The unbeaten One World is now odds-on for Saturday’s Cape Guineas following Mike de Kock’s decision not to run  the impressive Dingaans winner Hawwaam. Anton Marcus’s mount is 8-10 with both Betting World and World Sports Betting.

De Kock will now be represented by Soqrat (Randall Simons) who is second favourite and looked good when partnered by Lyle Hewiston in a 1 400m gallop with stable companion Ghaalla (Craig Zackey) on the course on Saturday.  Simons will ride her in Saturday’s WSB Fillies Guineas.

Ghaalla is best-priced 7-1 with Marcus’s mount Front And Centre favourite at 18-10. Second favourite at around 3-1 is the Western Cape Fillies Championship winner Clouds Unfold.

By Michael Clower

When Johan Janse van Vuuren raids KZN he generally returns home with some rich pickings but it all went pear-shaped for him and his supporters at Greyville this weekend.

The omens were good when Ottawa scored a bloodless victory in the first on Friday night, but it was all downhill from there as his fancied runners failed even to hit the boards yesterday.

Some rain on Saturday saw the track on the softer side of good but that did not faze Mark Khan who scored a quick double coming from way back at the top of the straight.

Mr Greenlight had surrendered tamely in the soft when making his debut at Scottsville but Duncan Howells instructed Khan to switch his mount off and come at them late.

Raes Dyna Jet (Candiese Marnewick)

“Duncan knew what was going through my mind on the way to the start and I was tempted to sit handy after we jumped well,” confided Khan.

“In the end I listened, but I was lucky to have the right horses around me and I followed Anton through.”

Marcus was on the odds-on favourite Uncle Charlie who was soon in trouble as Mr Greenlight came from last to whistle past the opposition.

Khan employed similar tactics in the third. Coming back from a lengthy break and gelding, Be The Right revelled over the extra ground. Again, Khan sat patiently at the back of the field and came sailing through for a smart win for Ashburton-based Belinda Impey.

The Green Point Stakes finish at Kenilworth yesterday had all a-twitter with four smart horses finishing within a short head of each other, but there were a few close calls at Greyville too yesterday.

Rae’s Dyna Jet, Red Al and Pumpkin Queen was involved in a similar finish to the fifth race with Rae’s Dyna Jet prevailing by the shortest of short heads.

Warren Kennedy has generally flown under the radar as far as being a ‘celebrity’ jockey is concerned but there is not doubting his talent. He is making the most of some better opportunities of late and currently sits sixth on the national table with 48 winners, including his double yesterday on Rae’s Dyna Jet and Ovation Award for Gavin and son Gareth van Zyl respectively.

Taking out a trainer’s licence in these tough economic times is a risky business and with owners an endangered species, so much can go wrong. But Daryl Moore has had a better grounding than most, being assistant to Charles Laird for many years and then joining up with grandfather Ivan Moore, a top jockey and trainer in his day, he has a better chance than most to succeed as he showed when Golden Pheasant got the better of Exclusive Quantity in the seventh.

It was another good day for Ashburton trainers who are generally out-done by numbers and the class of horse and Shane Humby rounded off the meeting with a close victory as Cause And Effect got home in another tight finish.

By Andrew Harrison

The R250,000 WSB Grand Series Match Race over 1475m is an exciting winner takes all event due to start at 13h15 and is the highlight of tomorrow’s meeting at the Vaal.

Match Race topweight Tsitsikamma Dance had some good form in Cape Town including finishing 3,1 lengths back in the Winter Guineas behind Rainbow Bridge. He duly won both of his first two starts on the Highveld, including the second leg of the Grand Series over 1475m when staying on well from a handy position. He showed last time out he has some class, staying on strongly from the back over 1160m to finish just 3,1 lengths behind Legal Eagle.

His opponent Dan The Lad has run over this trip twice, winning the Heritage Consolation last year and losing this years Grand Series leg 1 by a whisker. He is an honest sort but does not have the ability of Tsitsikamma Dance. The 4kg he is getting would probably not be enough in a normal race, but a match race can develop into a cat and mouse affair where tactics play a key role. The confident and ever improving Ryan Munger will be aboard Tsitsikamma Dance and twice South African Champion Jockey S’Manga Khumalo is aboard Dan The Lad. It will be a race full of intrigue but Tsitsikamma Dance is the tip to win.

