Betting World is sticking its collective neck out with One World in the Winter Classic at Kenilworth on Saturday offering the Vaughan Marshall star at even money whereas main market rival World Sports Betting has the colt odds-on at 17-20.

WSB is more generous with second favourite Vardy despite clipping the Adam Marcus runner from 15-10 to 14-10 yesterday. The gelding has no more than a head to find with One World on Winter Guineas form and he is only 12-10 with South Africa’s biggest bookmaker.

The one that has been backed, though, is Greg Cheyne’s mount Majestic Mozart who was third, beaten nearly three lengths, in the Winter Guineas. His price has tumbled from 9-1 to 11-2 with WSB while Betting World was still offering 8-1 yesterday afternoon.

Marshall and his jockey M.J. Byleveld look set for a good day according to the market -they have three favourites and two joint favourites. WSB is taking no chances with Run Fox Run (Cheyne) who puts her unbeaten record on the line in the Olympic Duel Stakes and has opened her at even money. The Paul Reeves-trained Helen’s Ideal is, as expected, favourite for the Stormsvlei Mile at 5-2.

By Michael Clower

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Sean Tarry has a strong hand in all four of the Grade 1 features at Scottsville’s Festival Of Speed meeting on Saturday.

In the R1 million Tsogo Sun Sprint he has three contenders and has kept Lyle Hewitson aboard Trip To Heaven, who has had a new lease of life since the champion jockey first climbed aboard him towards the end of last season. He said loading him early had not helped his cause in the Computaform Sprint, as he had lost more ground than his customary couple of lengths, so he is hoping he is one of the last to load on Saturday. The 1200m trip allows him plenty of time to make up the ground and he is attractively weighted on his best form. 

Luke Ferraris has ridden Africa Rising twice for two wins so Tarry has put him back aboard this honest five-year-old gelding. Tarry said his win three runs back in the Grade 2 Merchants over 1160m at Turffontein had been impressive, while his following run could be ignored as he did not pull up well. His last outing was very much a preparation run for Saturday’s big race. 

The consequence of those two riding arrangements is that Raymond Danielson lands the ride on the ruling Track And Ball favourite, Chimichuri Run. Tarry pointed out Danielson had had Grade 1 success with him in the past.

Tarry said it had probably been a mistake to put the blinkers on Chimichuri Run last time as he had hung a bit worse than usual. He had originally thought of avoiding this race for the three-year-old due to his high merit rating but when he was surprisingly set to carry only 54,5kg, due to the presence of Undercover Agent, he kept him in. He said 1200m was arguably his best trip.  He added he was tailor made for 1200m around the turn or 1400m at Greyville but said there had been little wrong with his form down the straight. He finished third in the Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion last year. 

Tarry said all three runners had enjoyed good preparations.

Tarry believes the Johannesburg two-year-old form could well be the strongest in the country particularly among the fillies. He pointed out the time of the Grade 2 SA Fillies Nursery had been faster than that of the SA Nursery. He has thus kept SA Fillies Nursery runner up Cavivar against the girls in the Allan Robertson Championship, but has put his other good filly Spring Break in the Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion against the boys. 

He said Cavivar’s penultimate start could be ignored as she did not settle with a tongue tie on. He said watching her 0,3 length second in the SA Fillies Nursery, where switching inward might have been costly, he believed Scottsville might well be to her liking and hoped she could turn the tables on Basadi Faith.

Spring Break was much talked about before staying on strongly to get up on debut and she must have a shout receiving 2,5kg from the boys in the Gold Medallion.

Tarry said it would have been pointless putting his well beaten SA Nursery unplaced runners in this race. He decided instead to opt for Eden Roc who did admittedly win over the further trip of 1400m on debut but Tarry pointed out he had won effortlessly in that Juvenile Plate event.

He said all three of his SA Fillies Sprint contenders Celtic Sea, Green Plains and Exquisite Touch had been doing well and had enjoyed good preparations.

He said Celtic Sea’s most disappointing runs had been when stepping her up to a mile, so maybe he had misinterpreted her strong finishes over 1400m and had thus decided she might be effective over 1200m. 

“She is a very good filly and will be right there,” he said.

He believed Green Plains had hit the front quite early last time out when finishing a 2,75 length third in the Grade 2 Camellia Stakes with topweight and he believed she would benefit from a more patient ride. 

In that same race he pointed out Exquisite Touch was unable to get a run so it could be ignored. She had previously been doing well against the boys.

