Gavin Lerena is the only jockey to have won the WSB Grand Heritage and could retain his crown on Saturday as he will be aboard the Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained favourite Mardi Gras.

The draw can play a significant part in this 1475m race and Lerena will be hoping from draw 26 the track runs like it did in 2016, towards the outside, as opposed to last year when the inside to middle inside seemed favourable.
Mardi Gras will need to beat 27 other competitors but is a worthy 33/10 favourite with the sponsors. The Oratorio grey was in the spotlight on his debut over 1000m at the Vaal in December as he was a R3,2 million purchase. He did not disappoint when staying on strongly for third. He has always struck as one who would come into his own as a four-year-old. That observation has proven correct as he began to impress late last season and in his reappearance this term he ran a fine race over 1160m in just his sixth career start and his first as a gelding. He is the one to beat carrying 56,5kg as he will relish the step up to 1475m and considering his class he is likely ahead of the handicapper off his 91 merit rating.

Mardi Gras (JC Photographics)

Janse van Vuuren won this race with Irish Pride in 2016. This now six-year-old won the race off a 92 merit rating and has dropped to a 91, which is effectively seven points lower if the across the board six point raise given in March is taken into account. He hasn’t won for a year-and-a-half but has his third run after a layoff, so is not without hope.

Janse van Vuuren’s third entry is Divine Odyssey, a progressive sort who likes to be handy and has a good kick. He pecked at the start last time, which affected his chances following two wins, and he has a chance off a 91 merit rating.

The second favourite is Pietro Mascagni, a well regarded Mike de Kock-trained four-year-old who should come into his own this season. This trip is sharper than ideal but he will have come on from his winning reappearance over 1450m and his class could pull him through from a nice middle draw. His stablemate Hakeem looks ideally distance suited and has some class. However, he did miss a recent preparation when racing was abandoned. De Kock’s other runner is Mujallad, who ran on well last time in the Spring Spree Stakes over 1200m and he should stay this trip. Bernard Fayd’Herbe is an eyecatching booking.

Sean Tarry has four runners and a reserve. Unfortunately Bockscar was eliminated despite a fine preparation race, which was surprising as some of his other runners don’t have great recent form. London Secret has been disappointing since her good two-year-old career and would be a surprise winner, although she ran quite a nice preparation race. Purple Diamond is a similar sort as he won the Golden Horseshoe as a two-year-old but has not won since. Bold Viking is talented and won his last start but he has breathing issues and is also hard to fancy. Count Tassilo could be the best Tarry runner as he is ideally distance suited and was staying on in eyecatching fashion in the race over 1450m in which Bockscar was ahead of him.

Daffiq is an ex De Kock horse who had class but obviously problems too and he had an eyecatching preparation in the above mentioned race. He is ideally distance suited and could be in the mix for Gokhan Terzi. Chepardo also ran on in eyecatching style for third in that race and is distance suited. Danza ran well in that race too but is on the one-paced side so will find it tough to beat such a big field.

Dan The Lad was in that race and found little extra so will have to be ridden from off the pace.  Another ideally distance suited horse is Bold Coast, who is way better than his last run.

Rings And Things’ class was proven when third in the CTS Mile and she will be dangerous off a mere 85 merit rating.

African Night Sky (Candiese Marnewick)

Tsitsikamma Dance won his Highveld debut well over 1400m and Cape horses often have suppressed merit ratings due to the class of the horses in that centre so he is an interesting contender as he was raised just one point and should have come on from the run.

Lake Kinneret is 1kg better off with the latter for a 2,7 length beating but ran a cracker next time out over 1450m and is a dark horse.

Rebuked looks held by Lake Kinneret. Soldier On has ability and comes in off a fine preparation and as one who would prefer further he will be staying on. Full Of Attitude is a progressive type who won well last time but was raised five points. Kings Archer is a soldier who is distance suited and goes well for Strydom but it will be tough carrying 61kg. Zouaves is a classy distance suited horse and Geoff Woodruff knows how to peak them.  Sail For Joy is distance suited and in good form and he is 1kg better off with African Ruler for a 0,2 length beating.

