar.

Marcus rode the next two winners.

In the fifth, a MR 68 Handicap over 1 600m, he switched the Alyson Wright-trained favourite Roy’s Physco out before reaching the straight having seen the horse in front of him struggling. The big, rangy Australian-bred Casino Prince gelding made steady inroads and once he hit top gear he easily passed the leader Silver Cent and won by 1,75 lengths from a running on Peter Piper. Roy’s Physco is still immature and has scope for further improvement.

In the sixth, a MR 98 Handicap over 1000m, the talented Glen Kotzen-trained Querari gelding Calvary was too good. Marcus took him to the front and he won by 2,25 lengths.

In the seventh over 1200m the Shane Humby-trained Oratorio gelding Letaba jumped from a wide draw and was held back until the straight by Donovan Dillon. The big horse somehow managed to find his way through a maze of horses on the outside to win by a shorthead from Kingston Rock.

In the eighth over 1950m Yogas Govender clinched a double and Marcus a treble with the progressive Jackson colt Bayview Express.

Marcus gave him a fine ride. He continually improving position in the running and it paid dividends later. In the straight it was soon clear he would easily catch the leader but at the same time he had left the rest of the field flat-footed. Second-placed Double Gemini was beaten 3,25 lengths and the rest were unsighted.

By David Thiselton