Lyle Hewitson and Muzi Yeni take their title fight to Kenilworth today with Yeni on 185 and leading the current champion by one after yesterday’s Flamingo Park treble.

Four-time champion Anton Marcus takes the day off but, with 180 on the board and an infinitely better strike rate, his shadow looms ominously over the other two.

The tireless Yeni is not far short of 1 600 rides so far this term and Hewitson (who missed the early part of the season) has ridden in some 1 325 races. Marcus, an astute judge of form who picks his rides accordingly, has had just over 600 rides.

Hewitson rides in all eight races today and, according to the bookmakers at least, he has the stronger hand with one favourite (Russet Air), a joint favourite (Lesedi La Rona) and a second favourite whereas Yeni, with five rides, partners  favourite Stormin Norman in the first and one joint second favourite.

Stormin Norman does not have much to spare over Matchless Captain (who disappointed last time, possibly because he got worked up down at the pens) and Fighter but Joey Ramsden is fitting blinkers and that may just swing the balance.

Fortunately the ground will not be as soft as it was on Saturday when the change in going cost punters dear but there will be a bit more give in it than at earlier meetings so backers need to tread carefully.

Lesedi La Rona is 33-10 joint favourite with stable companion Crowded House and Vaughan Marshall’s Charge D’Affaires for the Play Soccer 6 Pinnacle but she was beaten nearly 11 lengths in the Olympic Duel and over six in the Sweet Chestnut on her previous start. Candice Bass-Robinson is fitting blinkers and a tongue tie in a bid to get her back to her best.

Glen Kotzen is responsible for three of the six runners and his trio come out best on adjusted ratings. However they have all been off since January and February. Crowded House is, theoretically at least, the worst in at the weights but she has good recent form and has won with give in the ground so she gets the vote.

Hewitson has a good chance on 9-2 chance Indian Song for the Bass-Robinson stable in the Tellytrack.com Handicap but the Snaiths have a high opinion of Sleeping Single. True, she has gone up three points for last time’s win – and it was only by half a length – and she has not raced on anything softer than good but the 33-10 favourite is a name to note and hopefully she can make it three on the bounce here.

By Michael Clower

The unbeaten Captain Of Stealth, odds-on for the Langerman at Kenilworth on Saturday, was a shock absentee from yesterday’s declarations for the two-year-old Grade 3.

Vaughan Marshall said: ”He has had a bit of a setback. He wrapped himself below the joint and just above the coronet. John McVeigh says that he has only seen one case similar to this. We are waiting for the scan results but hopefully it is not serious.”

The stable has won the 1 500m race in the past two seasons with subsequent Cape Guineas winner Tap O’Noth and One World. It will be represented this time by Silver Operator (M.J. Byleveld) and Path Of Choice (Sandile Mbhele). The former looked something special when storming home three and a half lengths clear on debut earlier this month and he was odds-on at 0.85-1 when Track And Ball put up it prices yesterday afternoon.

There are 11 declared for the Winter Derby on the same card making it the first time in four years that the race will be in double figures. Majestic Mozart and Herodotus, third and fourth in the Winter Classic, would appear to dominate the race on ratings but the East Cape Derby winner St Vladimir joins them in the betting. T & B make them all joint favourite at 2.85-1. Helen’s Ideal is 18-10 favourite to complete a clean sweep of the fillies winter series in the Winter Oaks.

Marinaresco, the 2017 Vodacom Durban July winner, has been moved from Dubai to Singapore and is temporarily on the sidelines.

Marsh Shirtliff, in whose famous colours the now six-year-old races, said: “He recently had a minor op – a chip taken out of his near-fore knee – but we hope to race him again in about four months and he will then go for staying races. Ricardo Legrange, a protégé of Pat Shaw, is to train him. He will stay in Singapore but, when we retire him, we may bring him back to South Africa.”

Pretty Young Thing, who won the finale at Kenilworth last Wednesday with scarcely believable ease, is to run again quite soon.

Brett Crawford said: “She has definitely improved and I will probably give her one more run during the winter. It will be in the next three weeks and we will see how she gets on in her first race out of the maidens. We will then put her away.”

Ridgemont’s Jackson filly with the Australian pedigree had finished second on her first two starts at Durbanville but last Wednesday’s run was in a different league. She came right away in the straight and, even though Anton Marcus let her ease down in the closing stages, she still won by three lengths and, in the words of commentator Jehan Malherbe, “She could have won by a dozen.”