African Ruler, from the yard of last year’s winning trainer Paul Peter, could be dangerous from the front as he has plenty of speed and proved he stays 1400m last time, although the extra 75m might stretch him.

Nephrite looks held by Soldier On and Divine Odyssey. Huyssteen has struck as one with promise but usually disappoints. Finchatton looks to have too much weight.

Mardi Gras could beat home Tsitsikamma Dance, Pietro Mascagni, Rings And Things, Count Tassilo and Zouaves, although these fancies could change if there proves to be a notable draw bias in the earlier races.

By David Thiselton

Eric Sands has put the unbeaten Winter Guineas and Winter Classic winner Rainbow Bridge into Saturday week’s Matchem Stakes even though he has not been able to get a race into the colt this season.

Rainbow Bridge (Liesl King)

Last year’s Cape Guineas winner Tap O’Noth has also been entered for the Durbanville Grade 3 and has to give weight all round– Vaughan Marshall’s previous winners of the race include Tales Of Bravery (2010) and Play Catch in 2004.

Our Mate Art, who scored for Candice Bass-Robinson 12 months ago, is also among the 14 entries while Justin Snaith, successful with Changingoftheguard six years ago, has already declared Fifty Cents (Richard Fourie), Copper Force (Robert Khathi) and Star Chestnut (Athandiwe Mgudlwa).

Snaith has also declared three for the Diana Stakes on the same card- Dynamic Diana (Fourie), Angel’s Trumpet (Greg Cheyne) and Miss Katalin (Khathi). The champion trainer has won three of the last nine runnings. Goodtime Gal, successful for Mike Robinson and Anton Marcus in last year’s race, is set to give weight to the other 13 entries.

Marcus, surprisingly, is as big as 20-1 with World Sports Betting for the jockeys’ championship despite being fourth in the log on 24 winners. Muzi Yeni, who heads the list on 33, is 5-2 favourite and Richard Fourie (28 winners) second favourite at 28-10 with Aldo Domeyer (14) next on 4-1. Current champion Lyle Hewitson and former champion Gavin Lerena are both 11-2 chances. Ryan Munger, third on the log with 27 winners, is a 14-1 shot.

By Michael Clower

Champion Jockey Lyle Hewitson’s first foray on the international stage ended in a suspension. Riding in Singapore on Sunday, ahead of today’s Singapore Raceday meeting, Hewitson was charged with careless riding after shifting ground and taking up the running at the winning post on the first time around, to a point where there was insufficient room for Golazo, resulting in that horse being severely crowded for room and eventually losing its rightful running.

Lyle Hewitson

Hewitson finished third in the race, the Gr3 $150,000 El Dorado Classic.

The stewards took into account his record, guilty plea, the degree of interference and carelessness and that he has been engaged to ride at the Singapore Race Meeting.

The commencement of the suspension was deferred to begin on Wednesday, October 3 until Sunday, October 7, both dates inclusive (two Singapore Race Days).  Hewitson was not alone as five other jockeys were charged with similar offences.

Muzi Yeni also managed a third in the $125,000 Flax 2012 Stakes over 1200m.

The two South African youngsters were making their debut in Singapore ahead of today’s Premier Gateway International Jockeys Challenge.

TAB will operate a special Pick 6 pool – boosted by a TAB bonus – on today’s Kranji meeting.

The pool will start with a R150,000 add-in from TAB and the total net pool is expected to be about R400,000.

The Pick 6 will be on Races 2 to 7 with Leg 1 at 12h55 South African time. Normal TAB Pick 6 rules will apply and any carryover will go into the TAB carryover pot used to create Pick 6 MegaPools on selected days.

Crown Towers, so impressive when winning on debut at Kenilworth at the beginning of the month, can go in again when he tackles handicap company in the 1 400m Interbet at Durbanville today.

The superbly bred Australian colt was bought pretty much ready to run out of Joey Ramsden’s stable at a Grant Knowles sale here two months ago and he looks well handicapped (in the view of Justin Snaith as well as the writer) off a mark of 85 – and he is particularly well drawn.

