The early races at the Vaal offer some fair opportunities for punters tomorrow but the exotics also look attractive as some races have bankers and others can be played narrow.

In the first race, a workrider’s maiden over 1600m, the Bold Silvano colt Major Return stayed on well on debut over 1450m after being dropped out from a wide draw and he was only 3,15 lengths behind Big Voice Jack. The winner and runner up went on to win their next races, whilst the third-placed horses has finished runner up in both of his subsequent starts so the form looks good and he should relish the step up in trip. He hasn’t run since June 24 but is well drawn and has the good workrider Goodman Dadamisi aboard. Rockstar Child and Royal Pursuit are both exposed but have the form to be a threat.

In the next race the big Philanthropist filly Virginia should make amends for her unplaced run as hot favourite over 1400m last time. She did not have the best of luck in that race and was still green. She will relish the step up in trip and Raymond Danielson will know her well by now. She looks to have the beating of the raced horses so the biggest threat could come from the first-timer Sixth Form. She is a R130,000 National yearling Sale purchase by Visionaire out of a half-sister to Icy Air and Ice Axe. It is not surprising she is making her debut over a mile as Icy Air won five Graded races from 1800m up to 2450m, including the SA Oaks.

The best bet of the day comes in the next race in the form of Perfect Pursuit. This three-year-old King Of Kings gelding was ignored on debut and went off at 22/1 as only a few realised he was a full-brother to King’s Temptress, who won the Grade 2 SA Fillies Nursery on debut at massive odds. Perfect Pursuit did not impress in the preliminaries as he is quite plain but he displayed a fine action in the race and was staying on strongly in the closing stages of the 1200m event. Over that same trip and from pole position he is going to be hard to beat, although Dancing Flame and Chipofftheoldblok could give him something to think about.

In the next race over 1200m Dream On looks to be a PA banker as she was staying on well last time over this trip and trainer Stuart Pettigrew gets them to improve slowly but surely. She has a nice draw and Marco van Rensburg stays aboard. Samoa made a good debut and with expected improvement will be the chief threat. Miss Pinkerton will enjoy the step down in trip after running out of steam late over 1450m last time when just failing against the hard-pulling Deerupt. Both the latter pair can be included in the Pick 6 and Jackpot.

The next race is a tricky sprint handicap and Singaswewin is taken to win it, but he can’t be a confident choice. He is capable of staying on well and has a good draw over and ideal trip, but he will need to behave better at the start than last time. Quattro is off an attractive merit rating and should go close despite a wide draw. Time To Great ran well over 1450m on Saturday and this front-running sort will be dangerous over this 1200m trip from a plum draw with a 4kg claimer up. However, others have to be considered as it is wide open.

The sixth race is an Assessment Plate over 1450m and Hakeem is not only best in at the weights but is ideally distance suited and well drawn. He should have come on from his last start too. Yamoto is a rangy sort with some class and although this is on the sharp side he could earn in his comeback from a three month layoff. The filly Strawberry Pavlova is an honest sort who should be staying on. Make Your Move looks to be progressive and could surprise. Senor Lizard is another one to consider.

In the seventh over 1000m the filly Casual Wear looks to have plenty of scope and can continue to progress. She faces some fair sorts like Hampton Court and Topmast but is 1,5kg better off than any other horse according to official merit ratings.

The last race is another tricky sprint handicap and going as wide as possible is the suggestion although the obvious ones are Rebel Renegade, That’s Life, Singfonico, Minnesota and Roman Evening.

By David Thiselton

It doesn’t get any easier for Q The Music but the step up to a mile at Greyville today may finally break the shackles for him to earn a third career win. Unplaced only three times in a career spanning 14 races, Q The Music has been nothing if not consistent and as a result the handicappers have been reluctant to lower his rating – and many a trainer averse to the current handicapping system, would add, ‘in case he wins another race”.

That’s an argument for another day but Q The Music was game in his recent defeat to Sylvester The Cat where he looked a beaten horse even before turning for home. Pace-making Sylvester The Cat had his rival off the bit early but Q The Music refused to give in, in spite of racing three wide for much of the contest, and stayed on, beaten less than a length.

Andre Nel’s runner has only once been a mile, that early in his career where he registered one of his three unplaced runs, but he is now two years older and on the evidence of his last start he could well be looking for today’s trip and further.

However, he gives weight to all and his two biggest dangers could come in the form of Changing Seasons and Amore Ardiente.

Changing Seasons is unbeaten since being tried in blinkers and made a winning debut over course and distance in a KZN Breeders contest. He took a hefty shunt up the ratings for that win but here he gets 2.5kg relief courtesy of apprentice Luke Ferraris and he should be competitive again.