Tsitsikamma Dance (JC Photographics)

The first two legs of the Pick 6 consist of a Maiden Plate and an Assessment Plate respectively, so it once again looks catchable. In the first leg over 1600m March To Glory is a son of Marchfield who has some substance and should have come on from his last start, which was his first as a gelding when staying on for third to Against The Grain over 1400m. He should also appreciate the step up in trip and is taken to be a banker.

In the second leg over 1600m there is also a banker possibility in Invincible Lady. She is 3kg better off than the second best weighted Sand Princess on official merit ratings and this nice sized filly with a big stride should have come on from her last start. The risk averse could include Mrs Simpson as she looks destined to be a fair sort having won well on debut over 1200m and on pedigree she will appreciate this step up in trip. However, in order to match Invincible Lady she will need to run to an 89 which is a big ask in just her second start.

In the third leg over 1600m Chepardo should be cherry ripe and having stayed on in two of his last three starts over 1450m and 1400m respectively he will appreciate stepping up to a mile. Nordic Rebel won going away over 1400m last time and off a three point higher mark is another one who should enjoy the trip. Changing Seasons is half-a-kilogram better off than Chepardo for a 0,2 length beating and will prefer this trip so also has a fine chance.

In the seventh race over 1400m Winter Storm should appreciate the step up in trip being by What A Winter out of a National Emblem mare who won over 2000m. This long-striding sort usually shows fair pace before finding no extra but this is likely due to him being outpaced in the closing stages than not staying. Bien Venue has disappointed in his last two starts having shown promise as a juvenile, but he will appreciate the step down in trip from the Dingaans. He was up against exceptional horses like Hawwaam in the latter race so it will be a lot easier here too, so he can be given another chance to prove himself here. Olofberg can also be involved here if repeating his penultimate start.

The eighth race over 1200m Mount Keith was beaten narrowly by a useful looking sort in Carbon Atom last time over this trip so  is the first choice. However, one should be able to afford to go wide here and State Trooper, True Words, Generous Notion, Twelve Oaks and William Nicol can also be included.

In the last leg Nicky Noo moved up well over 1200m last time but found no extra so might appreciate the step down in trip. However Farraranga, who will definitely appreciate the step down in trip, will be a big threat and is the other to include in what is a Pick 6 which is not going to cost a lot to play.

By David Thiselton

Legal Eagle can extend his amazing unbeaten mile run into double figures in the Green Point Stakes at Kenilworth tomorrow when he has Rainbow Bridge and Undercover Agent to beat.

His narrow win over Edict Of Nantes in this race last season is still fresh in the memory, not least because it came just three days before the proverbial hit the Steinhoff fan and blew one of the world’s great racing empires to pieces.

Since then the dual Horse of the Year has changed hands but not stables and won both a third Queen’s Plate and a third Horse Chestnut. The turn of foot he showed to win a sprint on his return three weeks ago suggests that Sean Tarry has him as good as ever.

Undercover Agent (Candiese Marnewick)

Undercover Agent also won a sprint on his reappearance -Brett Crawford: “Good horses do that, he is not a hard horse to prepare and he is a perfect athlete. This is his trip and he is still on the way up.”

So is Rainbow Bridge who has been heavily supported to stretch his unbeaten record (from 1 200 – 1 800m) to six despite getting stirred up on every occasion except the first. You would expect this to have a negative effect on his performance but it hasn’t, not so far at least. Could it be that all his jig-jogging around the parade ring creates adrenaline that kicks in, quite legally, when he gets to the business end of a race?

Handicappers’ ratings suggest that he still has over four lengths to find with Legal Eagle while Undercover Agent is only a length and a half behind the Tarry star. It could be a lot closer than that between the big three but Do It Again is surely out of the reckoning after five months off.