Green Plains ran a 2,40 length sixth last year and Exquisite Touch a 5,65 length ninth, while Celtic Sea was a half-a-length second in the Allan Robertson.

By David Thiselton

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Paul Matchett will arrive at Scottsville tomorrow (Friday) with the unbeaten Basadi Faith. 

He will walk her on the course ahead of her attempt to convert favouritism in the Grade 1 Allan Robertson Championship over 1200m on Saturday. Matchett first saw this Master Of My Fate filly before the CTS April Yearling Sale at Durbanville last year.

Her second dam, Kaleido, is a full-sister to the brilliant sprinter and broodmare National Colour.

Matchett said, “She was a good specimen and from a family like that I just had to buy her.” National Colour was known for her exceptional gatespeed and natural pace coupled with a finishing kick. 

At her best she was just about unbeatable in South Africa. She ended her three-year-old season by winning the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint (by 4,25 lengths), the Grade 1 SA Fillies Sprint and the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint. Overseas she won in Dubai and finished a narrow second in one of Europe’s top sprints, the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes. 

At stud National Colour has produced Grade 1 Computaform Sprint winner Rafeef and Grade 1 SA Nursery winner Mustaaqeem.

Basadi Faith was born at Favour Stud but was brought up at Philip Kahan’s The Alchemy Stud.

Matchett’s determination to buy her saw him approaching Kahan after the sale, as she went through the ring unsold at R45,000, and he secured her for R100,000. 

The tall bay showed Matchett a lot from day one.

Before her debut over 800m at Turffontein on 15 December he told jockey Devin Habib and owners Joe Abreu and Juanita Van der Merwe that this was “a very good filly and not just for now but for the future.”

She was backed in from 16/1 to 8/1 that day and swooped late to win going away by 2,75 lengths under a clearly excited Habib.

Next up at the Vaal she had to give 3kg to the rest of the field in a Juvenile Plate over 1000m but won just as easily at odds of 8/10.

However, in her third start in the Listed Ruffian Stakes over 1000m at Turffontein she was allowed to start at odds of 6/1 as she faced the exciting prospect Gin Fizz and had to give her 2kg. She slammed the 1/4 shot by 4,50 lengths and the country suddenly had a star in the offing.

She made it four on the trot by winning the Grade 2 SA Fillies Nursery over 1160m in a quick time of 66,98 seconds, 0,28 seconds faster than the SA Nursery time.

Matchett is regarded as a small yard trainer but has had an illustrious career. He was the three times champion trainer of Zimbabwe and his Grade 1 successes in South Africa include two at Scottsville. In 2006 he won the Grade 1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint (Tsogo Sun Sprint) with the Zimbabwean-bred Let’s Rock’n Roll and he caused an exotics meltdown two years ago when his 30/1 outsider Brave Mary spread-eagled the field in the Allan Robertson.

Matchett goes in to Saturday’s race fancying Basadi Faith’s chances and said the improving Cavivar, whom she only beat by 0,3 lengths in the Fillies Nursery, and the unknown strength of the Cape Town horses, were his chief concerns.

By David Thiselton

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Dean Kannemeyer has been relatively quiet these past months but his stable sounded a warning with a treble at Greyville yesterday.

Favourite Caprera opened their account in the card opener as stable rider Keagan de Melo benefitted from Land Of Mystery taking the scenic route home.

As Land Of Mystery ducked wide out on the bend, De Melo slipped the favourite through inside of him and the race was over in a few strides.

The Sultans Bazaar provided the second as he scored a bloodless victory in the fourth where scratchings reduced the field to six runners. De Melo simply settled at the back of the bunch but once he turned The Sultans Bazaar loose it was just a matter of how far with favourite Blackball chasing shadows as he battled to quick ahead of his younger rival.

Bernard Fayde’herbe is one of the riders who has been roundly criticised for his seemingly over-use of the stick but he remains one of the finest around.

Land Of Mystery may have proved difficult to pilot in the first but he sent Scarlet Chill through the middle of the pack to land the second. This was the filly’s first outing for Alyson Wright and Fayd’herbe took full advantage of his one draw, always an advantage over the Greyville mile.

Orient Express will come under scrutiny of the handicappers after she rounded off the Kannemeyer treble in the sixth.

Fresh from her maiden win and escaping a penalty, she got home narrowly from the two Duncan Howells-trained fillies Bold Beauty and Crystal Ball who were both closing fast on the winner.