By Michael Clower

English international racing journalist, tipster and broadcaster Neil Morrice’s lifelong sporting hero has been the legendary jockey Lester Piggott and thanks to his determination to have the great man recognised in perpetuity nine statues have been sculpted, two of which have already been unveiled at Epsom and Ascot respectively.

The Epsom statue was unveiled by The Queen on the day of the Derby and Morrice pointed out that this could well have been interpreted as an unofficial pardon for Piggott’s brush up with the taxman in the 1980’s which cost him his OBE.

The second one was unveiled on the first day of Royal Ascot last Tuesday.

Morrice lives in Wantage in Oxfordhire, England, where Piggott was born on November 5, 1935.

He regards Piggott as the greatest sportsman England has ever produced.

Lester’s career encompassed almost five decades. He dominated the golden age of jockeys in the 1960s and 1970s and won the British Flat Jockeys Championship eleven times. He rode 4493 winners in all, including 116 Royal Ascot winners, the Gold Cup a record eleven times, the Derby a record nine times, the 2000 Guineas five times, St. Leger eight times, the Oaks six times and the 1000 Guineas twice.

Piggott also made one of the most celebrated comebacks in sporting history.

The racing world were staggered when he announced his plan to return to the saddle in 1990 at the age of 54. He had retired at the end of the 1985 season and a burgeoning career as a trainer, sending out 34 winners, had been ended by his brush with the taxman.

Within ten days of his return he rode the Charles O’Brien-trained Royal Academy to victory in the Breeders Cup Mile. There have been few moments in racing history which have caused as big a media sensation.

Morrice believed it was high time Piggott was officially recognised for his contribution to British sport.

Lester was happy with Morrice’s idea of drumming up support to have a statue of him erected in Wantage.

Morrice consequently formed a project partnership with Geoffrey Hughes, owner of the Osborne Studio Gallery in Belgravia, London. The project was expanded to three statues, one for Wantage, one for Newmarket and Piggott was asked which site he would like for the third and he chose York racecourse. Morrice was personally thrilled with the latter choice as it was the first racecourse his father had taken him to as a boy.

Piggott loved the York racecourse and was adored by Northern England racing fans, as he won all of their big races.

The next step was to find a backer to fund the project.

Piggott suggested the family of the late Charles St George, a flamboyant owner whose offices as an underwriter for Lloyd’s were in Upper Brook Street in Mayfair, London. Piggott twice rode Ardross to victory for St. George in the Gold Cup, he rode his horse Giacometti to win the Group 1 Champion Stakes, Abergwaun to win the Group 1 Vernons (Haydock) Sprint Cup and he rode the St. George-owned Bruni to victories in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup and Group 3 Cumberland Lodge Stakes. Piggott became a close friend of St. George’s and was a pall bearer at his funeral.

Charles’ widow Christine put the proposal to her sons David and Christopher after lunching with Morrice, Hughes and top racing journalist Brough Scott at Claridges.

The St George brothers agreed and nine statues were then commissioned.

Piggott chose William Newton to both design and sculpt the statues.

The next statute to be unveiled will be in the Wantage museum and significantly it will take place on August 18, the date of a twelve-year-old Piggott’s first winner 71 years ago at Haydock racecourse on a horse called The Chase trained by his father Keith. The unveiling date will also see the launch of an exhibition in the Wantage museum of the life and times of Lester Piggott, which will run for four months.

The fourth unveiling will take place on the first day of the York August meeting on Tuesday 20 August, the day of the Group 1 Juddmonte international.

Piggott won this race five times, including on Rodrigo de Triano, who gave him the last of his 30 English classic winners when winning the 2000 Guineas in 1992.

The fifth statue will reside in the paddock of the Rowley Mile course in Newmarket.

The fate of the other four statues is still to be firmed up, although one of them has been pencilled in to be auctioned at the annual Sir Peter O’Sullevan charity lunch towards the end of the year.

The bulk of the money raised will go to racing charities.

Piggott and Morrice have been very good friends for a long time and have become closer since the statue project began.

Morrice has an enviable collection of Piggott memorabilia.

The various Piggott-worn silks he has include the Ardross Gold Cup-winning set.

He has many racecards signed by Lester, including all nine of his Derby-winning and all eleven of his Gold Cup-winning racecards.

He also has a signed racecard of a meeting in which Piggott, unbeknown to many, rode Red Rum. This flat horse subsequently switched to jumps and became a living icon by winning the Grand National a record three times.

Piggott has a hearing and a speech impediment which has resulted in his reputation as a taciturn character.

