The Royal Race Day presented by HSH Princess Charlene Of Monaco at Turffontein Standside tomorrow features the Grade 1 wfa Empress Club Stakes for fillies and mares and this 1600m event is full of class.

Oh Susanna, as a high class filly, is sparingly raced and is unbeaten in her last three Grade 1s against fillies and mares. These included two wfa Paddock Stakes’ over 1800m and one Woolavington 2000 over 2000m. So this is a touch on the sharp side but considering she has a tendency to over race the tough Turffontein 1600m should be right down her alley. The pole position draw will be a big help as she can either get to the front for free or find cover. 

Celtic Sea will be a threat considering the way she won hand and heels, easing up over 1400m last time. This three-year-old struck as top class when winning the Grade 2 Golden Slipper over 1400m as a two-year-old because nothing went right in the running yet she still got up. She has to reverse form with Ghaalla from the Fillies Mile and with Nafaayes and Running Brave from the Gauteng Fillies Guineas but she was not at her best in the former race and lost three lengths at the start in the latter. She is blossoming now and is a big runner.

Cascapedia looked threatening when moving up to Oh Susanna in the Paddock Stakes but the latter had extra and drew away to beat her by four lengths. However, she might prefer this trip, whereas Oh Susanna is suited to further so this big and classy sort has a shout. 

Nafaayes is a courageous sort who proved she can stay on resolutely from handy positions when winning both the Ipi Tombe and Gauteng Fillies Guineas over this course and distance, but she was well drawn there and now has a tough draw. 

Al Danza brings the Geoff Woodruff factor. The five-times champion trainer is known for his ability to peak horses for big races and last year Al Danza came within a whisker of upsetting the top class Nother Russia in this race. She has to reverse form with Nafaayes from the Ipi Tombe and Cascapedia also narrowly beat her in the HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes last time over the course and distance, but she does have a plum draw and can’t be ignored. Running Brave just has a short-head to find on Nafaayes from the Gauteng Fillies Guineas and from a fair draw is a dark horse. Fresnaye has some top form in Cape Town but would prefer further and comes off a slamming by Celtic Sea in her first Highveld start. She will improve from that run though. Fiorella beat a good field in last season’s Grade 2 Daisy Fillies Guineas at Greyville and has a chance if reproducing that run. Redberry Lane won last season’s Grade 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes over this trip at Greyville so also can’t be ignored. She has come into her own but has a tough draw, particularly considering she is a handy to front-running sort.

There look to be a number of fair bets on the card.

The choice for best bet is Jetorio in the 8th over 2400m. This daughter of River Jetez needed her last run over 1800m and was staying on well. Her mother stayed this trip and further so she has a big shout from pole position and is made a banker.

Zillzaal will be hard to beat in the second race over 2000m as an improving sort who went close in the SA Derby.

Eskimo Kisses is a nice type with plenty of substance and she should enjoy the step up to 1400m in the third, although the draw of seven could be tricky as the best scenario will be for her to find cover and run on. 

In the next race Stockbridge is a progressive sort who is well drawn in this race over an ideal 1400m trip.  

In the ninth race Fire And Rescue also looks to have a touch of class and should be ahead of the handicapper off a mere 69 merit rating. He should also enjoy the step up in trip to 1600m and has a fair draw. 

By David Thiselton

Justin Snaith confirmed yesterday Do It Again’s SA Champions Season priority would be the defence of his Vodacom Durban July crown.

He is also looking forward to reigning Equus Horse Of The Year Oh Susanna’s raid of Turffontein on Saturday for the Grade 1 HSH Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes over 1600m.

Do It Again was magnificent as a three-year-old and has developed into a monster of a horse this season. The Twice Over gelding is likely to have a titanic clash with his arch rival Rainbow Bridge in the July and the outcome will almost certainly decide this season’s Horse Of The Year title. Rainbow Bridge’s chief Champions Season target became a forgone conclusion when purchased in training by owning and breeding doyen Mike Rattray, whose lifelong dream has been to win South Africa’s greatest race.

Snaith’s only uncertainty at present is whether Do It Again will have a pipe opening run in the Drill Hall Stakes on Champions Season opening night, Friday May 4. His definite targets are the Grade 1 wfa Rising Sun Gold Challenge and the July.

There will also be an Equus Award-deciding clash of the titans in the Rising Sun between Do It Again and Soqrat. Do It Again is in pole position to be named Equus Champion Miler, being the winner of the Grade 1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and the Grade 2 Green Point Stakes. However, Soqrat was a narrow runner up in the Queen’s Plate and has won two Grade 1 miles, the Cape Guineas and the wfa HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes. Their Rising Sun clash on June 8 will likely decide the Miler award.

Snaith said Do It again had been doing very well since arriving at Summerveld.

He also has high hopes for his other two July candidates, Doublemint and Magnificent Seven, and was particularly bullish about the latter.