The maxim in tough handicaps the world over for the betting desperados is; ‘when in doubt back the top weight’ they obviously being the best performed. In KZN the refrain changes to; ‘when in doubt back Anton Marcus’. His presence in the saddle generally trims a few points off any horse that he rides but you most often get value for money.

Glen Kotzen’s filly Anuchke’s Wings was not an obvious choice judging on form in what was a lowly maiden but Marcus, who does his homework and is one of the hardest working riders in the mornings, is generally a good option if you are in a quandary.

Anuchke’s Wings, who’s last two runs were in the wet after making a smart debut, made short work of her opposition

Similarly, those that set store of on one-runner one-trainer on the day, cashed in with the Johan Janse van Vuuren. He struck with his only runner with Marcus aboard as filly Giglio cruised to a four-length win in the fifth.

By Andrew Harrison

Dennis Drier has won six of the last nine renewals of the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion over 1200m and he has a shout at ending this decade with an incredible seven wins of this prestigious two-year-old event as he has two livewires in Cartel Captain and Master of Illusion. 

Drier also won the race way back in 1990.

The Gold Medallion forms the second leg of Saturday’s Jackpot of Grade 1s at Scottsville’s big Festival Of Speed meeting.

Cartel Captain is a son of Drier’s 2013 Medallion winner Captain of All. He won a good race over course and distance on debut. He is an impressive specimen who found a strong finish from off the pace in that race.

He is 12/1 with Track And Ball, which looks good value.

Master Of Illusion won on debut over 1200m at Greyville and followed up by finishing a short-head second in the Grade 3 Godolphin Barb Stakes over 1100m at Greyville on May 3.

This gelding is also by a Drier-trained horse, Master Of My Fate, whose racing career was cut short by injury before he was able to fulfil his huge potential. Master Of Illusion is out of Captain Al mare Victorian Secret and is thus from the family of the like of All Is Secret and The Secret Is Out, who both won the Grade 1 Allan Robertson at the Festival Of Speed meeting. 

Master Of Illusion is a 14/1 shot with Track And Ball. 

Drier’s assistant trainer Stuart Ferrie said it was hard to call between the pair. He said on pure ability he would probably side with Cartel Captain and this colt’s work had also been very good at home. However, he added Master Illusion had more experience, which counted for a lot at this age.

The Johannesburg challenge will be strong in this year’s Medallion.

Frosted Gold is priced up as the 5/2 favourite. This New Zealand-bred won the Grade 2 SA Nursery from the usually tough number one draw. He has all the credentials of a horse who will enjoy Scottsville i.e enough pace to stay in touch as they hurtle down the hill in the early part and he is a resolute galloper who will relish the tough climb to the finish line from the 500m mark onward. He has the advantage of Anton Marcus aboard.

Second favourite  Got The Greenlight used his long stride to run on for second in the Nursery and will be finishing strongly again on Saturday.

Alramz is a solidly built colt by former SA Nursery winner Soft Falling Rain and he led from start to finish when winning over this trip on debut on the Turffontein Inside track. He was extending at the line so he should also be climbing up the hill strongly.

African Warrior is an eyecatching sort who showed resolve when winning the Godolphin Barb, his second win in a row in just his third start.

Spring Break is the only filly in the race. She is by Trippi out of the speedster Miss October and after being backed and winning on debut over this trip at the Vaal the form was franked when runner up Solar Flare came out and won yesterday.

Her Sean Tarry-trained stablemate Eden Roc beat winners on debut over 1400m so this might be sharper than ideal but the tough nature of the track will suit him. 

Candy Apple is an improving sort who was beaten by Master Of Illusion on debut but won well third time out.

Emerald Band bring strong Cape Town form, which is always to be feared.

High Voltage was half-a-length behind an extending Cartel Captain when they met over this course and distance and he followed up with a close up third in the Godolphin Barb.

Master Jay is interesting as he beat High Voltage easily over 1100m at Scottsville, although he had a 1,5kg claimer up that day.

Special Blend won going away over course and distance on debut and could be anything. Wave won easily over 1100m at Scottsville on debut and then finished a close fourth in the Godolphin Barb.

Guantanamo Bay looks held on Johannesburg form. Loosen Your Tie is a maiden who will need plenty of improvement.

It is a bit early in the week to make a call but it is going to be a humdinger of a race, possibly the day’s classiest event.

By David Thiselton

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