Made To Conquer, second to stable companion Do It Again in last year’s Vodacom Durban July, can apparently be excused his flop in the Sun Met and he is now being lined up for a second crack at the country’s most famous race.

The six-time winner ran his first bad race since his maiden days in the Met, finishing with only two behind him, and Justin Snaith explains: “We chased him up to get the pace going but he didn’t like it. We will get him ready for Durban when he will go for the little races to start with, although he was rated 87 when he went up there last year and he is now on 108. But he loves it in Natal and he comes good there.”

Last Winter, who jarred himself when worked in Newmarket after completing his quarantine, has had a further setback in Dubai and, as a result, he will miss the whole of the Carnival season. He has not raced since finishing a half-length second to Oh Susanna in last year’s Met.

Lady Laidlaw’s racing manager Jehan Malherbe said: “He has just started trotting again. We have still to decide what he does next but it will be some form of overseas campaign.” 

Dean Kannemeyer added: “We could have rushed him back but we thought it was better not to. He is still not an over-raced horse – he has only had six runs.”

Joey Ramsden, whose Turffontein haul last season included the Computaform Sprint with Attenborough, is sending a team of ten or twelve to the Highveld including Attenborough and the Victress winner Fresnaye who was fourth in both the Paddock and the Majorca.

Cape Classic and Politician winner Twist Of Fate, second in both the Cape Guineas and the CTS 1600, goes to Durban “Although I haven’t yet decided which races he will run in.”

The lightly raced Vardy, third in the CTS 1600, stays in Kenilworth to go for the Winter Series. “He is still a big baby and Greyville could dent his confidence,” reasons Adam Marcus. Stable companion Brave Move, who again disappointed in Saturday’s Jet Master, is destined for stud although Marcus is toying with the idea of sending her to a farm to see if that will rekindle her enthusiasm.

By Michael Clower  

Justin Snaith was full of admiration for his top class sprinter Kasimir who became the first horse since the great Flobayou to complete the Grade 2 Cape Merchants/Grade 1 Cape Flying Championship/Grade 2 Diadem treble when winning the latter race over 1200m on Saturday.

Flobayou, trained by current Sun Met-winning trainer Eric Sands, did the treble twice in succession in the 1994/1995 and the 1995/1996 seasons.

Snaith said, “Kasimir’s problem was being drawn on the inside and the outside horses had an advantage on the day. First he got in a race with the inside horses and beat them, then he was challenged by Chimichuri Run and found more again and then he fended off Speedpoint. Whatever horse came at him he beat him, but that is him he is just full of courage.”

The Captain Al gelding faced the headwind breeze for half of the race as he was angled outward by Richard Fourie which is another factor which added to the merit of the performance.

Last year’s sprinting division was relatively weak and the four open Grade 1 sprints were won by different horses. The Equus Award panellists were left with a headache and Will Pays was made the Champion Sprinter on the grounds of collateral form and he had also won a Grade 3.

However, Kasimir looks the real deal and already has one hand on the trophy. However, Snaith confirmed he would avoid both the Computaform Sprint at Turffontein and the Tsogo Sun Sprint at Scottsville. His next big target is the weight for age Grade 1 Mercury Sprint over 1200m at Greyville on 27 July, the last weekend of the season.

By David Thiselton

Ground Control may be able to make his weight advantage tell sufficiently to upset hot favourite Minnesota Dream in the opening Juvenile Plate at Kenilworth today.

The Vaughan Marshall colt was fractionally odds-on for his debut and ran a good race to go under by only a length to Double Alliance. Six of the seven runners that day were newcomers but the winner made the form look respectable by going on to take fifth in the Listed race on Met day.

Minnesota Dream a stable companion of Double Alliance, won in spectacular style on debut ten days ago, losing a good six lengths at the break but finishing fast to score by three-quarters of a length. However the jury is still out on the exact worth of the form. All eight runners were first-timers, half of them were slowly away, most of them ran green and the favourite flopped.

There is no denying Minnesota Dream’s ability – he was a most impressive winner – and Joey Ramsden, asked if he had come on for the run, said: “I would hope so but I haven’t done enough with him to form an opinion.”

But S’Manga Khumalo’s mount has to concede weight all round and the 11-10 quoted by World Sports Betting is not giving much away. We all know how good the Marshall two-year-olds usually are and at 28-10 this one is preferred.