He said, “They are both well weighted and I intend keeping them well weighted. Doublemint is doing well and will likely run in the WSB 1900. Magnificent Seven has an 80% chance of going in that race but I might try and find something a bit further, as he is better over more ground. He is an all rounder and is doing really well. He has taken to Durban like a duck to water. They are two dark horses, but won’t be dark horses come race time. Magnificent Seven’s current July price is particularly ridiculous.”

In the WSB July book Do It Again is 15/2, Doublemint is 14/1 and Magnificent Seven is 55/1.

Magnificent Seven won the Grade 2 New Turf Carriers Stayers over 2850m on Sun Met day. However, Snaith said the winner of this race was always severely punished, so he was viewing the Gold Cup as a bonus race to be considered later. Magnificent Seven received eight points for that win and went to 104, the same rating as Doublemint.

Snaith said a stayer to watch out for though would be Strathdon, “He is going to be a big runner in the Champions Season staying races.”

He said raiding Johannesburg with Oh Susanna would be possible from Summerveld. However, he wondered whether she had been at Summerveld for long enough to be able to deal with the altitude factor. Summerveld is approximately a third of the altitude of Jo’burg, but she has only been there since March 23. He said, “Her work has been phenomenal, although there has been a lot of rain, so she did miss two days work. Her run in the Met can be ignored as she was carved up and returned lame with slices on her back legs.” He was not concerned about the over-racing antics she has displayed in recent starts. He pointed out the pace of races in Johannesburg was generally fast enough.

Oh Susanna’s program after Saturday is still in the air.

Kasimir will start fast work next week at Summerveld and Snaith might look for a warm up race before running him in the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint on July 27.

He said Silver Maple was nicely handicapped. He said if he ran well in his opening race the Tsogo Sun Sprint would then be targeted. He said, “I saved him for the Durban season.”

He continued, “Juniper Spring is a very nice three-year-old sprinter who will get a three-year-old allowance in the Poinsettia and this will be a very nice race for her. If all goes well there she will go for the SA Fillies Sprint.”

He said, “Snowdance will also go for the SA Fillies Sprint. The Queen’s Plate took a lot out of her so I rested her after the Majorca and now have her the best I have had her since her three-year-old season. She has been unlucky and is not done yet.”

Snaith then spoke about his three-year-olds, “Bunker Hunt will only come into his own over 2000m, so he will need the outing in the KRA Guineas and then be ready for the Daily News where he could be competitive.

Madonna will run in the East Cape Oaks and if she runs well she will go for the Woolavington 2000.

Silvano’s Pride ran a good race in the Umzimkhulu as she is not a 1400m horse. She had it all to do and was on the wrong leg the whole way in her first try at a right hand track so under the circumstances it was a good effort to finish a close third. She can’t carry on doing it the hard way from the front though, so I want to try and teach her to settle.”

Snaith said he had his best ever two-year-old crop and had brought some of them to KZN. He said the best of them would avoid the Scottsville Festival Of Speed meeting and go for the big Greyville two-year-old features.

By David Thiselton

Seventh on the national log with 91 winners to his credit before yesterday’s Greyville meeting, Warren Kennedy took full advantage of two chance rides to ease his way three closer to the top of the standings, one behind Richard Fourie, with a treble.

Season rider Mark Khan took a tumble from third-pleaded Noble Beat shortly after the finish of the first and was carted off to hospital with a suspected hip injury.

This left the way open for the first of Kennedy’s winners as he produced Kom Naidoo’s filly Call Me Tonight with a telling run up the inside to get the better of Allez Les Bleu and favourite Hey Jude.

Anton Marcus also cried off his rides for the day and Kennedy proved to be a more than capable replacement as he steered Heart Of A Legend to a convincing win in the fourth at the expense of Petra who got going late but never a threat to the winner.

The lightly raced Vase, a comfortable winner of her maiden on her KZN debut, was never able to get in from a wide draw when making her handicap debut behind Beat It, but Gareth Wright make no mistakes from his better gate yesterday to get Andre Nel’s filly home ahead of the lightly weighted Noemi.

Apprentice Luke Ferraris looked to have pinched a winning margin on March Preview, a comfortable winner of his last start, but Kennedy had him in his sights from a long way out on Gavin van Zyl’s Pantsula. The addition of blinkers can have an instant effect in improving a horse’s performance but horses can also go ‘sour’ and with the ‘scoops’ removed Pantsula had made marked improvement and was rewarded here. Kennedy pounced a furlong out and March Preview had no answers to Pantsula’s telling challenge.

Ferraris was on the wrong end of another photo in the sixth as Apple Magic lost out in a driving finish with Keagan de Melo extracting just that little bit extra out of the favourite Orient Queen.

The pair hooked up at the top of the straight with Dean Kannemeyer’s filly pulling out just that little bit more when it counted.

Mark Khan missed out on a double as Eric Ngwane, recently out of his apprenticeship, produced Lady Abigail with a perfectly timed run to win the seventh in a carbon copy of Khan’s victory aboard Lezeanne Forbes’s filly when landing an inspired gamble at the filly’s previous start. Apprentice Jason Gates was bidding for a third success on the bounce aboard Wayne Badenhorst’s Imperial Royal as he took them on up front, but Ngwane’s patient tactics pay dividends and he ran down the pacemaker when it counted.