Anton Marcus may also win the Southern Cross Stakes on Nous Voila who really turned on the style when put back up the straight in a progress plate three weeks ago. This filly has been backed from 9-2 to 5-2 joint favourite with some bookmakers, punters almost certainly influenced by the jockey who is in unbelievable form.

However Candice Bass-Robinson has the first three in the betting and her views on their chances are informative: “Magical Wonderland (best price 5-2) has come on quite a bit since the Laisserfaire for which she had a terrible prep, 64.5 kg and stitches in her knee but I needed to give her a race regardless. She has been working well and looks great. My only reservation is that this is her second run back.

“Freedom Charter (second in the Laisserfaire and best price 13-2) is also doing well but this is just a touch on the sharp side. She is not without a chance if they go quick enough. I wouldn’t discount Nous Voila either although it will be difficult for her to beat a filly like Magical Wonderland.”

Strathdon is favourite to repeat last year’s win in the Cape Summer Stayers but he has gone up quite sharply in the weights since and Benjan at 5-1 makes more appeal.

The TAB Telebet fillies pinnacle (race two) is Grade 1 class and it seems folly to look beyond Snowdance even though she has been off since July day.

By Michael Clower

It was rough going for punters this past weekend but for those that managed to land the exotics, or even a percentage there of, will have added substantially to their wallets. It could be more of the same at Greyville tonight where they face another tricky poly meeting.

Muzi Yeni

The formidable combination of Johan Janse van Vuuren and Anton Marcus have teamed up again this weekend. Their main attack comes on Sunday but their only runner this evening should get their ball rolling with Ottawa in the card opener. She is rated way better than her field and has some useful Highveld form. She was run out of late at her last start over the Turffontein short-cut, an indication that she should take to the synthetic surface and is likely to start at cramped odds, 13-20 in the current market. Opposition could come from Redeem The Gold who found some market support on debut but raced green in the soft ground. She should make big improvement and may be a threat, while Captain’s Love has improved at recent outings and was not far back in a work riders’ plate last run.

Dennis Drier is having a better run in the Cape after last year’s disappointing raid where most of his string failed to acclimatise, but assistant Stuart Ferrie is keeping the home fires burning with Wealthy winning his second Chapter Challenge at Scottsville on Sunday. Ferrie saddles The Master in the second. The gelding has something of a reputation already in spite of only a single outing where he was run out of it inside the last 100m. He should come on with the experience but it is a competitive maiden with the likes of Mokoko, Rocket Fire and Pantsula all likely to have their supporters.

A measure of Marcus’s dominance when it comes to picking and choosing rides is that his current winning strike rate is nearly 32% and he is only four winners behind current national log leader Muzi Yeni who has had 400 more rides.

After Ottawa and The Master, he will be aboard another likely favourite in the Brett Crawford-trained Elusive Diva. The filly has been costly to follow, a beaten favourite at all three of her starts on the poly with Marcus up, but given her current front-running tactics she drops to what could possibly be her optimum trip of 1400m.

Gareth van Zyl is having a smart run at present and Sweet Preserve is back on her favourite surface when she runs in the fifth. Her three best efforts have come on the poly and she was closing fast on favourite Little Audrey last time out. Of the opposition, La Duchesse has spotty form but is capable on her day and Paul Gadsby has declared blinkers after her recent performance when turning it up at the business end of her race. Counter Fate showed some improvement last run in her second outing in blinkers and can do better over this extended trip.

An interesting runner on the night is Petra in the Independent Minds Pinnacle Plate. Father and son combination of Robbie and Shannon Hill thought enough of their filly to pit her against some of the best around last season after finishing a close-up second to the useful Inverroche in the Strelitzia Stakes. Things didn’t work out and she was rested after finishing down the field in Gr2 The Debutante. She trialled well in her first run back on a racecourse but takes on a smart field of older fillies including Kateecador and Victory Trip who may have the edge when it comes to racing fitness. Also in the mix is top weight Val-A-Ree but she faces a mammoth task as a three-year-old under 61kg in spite of being the best weighted filly in the race.

By Andrew Harrison