The chances are that the race will be fought out between the two market principals but it is worth noting that nine of the 12 Cape Town two-year-old races so far this season have been won by first-timers. There has been some money (8-1 to 6-1) for the Sean Tarry-trained Rock The Globe, presumably because the colt is down as Anton Marcus’s only ride of the day. However punters should watch for any jockey changes because the four-time champion said on Saturday that he would not be riding at this meeting.

Salt, who looked sure to win last time until caught close home, has been backed from 3-1 to 2-1 favourite for the TAB Telebet Maiden. He has a big chance but Vendee Globe is preferred at 5-2. The Andre Nel gelding would have finished closer on Met day but for losing ground at the start and Inertia, a head  behind that day, went on to beat Salt.

Middle Wood’s form is strong enough to suggest he will beat Nel’s Luxemburg in the Telllytrack.com Maiden and Brett Crawford can double up with St Vladimir in the Play Soccer 6 Handicap. Greg Cheyne’s mount is on a hat-trick and, although he went up 3kg for his last win, he scored comfortably and won easing up.

In the Betting World Maiden (race four) there is precious little to choose between 2-1 favourite Je Ne Sais Quoi and Transylvania who is available at twice that price. However the favourite is blinkered for the first time and that swings the balance.

By Michael Clower

The exotic bets have become easier to catch since the introduction of Assessment Plates in Gauteng as this usually leaves approximately one to three horses potentially well in at the weights.

Punters could also find an edge in other races if keeping up to date with the handicapping system in South Africa, which can leave horses potentially well weighted even in handicaps.

South African handicapping is based on the globally popular Merit Rating system but a number of rules have been added to restrict the handicappers’ power.

The restrictions are in place to prevent horses from becoming unfairly handicapped.

An offshoot is that some horses slip through the net and become well handicapped.

Listed below is a sample of five of the many rules which can potentially leave a horse as an eye-catcher at the weights.  

1) The maximum penalty applicable to any handicap on either surface shall not be higher than 8 merit rated points. This is not applicable to Graded and Listed races, or horses carrying over-weight or weighted under sufferance. (A recent amendment said this also applies to Listed handicaps).

If a horse wins a 1600m handicap by five lengths it could be in for a potential raise of ten merit rated points considering one length equals two points over that trip. However, the handicapper will only be able to give it a maximum of eight points due to the above rule, so it should theoretically be 1kg well in when next running in a handicap. Of course if a six-year-old achieves such a feat it should be treated with caution as it might have been due to freak circumstances. However, if a progressive three-year-old achieves it, one should sit up and take notice.

2) For Grade 1 and Grade 2 races there is upward Adjustment to the first 5 finishers only and in Listed and Grade 3 races upward adjustment to placed horses only.  Related to this is a recent amendment stating: The winner and placed horses in a Grade 2 or Grade 3 race is capped at a 10 point penalty for the winner, 5 points for 2nd place and 3 points for 3rd place.

A good example of a horse who has become potentially well handicapped due to the above restrictions is Senatla. This horse finished 2,25 lengths behind the merit rated 115 Twist Of Fate in the Grade 3 Politician Stakes over 1800m when receiving 7kg. On that run he was only 18 merit rated points inferior to Twist Of Fate, which put him on a 97 rating, although the horses who finished around him suggested he had run to his 84 merit rating. He was only allowed to be given a five point raise so went to an 89. Then in the Grade 1 Cape Derby over 2000m he finished seventh so escaped punishment. He finished two lengths behind Bunker Hunt, who went up to a 100 merit rating, so on paper Senatla should in comparison be about a 97 over that distance. Therefore, he will be potentially well handicapped off his 89 rating next time. This is particularly in light of the 2000m trip of the Derby having likely stretched him. His best trip, as one who races quite strongly, looks to be from 1400m to a mile. He is one to look out for in a forthcoming handicap.

The Sun Met sixth-placed Doublemint will also be well handicapped for the Vodacom Durban July. He escaped punishment and remained on a 104 merit rating despite having finished on top of five horses who are now all rated in the 120s.

The July horse who fell in to that boat last year was African Night Sky, having also finished sixth in the Met. He duly started favourite for the July and could well have gone close had there been a truer pace as he unfortunately began pulling the jockey’s arms off. 