Josephine Baker has been costly to follow but a sweeping late run when just out of the money and only a length behind at her last start may have been the key to her success yesterday. De Melo produced Dean Kannemeyer’s filly with a telling late run to snaffle the race inside the last 50m, five of the opposition covered by a blanket a neck back in a handicapper’s dream.

Barinois has such an awkward high head carriage in work that it seems impossible that she can run but she won her third race for Duncan Howells and owners Ricky and Thora Nidd as Muzi Yeni gave her a peach of a ride in the last. Drawn wide, Yeni hunted a gap in the straight and drove the mare through to win smartly.

By Andrew Harrison

The bookmakers are taking no chances with the highly regarded Captain Of Stealth in the Itsarush.co.za Juvenile Plate at Durbanville on Saturday and have opened the Vaughan Marshall potential star at 9-20.

Interestingly World Sports Betting makes Minnesota Dream the principal danger at 11-2 even though the Joey Ramsden debut winner managed only fourth on his subsequent appearance. He has since been gelded and Bernard Fayd’Herbe, who takes over from S’Manga Khumalo, rides three favourites on the eight-race card – Celestial Storm at 17-10 in race two, 28-10 shot Empire Glory (race four) and Icon Princess at 5-2 in race seven.

Rockachino, who will be the first two-year-old to take on older horses in Cape Town this season, is the 28-1 outsider of the field for the Tabonline Maiden – Louisa May heads the market at 16-10. However the Eric Sands juvenile Capacity Crowd is second favourite (28-10) for race seven.

By Michael Clower

The Vaal meeting tomorrow features the Listed Spook Express Handicap over 2400m and purists will also be looking forward to race three of the eight events as this sees the promising Ehsaan attempting to exact revenge on another potentially good horse, Got The Greenlight.

Got The Greenlight was defeated by the prospect Frosted Gold on debut and second time out beat Ehsaan over 1200m down the Vaal straight when stealing a march. Ehsaan got going late that day and was finishing fast. Ehsaan duly followed up with a win over 1200m on the Turffontein Inside track. Gavin Lerena will know this time what he has underneath him and will know something about his chief opponent. So Ehsaan is given the nod although there won’t be much in it. De La Cruz could also have a say having won well on debut over 1000m and being one who should relish the step up in trip.

The Spook Express could also turn into a match race between Forest Express and Gottalottaluv. Forest Express is a rangy daughter of Oracy out of a Fort Wood mare. She is improving all the time and has come into her own since being sent back over staying trips, winning two of her last three starts comfortably and narrowly beaten in the other. Her draw of seven out of seven will be tricky and she will require a bit of luck, but if things go her way she is the one to beat. Gottalottaluv has always struck as one with some class but needed maturing. She has now come into her own and has proved she stays this trip when winning her penultimate start over 2400m comfortably.

Last time she was not herself but she is now reunited with Diego De Gouveia, who has been aboard for both of her last two wins. Topweight Silver Thursday has overall been a disappointment since finishing a narrow second in the Gauteng Fillies Guineas last season. The reason why that run was so promising was that she had seemed to be staying type. However, she disappointed in both the SA Fillies Classic and the Oaks when stepped up in trip. She has won over 1800m this season though and has been one-paced in the finish in her last two over 1600m and 1800m respectively in feature races, so she might now be ready to take on a staying trip again.  

Earlier in race six Galactic Warrior should get it right over his favourite 1000m trip. This horse was well regarded from day one so has turned out to be a touch disappointing. However, he has not been at all disgraced in his last two races over this trip in stronger fields than this one and he remains on his same 75 merit rating with the same 4kg claimer in the saddle. What A Captain could provide fair value in this race. He has got some pace and as a typically long-striding son of What A Winter he should also be improving. He finished six lengths back to Donny G when he last tried this trip and could have got closer but for having to be switched late. He is now 14 points lower in the merit ratings, so could have a say.

The last leg of the Pick Six looks to be the trickiest race on the card. In this MR 74 Handicap over 1800m Defy Gravity comes out best on formlines. Verdier is not far behind and if Wild Fire settles better than he did last time he can go close from pole position having been transformed by blinkers. However, Kurt’s Approval, Manitoba, Street Flyer, Mambo Symphony and Storm Outgoing also need to be included.

The second leg of the Pick 6 over 1800m could be fought out by Jive Express and Flirty Girty. The former is a three parts sister to Dancewiththedevil, whose multiple Grade 1 victories included the Summer Cup over 2000m, so this filly should relish the step up in trip. Flirty Girty has proven her stamina capabilities and is well drawn.

The next race looks to be a three cornered contest between three improving sorts, Maroon Bells, Lasair and Movie Magic, who should all enjoys the step up to 1800m. They should be enough to get punters through.

By David Thiselton