Charles has not hit his straps since arriving in KZN for Champions Season but there is no doubt that he is a colt with ability. He is one of only two horses to have beaten Cape Winter Classic winner Vardy – Cape Guineas winner One World the other – and he finished second to Atyaab in the Investec Derby.

Charles lines up in the Gr3 Track & Ball Derby at Scottsville tomorrow, a ‘derby’ only in name with just two of the 10 runners being three-year-olds.

In both KZN races, the KRA Guineas and the Daily News 2000, Charles sported blinkers. They obviously did not have the desired effect as Brett Crawford has removed them for tomorrow and their absence will hopefully correspond with an improvement in form as he will need a convincing performance if he is to have any chance of making the final field for the Vodacom Durban July, the field being announced next Tuesday.

Charles will not be short of opposition with the filly Secret Potion, Roy Had Enough and Top Classman three others with their names still in the VDJ hat.

Frank Robinson was less than complimentary about the pace of the Cup Trial where Roy Had Enough fell victim to a pedestrian gallop as the riders played cat and mouse in the stiff breeze that chased them home.

Anton Marcus has stayed with Roy Had Enough but if there is no pace he may have to go forward and make his own.

Geoff Woodruff saddles Secret Potion, the only filly in the race, and if she can put one over her male counterparts then she must have a shout of at least being invited to make the VDJ line-up.

She has the best of the draw and Woodruff said mid-week, “From there you can just about pick your spot. She is a good filly, she just needs the opportunity to show it. If there is a good pace and she finds a nice spot, she is a big runner, because she can really turn it on.”

Top weight Dawn Assault is as game as they come and was beaten just over a length in the WSB 1900 which boasted a stronger line-up than what he meets here.

Mr Winsome will be defending his title but has been winless since that last win and comes into the race off a barrier trial and a blow-out in a handicap.

However, Dean Kannemeyer is a master craftsman and a win for Mr Winsome would not come as a major surprise.

Silver Rose is a course and distance specialist and White Lightning is hopelessly out at the weights but boasts a highly consistent recent record and was doing his best work late behind The Sultans Bazaar suggesting that the extra two furlongs may be what he’s looking for.

The Track & Ball Oaks is equally tricky but since the race was opened to older horses, it has been difficult for three-year-olds. Blossom is close to the top of her class having finished runner up in the SA Oaks at Turffontein and a useful third in the Woolavington 2000.

She looks to be the best of the sophomore contingent but Sabina’s Dynasty, Insignis and Roy’s Riviera will be difficult to get past.

East Coast Handicap winner Roy’s Riviera looks to have the wood on top weight Sabina’s Dynasty but the latter is having her third outing for Brett Crawford and was reeling in VDJ hopeful Mayabi Gold quickly in the Scottsville mud in The Scarlet Lady, that race possibly more of a guide.

Insignis, along with Roy’s Riviera are VDJ hopefuls, but both will need spectacular performances if they are to make the final field.

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By Andrew Harrison

While Hawwaam, Do It Again and Rainbow Bridge dominate the headlines and the betting for next month’s Vodacom Durban July, a closer look at the weights that were published on Tuesday provide food for thought.

There was little separating Do It Again and Rainbow Bridge in the Sun Met and the recent Rising Sun Gold Challenge, Rainbow Bridge arguably a little unlucky in the Challenge not to have finished closer to his rival. They met at level weights in both those races. In the VDJ Rainbow Bridge will be in receipt of 0.5kg which could swing it in his favour.

Hawwaam has been the ‘talking horse’ of the race but to be fair, he has yet to be truly tested and not in open company, a point borne out by the fact that he carries 56kg, one 1kg less than the maximum weight for a three-year-old male. He had everything go his way in the Daily News 2000 where the winner would ordinarily cop a penalty. In this instance the handicappers saw fit to leave his handicap mark unchanged.

Second-placed Twist Of Fate was clearly second best in the Daily News but was less than two lengths behind and well ahead of the balance. His merit rating was also unchanged but he is now in receipt of 2kg from Hawwaam.

Head Honcho warmed up nicely in a Pinnacle Stakes behind Matador Man and was only caught late in the Sun Met, again at level weights with Rainbow Bridge and Do It Again. He is now 1kg better off with the former and 1.5kg with the latter.

Legal Eagle has fallen steadily in the ratings as his form has dropped off and he did not look anywhere himself at his last start where he was difficult to load and never really raised a gallop. However, on his day he looks well weighted off 55kg. His wellbeing must be taken on trust as Sean Tarry has a knack of peaking his charges on the day.