3) Currently, a 4 y.o. and older maiden winner must be capped at a nett MR of 70 in a major centre, 65 in PE, 60 in Kimberley and 58 in Zimbabwe. The discretion to vary this in exceptional circumstances no longer applies.

This restriction can leave late blooming horses well handicapped on occasion and they are then able to run up a sequence of handicap wins. A good example can be provided by Chepardo, who made his debut in the November of his four-year-old year. He was given the maximum rating of 70 for his comfortable win over 1160m and won his next three races, all handicaps from 1200-1700m, comfortably.

4) In minor plate races placed horses will not be adjusted upwards unless requested by the connections.

Horses can run close up in plate races when way under sufferance at the weights and they then look well handicapped when running next time out in a handicap. However, punters should be wary of this scenario as top horses often use races such as Pinnacle events as a preparation and the lower rated horses can be flattered, so it is worth watching the replays to see just how hard ridden the higher rated horses were.

5) Horses not having made the anticipated WFA improvements must be brought back to its highest achieved nett rating within 3 runs. 

In this regard watch out for young horses who come down the ratings and are then stepped up to a potentially more suitable trip. This can be seen in the career of Wonderous Climber, who easily won a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1600m in the May of his two-year-old season and was accorded a merit rating of 85. He then continually disappointed and his gross merit rating had to be continuously dropped to keep up with his highest achieved nett merit rating. He had eventually plummeted down to a 61 gross merit rating by the November of his four-year-old year. This corresponded almost identically with his highest achieved nett merit rating considering two-year-olds in May receive 23 half-kilograms over 1600m (85-23=62). However, he then found his forté when stepped up to staying trips and won four handicaps on the trot.

The handicapping guidelines and accompanying amendments and restrictions can be found on www.nhra.co.za. It can pay to learn their ins and outs.

By David Thiselton

Chesney van Zyl, recently granted boxes at Summerveld where he could join father Gavin and brother Gareth in the near future, has fired a couple of salvos already with Marchingtontogether winning last week and Sea Venture landing her short odds in the fifth at Greyville yesterday although the filly’s supporters were poised to tear up their tickets two furlongs out.

It’s not often that Anton Marcus gets himself into trouble but he was faced with an N2 traffic jam as he looked to make his run up the centre. But like a good mini bus taxi driver, he switched to the yellow lane and Sea Venture responded with alacrity like any 9-20 shot should, going on to win as she like. “Jockeys like to ride horses like this,” said Marcus, panting in the heat. “She was far superior to the rest of the field.”

“I thought there was enough space,” said Marcus of the gap that appeared in front of him but will have had visions of Friday night when apprentice Jason Gates lost his compass for the umpteenth time costing Marcus of any chance he had of winning. “He should have been had up for attempted murder,” said Marcus after he had scored a narrow win on odds-on favourite Genereight for Robbie and Shannon Hill in the first although the line came just in time as Diego de Gouveia was closing fast on out-of-province raider Oona.

De Gouveia, who has improved markedly as a rider since moving to the Highveld, made amends for that narrow defeat as he rode a superb finish on Bel Canto Chorus for Stuart Pettigrew in the fourth. He tracked the pace all the way through before making his move. “This won’t be the last time that you will be seeing her. She loves the poly.”

Runaway Gal, just short of an outing in her come-back run, made light work of the sixth as Brett Crawford’s filly scooted away from her rivals with Lyle Hewtison copying a bike rider on a down-hill stretch of the Tour de France as he coasted to the line.

O’Keeffe kept up her remarkably consistent form on the poly track, never finishing further back than second as she edged out Ella’s World.

Runaway Gal was Mario Ferreira’s second winner of the afternoon after a never-say-die ride on Flamenco Dancer for Dennis Bosch. Favourite Spring Breeze led into the final 50 m but was swamped by a tidal wave of runners led by Flamenco Dancer who go home by a head with Spring Breeze back in fifth, beaten less than a length.

Former champion Mark Khan, out of action for close on a decade before making a comeback last year, drew on all his reserves to get favourite Mylisha home in the shadow of the post for Lezzeanne Forbes whose stable has come to hand nicely in recent weeks.

It was a day of favourable results for the most part but the bomb landed in the last where Silver Cent landed a 40-1 body blow under Eric Ngwane for Lola Crawford.

By Andrew Harrison