However, Morrice concluded, “Lester chooses his words parsimoniously, but this brings about a greater resonance and meaning when he puts forward his opinion. I feel privileged to have learned so much about the man and become closer to him over the two and a half years it’s taken to see the statues project bear fruit.”

By David Thiselton

Image: Lester Piggott in front of the statue unveiled in his honour at the first day of the Royal Ascot meeting on Tuesday last week. He is alongside racing media personality Neil Morrice, who drove the project to have Piggott officially recognised.

Roy Had Enough’s win in Saturday’s Track And Ball Derby has made barely a ripple in the Vodacom Durban July market. Track And Ball themselves cut the winner from 250-1 to 150-1 but left favourite Hawwaam unchanged on 18-10.

Indeed the firm made no changes to any of the other leading contenders, going 3.85-1 Do It Again, 11-2 Rainbow Bridge, 7-1 Barahin, 16-1 Eyes Wide Open, Twist Of Fate, 22-1 Head Honcho, 25-1 Magnificent Seven, 28-1 and upwards others.

Runner-up Charles has been marked out from 100-1 to 150-1 and most expert opinion is that he is unlikely to make the cut. Brett Crawford said: “Maybe he could run in the Betting World 2200 consolation or I might bring him home – he is still a young horse.”

Declarations for the Johnsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes are tomorrow but Track And Ball already has Oh Susanna favourite at 13-10 and goes 4.2-1 Front And Centre, 13-2 Santa Clara, Snowdance, 17-2 Fresnaye, 12-1 and upwards others.

Majestic Mozart is 2.55-1 favourite for the Winter Derby at Kenilworth on Saturday with Brett Crawford’s East Cape Derby winner St Vladimir on 2.9-1 and Herodotus next on 3.05-1.  The unbeaten Captain Of Stealth is odds-on for the Langerman at 0.55-1.

By Michael Clower

The Vodacom Durban July final field panellists often face a nightmare but this year they look to have a relatively easy task if the last July log and recent results are the guideline.

The final field of 18 and two reserves as well as the draws will be announced at a function at Gateway tomorrow (Tuesday).

The last July log was published on June 3.

Subsequent events have not complicated matters.

Roy Had Enough won the Grade 3 Track And Ball Derby at Scottsville on Saturday so deserves to be given the place vacated in the top 18 by the scratching of Hero’s Honour.

The result of the Grade 3 Cup Trial run on June 8 did not cause any headaches.

The winner Kampala Campari is not a July entry, the runner up Eyes Wide Open had already earned his place by winning the Grade 2 WSB 1900. The third and fourth-placed horses Doublemint and Made To Conquer ran well enough not to be dropped from their positions of 11^th and 17^th respectively on the last log.

The Grade 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge did not cause any problems either as all of the July entries in that race had already earned their berths.

The traditional Johannesburg July pointer, the Grade 3 Jubilee Handicap, was won by Barahin, who had already earned his berth. July entries Shenanigans and Dazzler finished second and fourth respectively but they are both merit rated in the 90s and did not do enough to warrant inclusion.

Miyabi Gold, winner of the Grade 2 Gold Bracelet over 2000m last year and the Listed Scarlet Lady over 1750m this year, was 18^th on the last July log and Fresnaye was 16^th. The latter won the Grade 3 Victress Stakes over 1800m in December and in the SA Champions Season she has finished a close fourth in the WSB 1900 on favourable weight terms and then won a Pinnacle Stakes race over 1600m.

These two fillies might come under pressure for their incumbent positions.

Their competition for a place will likely be Bunker Hunt, who caught the eye running on strongly for third in the strongly contested Grade 2 KRA Guineas, Charles, who has finished runner up in both the Grade 1 Cape Derby and Grade 3 Track And Ball Derby, log 20^th placed Zillzaal, who placed in all three legs of the SA Triple Crown including finishing second in the Grade 1 SA Derby, log 19^th-placed Camphoratus, who won the Grade 1 Empress Club Stakes, and possibly Elusive Silva, who finished third in the July last year.   

So the final field as it stands and barring further scratchings will likely be Do It Again, Rainbow Bridge, Hawwaam, Return Flight, Head Honcho, Twist Of Fate, Lady In Black, Legal Eagle, Tilbury Fort, Eyes Wide Open, Made To Conquer, Magnificent Seven, Divine Odyssey, Barahin, Roy Had Enough, Doublemint and then any two of Fresnaye, Bunker Hunt, Charles, Camphoratus, Zillzaal, Elusive Silva and Miyabi Gold.

By David Thiselton