Lady In Black was three lengths back to Do It Again in the Gold Challenge and will meet her rival on 4kg better terms in the VDJ. She will be stretched to 2200m for the first time but was under a length back to Oh Susanna and Fiorella in the Woolavington 2000 last season. She carries 53.5kg, 1.5kg more than the 52kg minimum benchmark for fillies – 59kg being the maximum.

Barring the top seven in the weights, the balance are under sufferance.

However, two that catch the eye are Barahin and Eyes Wide Open.

In a recent television interview, Mike de Kock was bullish about the chances of Barahin, believing that he comes into the race under the radar. Barahin’s career to date has been interrupted by various training setbacks and although well beaten by Hawwaam in the SA Classic, De Kock said that he had not been at his best on the day and was lengths better than that effort which was a good one in its self. Barahin races off the minimum 53kg.

Last season’s Investec Cape Derby winner Eyes Wide Open, who had Do It Again behind him that day, missed the VDJ cut last year and had been winless since that triumph before a narrow victory in the WSB 1900 booked his place in this year’s line-up.

More recently he was a fast-closing second in the Cup Trial, a race run at a muddling pace.

Added to that, in his last two runs he beat Magnificent Seven, Doublemint and Made To Conquer and meets them all on better terms

Glen Kotzen said he had been battling with the colt haemoconcentrating but was reluctant to geld as he believed that as a Grade 1 winner the son of Dynasty would make a stallion. The blood problem appears to have been solved and off the 53kg minimum, Eyes Wide Open will be in receipt of 7kg from Do It Again – even if it is over a year down the line.

The draw for barrier positions takes place at Gateway Mall next Tuesday and will add further intrigue to what is already a fascinating contest.

By Andrew Harrison

The funeral of Pat O’Neill, who died a week ago at the age of 93, will take place at Doves Funeral Parlour in Somerset West at 2.00pm on Thursday.

The famous eccentric detailed her extraordinary lifestyle, centred on wild animals treated as pets, in her two volumes of autobiography A Lion In The Bedroom and A Chimpanzee in the Wine Cellar while those that other people treat as pets were elevated to almost human status. People invited for afternoon tea were apt to find that a host of cats were also on the guest list and had at least equal rights to everything on the table.

She played a significant part in racing. She moved from Kenya to join her mother, the Countess of Kenmare, at the Broadlands Stud on the N2 in the late 1960s and the stallions they stood included the St James’ Palace Stakes winner Averof and Royal Prerogative, a tough campaigner who reached far higher levels as a stallion than suggested by his racecourse performances. He was several times champion sire, 13 times champion broodmare sire and his 60 stakes winners embraced 25 Grade 1 horses including Royal Chalice and the Met winner Mark Anthony.

Pat and her mother were also regular importers of mares from Australia. She rode in races and had considerable success as a trainer. Cape Town punters nicknamed her Mama Marysa after her champion Marysa whose long winning career proved profitable for backers. Other notables that she trained included Swan River, Miss Lindeman, Rose Bay and Mexican Summer and her achievements are commemorated in a montage of photographs on the second floor of the Kenilworth grandstand – an honour reserved for the likes of Terrance Millard, Mike Bass, Peter Kannemeyer, Laurie and Jean Jaffee, and Graham and Rhona Beck.

By Michael Clower

David Payne, a top jockey in his youth before turning his hand to training, left an indelible mark on horse racing in South Africa with some of today’s top trainers and jockeys passing through his Summerveld yard before he upped stake and moved to Sydney, Australia where his talents were quickly recognised. He is currently one of the leading trainers based at Randwick.

All will tell you that Payne was a difficult man to work for, demanding dedication and perfection and if you were not up to the mark you were quickly shown the door. Duncan Howells and Peter Muscutt were two to pass the Payne school of training while on the riding front, Jeff Lloyd and Kevin Shea were graduates, to name but a few.

Payne was also one of the first trainers to have a black assistant in Opensea Mhlamvu, now long-time assistant to Gavin van Zyl after Payne’s departure.

Opensea will not be running in the fourth at Scottsville today, rather the horse named after him and fittingly trained by Van Zyl. The son of Pomodoro has not been out of the money since joining Van Zyl from the Highveld and was a close-up second when running on late behind Sovereign Spirit over a mile on today’s course. He goes 1950m for the first time and Warren Kennedy stays with the ride.

Dennis Bosch’s runner, What A Blast, was a length behind Opensea when they last met and with the worst of the draw that form is likely to be franked. A further threat could be the year older World Cruise. Frank Robinson’s charge is proven over ground and with Bernard Fayd’herbe in mustard form, World Cruise is a must for all exotics.