Amour Ardiente seldom runs a bad race and Belinda Impey’s charge should be in the mix again. The 1400m of his last race now appears to be on the sharp side as he was one-paced under pressure and today’s trip would be more to his liking.

Six months back, Fleek was in danger of a career-ending injury with a badly jarred fetlock but time and TLC has seen Louis Gooden’s filly back and ready to win when she lines up for the Qualified Maiden.

She has made steady improvement since her return to racing and came from off the pace to fail narrowly behind Ripe Tide over the Scottsville 1400m last time out. “She is probably an 18-10 shot but with Anton (Marcus) up you have to take what you get,” said Louis Goosen. With Track & Ball yesterday, Fleek was a solid even money chance but there was some market support for Roy’s Marlin who was trading around 8-1 from an opening call of 10’s.

Walterthepenniless, Hole In One and Just Dixit were yesterday all vying for favouritism in the opening leg of the Pick 6 and exotic bet punters may be wise to include all three in their perms and also Linnger Longer, Goosen’s filly on top of most of the Computaform rating tables.

Dennis Drier has got his season off to a rollicking start and both his runners, Walterthepenniless and Hole In One, will have their supports. The latter has the services of stable rider Sean Veale, but Mandla Ntuli stays aboard Walterthepenniless after the combination come within a length of a major boil-over behind Flying George. Friendless in the market at 100-1 he finished with a rattle over the Scottsville 1200m.

A string of visits to the second box has been a bugbear for Duncan Howells but Dunzie, his only runner on the day, can move him up a slot after the fifth. Dunzie has been threatening of late and the switch to the poly with blinkers could see her home for her second win.

The sixth is something of a punter’s minefield but Honest Prince, well-named considering his recent form, has been given a two-point relief by the handicappers after his last run and Alyson Wright’s gelding looks competitive off his new mark.

The two recent Gauteng imports, Tour Of Duty and Led Zeppelin could pose threats while the blinkered Phoebus, who showed improvement last time out, is another to warrant serious consideration.

High Green and Samsonite renew rivalry in the last and the latter could turn the tables although the list of possible winners is a long one.

By Andrew Harrison

Last season’s spectacular Arc heroine Enable returned in style from an 11-month absence on Saturday to leave King George runner-up Crystal Ocean in her wake and earn a quote of 9-4 to defend her crown at Longchamp on October 7.

Enable, a five-time Group 1 winner last year, looked well up for it in the preliminaries and was full of it on the way to post, but that did not put off punters who backed her in to 8-15 minutes before the off.

After the morning absence of pacemaker and stablemate Weekender, Frankie Dettori took the initiative on the Khalid Abdullah-owned four-year-old, who showed the way at a decent clip to Crystal Ocean in the early stages.

Turning for home, he pushed the button at the two-furlong pole and surged clear of Sir Michael Stoute’s colt to score cosily by three and a half lengths without resorting to the whip.

Trainer John Gosden said: “I was confident Enable would do that today as she’s high class. That was a nice race for both horses if you’re having a prep for an Arc and it was good to see Enable back, as it’s been a long wait.

“She’ll come on for that as she was only 80 per cent fit – 85 at a stretch – but she’s in a good place mentally and she’s enjoyed it. It’s been very frustrating for her, as it has for us, especially when she’s seen the other horses going out on the Heath ”

Dettori was also impressed: “That was awesome. I wasn’t sure how fit she was as she’s only being going a mile at home, but then she’s trained by a master trainer. She got the job done and felt as good as ever. Bring on the Arc!”

Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to the winning owner, said: “We came here wanting a good comeback and we got one.

“If it had turned into a ding dong battle with Crystal Ocean and she lost she would still have gone to the Arc, but to see her return like that was very pleasing. It’s great that after 11 months out she came here and still knows what it’s all about.”

– Racingpost.com

The highly regarded Pleasedtomeetyou will face only five rivals in the Sophomore Sprint at Durbanville on Saturday.

The Justin Snaith-trained dual winner Clouded Hill (Richard Fourie) is the highest-rated in the field, 1.5kg above the Andre Nel runner, but he has to give 2kg to Bernard Fayd’Herbe’s mount.

Glen Kotzen’s Lanza (Ryan Munger) and the Greg Ennion-trained Elusive Trader (Corne Orffer) also have to concede 2kg as they have won more than once.