Anton Marcus (Liesl King)

He was the subject of rave reviews after scoring so well first time and the extra furlong is a major plus considering his pedigree – by Camelot out of a multiple-winning Galileo mare – and it was no surprise to see him odds-on at 8-10 with World Sports Betting yesterday.

Stable companion Green Jacket, who won over course and distance 17 days ago, is the obvious danger at 9-2 with top weight Sacred Arrow next on 11-2. But, in truth, there should only be one winner – either that or most of us need our eyes testing.

Trippi’s Express looks equally nailed on in the first. The Brett Crawford runner was second to Pleasedtomeetyou in that good maiden at Kenilworth in August when subsequent winners Trip To The Sky and Green Jacket were four and five lengths behind. The selection had to be withdrawn earlier this month because of an abnormal blood count but the patience shown that day should be rewarded here, albeit at a skimpy price – he was 9-20 yesterday.

Juniper Spring is proving expensive to follow – she was beaten at 5-4 last time and at 7-20 on her previous start – and she is odds-on for the TAB Telebet Maiden. But she has a good draw and stands out on form.  She could have most to fear from Spring Burst but she is well-nigh impossible to oppose.

Go Snow Girl Go with Anton Marcus in the irons looks tempting at 33-10 in race three but 16-10 favourite Silvano’s Pride ran well enough here first time a fortnight ago to suggest she can collect.

Whatever his fortunes in that race the four-time champion should win the mile handicap 35 minutes later on Love Supreme who is fully entitled to her position at the head of the market (11-10).

Valbonne is very much on the upgrade, as he showed when winning a Kenilworth Pinnacle on his last start two months ago, and Greg Cheyne’s mount can make it three off the reel in the Supabets Pinnacle.

By Michael Clower

With jockey Olivier Placais suspended, trainer Alwin Tan had been struggling to find a suitable replacement for Nova Strike in the $1 million Group 1 Raffles Cup (1600m) on Sunday, but the staging of an international jockeys challenge at Kranji next Tuesday has indirectly come to his rescue.

Team South Africa made up of Lyle Hewitson, Muzi Yeni and Aldo Domeyer are one of four squads doing battle in the inaugural Premier Gateway International Jockeys Challenge, but decided it would be nice to have a warm-up meeting two days earlier.

With their availability at the Raffles Cup meeting, the Springbok trio along with Australia’s Hugh Bowman have certainly helped plug the current dearth of jockeys, mainly through suspensions.

Muzi Yeni

Besides Placais, Alan Munro, Ryan Curatolo and Azhar Ismail are also out on Sunday while the other 13 Raffles Cup runners had already been paired with a senior jockey.

With Bowman already snapped up by Lee Freedman on Circuit Land, Tan had to pick among the three South Africans, and admitted he had heard precious little about the trio before.

After doing some research and going with the recommendation of a few connections familiar with South African racing, he plumped for Yeni.

“It’s been a tough job looking for a jockey for Nova Strike,” said Tan.

“At first, we thought of Franco Da Silva, who rode here at the KRA (Korea Racing Authority) Trophy meeting, but he told us he couldn’t confirm. In the end, he is riding Countofmontecristo for Michael Clements, but I did give him a ride on My Win in race two.

“There weren’t many jockeys left here with so many of them suspended. And then, I heard about the four jockeys coming up for the Raffles Cup.

“I didn’t really know them, but after checking their records, we decided Muzi Yeni would be a good fit. Nova Strike needs a strong rider and we saw from some of his past race videos how strong he was.

“The owners and myself are very happy to have booked him on Nova Strike.”

A 10-time winner, the six-year-old chestnut Red Giant has drawn seven and is up against an armada of big guns in the first Leg of the Singapore Triple Crown series, such as Jupiter Gold, Debt Collector, Circuit Land, Elite Invincible, Clarton Super, Elite Excalibur, Mr Clint, Countofmontecristo, Preditor, all proven Group winners, not to mention a South African Group 1 winner in the impressive Noah From Goa.

From Singapore Turf Club