Born To Perform, the lightly raced son of former Vodacom Durban July winner Dancer’s Daughter, may not be as talented as his dam but he is no slouch and may yet prove himself in feature company. He has won two of his three starts, his defeat a narrow one from a wide draw to the useful GG’S Dynasty who lines up in the sixth.

Bosch has declared blinkers on Born To Perform and given his pedigree he should relish the step up in trip.

GG’S Dynasty is a diminutive son of the recently deceased champion sire Dynasty but what he lacks in stature he makes up for in heart as he showed with two narrow recent wins. He bids for a third on the bounce in the sixth and encouragingly, Anton Marcus has jumped ship from the consistent Collabro who – on paper anyway – should be able to turn the tables given that he is 5.5kg better off in the handicap and beaten less than a length by GG’S Dynasty when the two last met over course and distance.

Making his turf debut and a possible threat to both is The Master. Dennis Drier’s charge made a winning handicap debut, beating the older and in form Zanzibarian albeit narrowly. He has the best of the draw here and gets lumps of weight from the top two.

Winter Blues is another that has not been hampered by his diminutive size, having scored five wins for Louis Goosen, four of those on the trot. It will be a year, almost to the day, since his last win and he has dropped 12 pounds in the handicap since then. He now looks competitive again off his new mark, finishing less than a length behind Kingsmead over course and distance at the end of last month. He also takes a big drop in class and although he takes a corresponding rise in weight, he looks primed for a sixth win.

The last, a lowly fillies and mares handicap, could be lucky for some, but more likely a misery for most. It is a tricky race but Michael Roberts could hold the key in Be Happy. She showed good pace in the recent work riders’ race and prior to that was a close-up second on the Greyville poly. With the work rider replaced by champion jockey Lyle Hewitson, she should be good for an extra couple of lengths.

But the list of possible winners is a long one. Linear is the current luke-warm ante-post favourite at 9-2 with Be Happy and Starlight bracketed on 11-2.

By Andrew Harrison

The nine race meeting at Turffontein Inside track tomorrow starts with a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1600m.

The Mike de Kock-trained Vercingetorix gelding Vaseem made a good debut over 1200m against older mixed maidens and was a bit short of room in the latter stages when in a threatening position. He now has a good draw over a step up in trip he should relish and Anton Marcus is up, so he looks the one to beat. Steak And Ale ran well third time out when stepped up to this trip, just failing after being green and producing a late rattle. He has scope for improvement and is a threat from a good draw. On My Mind was a touch outpaced late over 1400m last time when run out of it and he should relish the step up in trip.

Annatjie looks the one to beat in the second from pole position over 1600m. She stayed on well when going handy from a wide draw over 1450m last time but was caught be a flying Lady Defiance. She should prefer this trip and has the advantage of a 4kg claimer up. Irish Dame caught the eye running on well over this trip on debut and she only finished three-quarters of a length behind Annatjie that race, so has a shout here, although she has to contend with another wide draw. Flagship Fund beat Annatjie over this trip when they last met down the straight but she has a wide draw to overcome. Escape To Victory also has a form chance and is well drawn. Diorama could improve too over this trip and has Marcus up.

In the third over 1450m Arabian Air just failed from the front in his first run on the Highveld over this course and distance and he should have come on from that run. He is the best weighted horse in this Assessment Plate. Crown Guardian has class and should enjoy the step up in trip and will be a big threat and Flash Burn can also make it onto a trifecta position.

In the first leg of the Pick 6 over 1200m Orchid Street has a nice stride and is knocking on the door over this trip. Endangered can also be included as this gelding has substance and plenty of scope for improvement and he is drawn in pole over a step up in trip he should enjoy.

In the first leg of the Jackpot over 1200m the two-year-old Frankel filly Lagertha can improve on her good course and distance debut from a slightly better draw and with Marcus now up. Britannia Queen and Notquitethereyet look to be the dangers.

It gets tricky from then on as the handicaps start. In the sixth race Rocky Night is a decent sort and he is drawn in pole over an ideal 1450m trip. The filly Gimme Hope Johanna can’t be ignored here as a consistent, course and distance suited horse.

In the seventh race over 1600m Silver Spectrum is a progressive sort who looks the one to beat. Kings Archer is off an attractive mark and Eurostorm makes some appeal.

Anneka, Jamra and Pale Lilac all have ability and could fight out the eighth over 1600m.

In the last race Hareer is no great shakes but should be improving being by Silvano and she should enjoy the step back up to the trip of her maiden win. She is drawn in pole too and can beat Ruby Dancer and Sans Regrets. 

By David Thiselton

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