Vaughan Marshall has elected to run Top Of The Class (M.J. Byleveld), who ran creditably in the Gold Medallion at Scottsville, in preference to Allan Robertson fourth Canukeepitsecret. Ennion, as expected, makes up the field with his second runner Sailor Sam (Donovan Dillon).

The three-year-old Listed race has been won by horses of the calibre of What A Winter and Tevez in the past but three seasons ago it was switched to January because of the small fields. The numbers increased only marginally and the race tended to be swamped by other features at the height of the Cape season, hence presumably the move back to nearer the traditional date.

By Michael Clower

Sean Tarry’s three-year-old colt Chimichuri Run, who has twice fetched over a million at public auctions, waltzed home in the Grade 3 Spring Spree Stakes over 1200m at Turffontein on Saturday but only time will tell whether he is the classic horse that his pedigree suggests he is as he possesses plenty of speed.

Tarry’s three-year-old strength in fact lies among the fillies this season and he will be able to afford the luxury of splitting them up and targeting all the big fillies classics around the country.

The yard is in fine fettle and the only bad news is that one of his GBets Summer Cup hopefuls, Lord Silverio, was injured in training on Saturday and will have to miss the latter race, although Tarry is as usual not dwelling on the setback and is already eyeing the Vodacom Durban July for this classy grey.

On Saturday Chimichuri Run jumped from draw three in the twelve horse field and did not get the best of breaks. However, this enabled S’Manga Khumalo to find the rail in behind horses. The even money shot did show signs of over racing in stages, which is why the jury is out on whether he will stay the classic trips. When they reached the false rail with about 500m to go he still had about six lengths to make up, but quickened nicely down the inside. He had hit the front by the 200m mark and won hands and heels by 4,25 lengths. It was not a vintage renewal of this race but it takes a top class colt to win a Graded handicap against older horses at this stage of the season, especially one who is merit rated 108.

Tarry selected the colt at the 2017 CTS Premier Yearling Sale as he was “an excellent mover and well made.”

The Drakenstein stud-bred colt is by Trippi out of the Grade 1 SA Fillies Classic winner Spiced Gold (Kahal) and the connections had to go to R1,1 million to secure him.

He was a comfortable winner of his second start over 1000m and then finished third in both the Grade 1 SA Nursery and Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion.

However, he then appeared on the draft of the Super Sale at Greyville on June 25 and one of the reasons was to dissolve a partnership.

Tarry had to go to R1,6 million to keep him for one of the original part-owners Chris van Niekerk.

However, he divulged, “We were not too happy to go to that amount as he had a slight breathing issue. Fortunately this issue has improved since.”

The decision to buy him back paid immediate dividends as he was a 4,75 length winner of the Grade 3 Umkhomazi Stakes over 1200m on the Greyville turf on eLan Gold Cup day.

Tarry is now eyeing the Grade 2 Joburg Spring Challenge over 1450m on October 6 for Chimichuri Run and that race will tell the connections a bit about how far he will stay. Spiced Gold’s first foal was Bombs Away who won on debut over 1000m but didn’t win again and he was well beaten in all three of his attempts at distances beyond 1200m.

Tarry’s good three-year-old fillies include Return Flight (Pomodoro), Celtic Sea (Captain Al), In The Dance (Gimmethegreenlight), Second Request (Twice Over), Sweet Mary Lou (Await The Dawn), Saints Alive (Elusive Fort) and Crimson Royale (Ashaawes).

The best performed of these fillies to date have been Return Flight, who won the Grade 1 Thekwini among other races and was made the Equus Champion Filly, and Celtic Sea, who finished second in the Grade 1 Allan Robertson and won both the Grade 3 Pretty Polly Stakes and the Grade 2 Golden Slipper.

Return Flight’s first big target will be the Grade 3 Fillies Mile on Summer Cup day. Tarry is keeping her in Johanesburg because she will be suited to the galloping Turffontein Standside track and he believes she will mature into a Triple Tiara type.

Celtic Sea, on the other hand, has plenty of natural speed and he will be aiming her at the Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas.

Meanwhile, Lord Silverio is unfortunately on the sidelines. He was beaten in his last start when going for hattrick and it was in a handicap off just an 86 merit rating, so on paper that does not augur well for his July chances. However, the four-year-old grey colt is typical of Silvano’s progeny in that he gets better and better with age and Tarry also confirmed that last race, in which an objection placed on his behalf was overruled, just did not pan out well for him.

Tarry relinquished his SA Trainers Championship crown, which he had held for the previous three seasons, to Justin Snaith last term but he has started this season well with 15 winners at a strike rate of 17,05% and looks to have the firepower  to usurp the title.

By David Thiselton