The rescheduled Grade 3 Spring Spree Stakes over 1200m is the main race tomorrow on the Turffontein Inside track and it is a typically competitive sprint handicap.

Splendid Garden has proven his current merit rating is competitive. This seven-year-old by Black Minnaloushe is a half-brother to Soft Falling Rain and he over raced last time early on when the jockey restrained him from a wide draw over 1400m. Therefore, he should appreciate the step down in trip and in fact his last win was over this course and distance. He is off a three point higher merit rating now but he was drawn 12 out of 12 in that win and now has a plum draw of three.

Splendid Garden (JC Photographics)

Chimichuri Run is highly regarded and showed his class last time when cruising home in the Grade 3 Umkhomazi Stakes over this trip at Greyville. It does not matter how good they are destined to become, early season three-year-olds running off high merit ratings generally battle to beat toughened older horses and his merit rating is 108. However, he should still go close as it is not a vintage line up and he is well drawn.

Angel’s Power was runner up last year, albeit from a better draw than this wide one of 12. If the six point raise given to all horses in March is taken into account he is effectively five points lower this year and should be staying on. Talktothestars is a former Equus Champion Sprinter and is known for his toughness, so he might well have benefited from his six month layoff and can’t be ignored jumping from pole position, despite a tailing off of form in his last few starts.

Clever Guy won well from the front last time over 1000m with blinkers on and this might be the key to him. The blinkers stay on and he has a chance if able to find a handy position without using up too much energy from his wide draw. Tar Heel had a lot of pace in his heyday and should have come on from his last start, which followed a five-and-a-half month layoff, so he can make his presence felt from a good draw off a competitive merit rating. Premier Show is not finding his current merit rating easy although he could earn.

Mujallad has a wide draw and is off a tough merit rating but he should be staying on and could earn. Finchatton has a tough draw and it will be tough as he would likely prefer further. Wrecking Ball has a lot of pace but is usually found wanting in the closing stages. Mrs. O has come into her own but won’t find it easy against the boys. Just As I Said has pace but will find it tough returning from a three month layoff from a wide draw.

The first leg of the Pick 6 is a minor feature, The Non-Black Type Ladies Stakes over 1200m, and the promising Pretty Penny is the one to beat. She cruised in last time by 4,75 lengths over this trip. She was given the maximum eight point raise for that last win and looks to be running off a capped rating.

In the second leg over 1600m Bronx Bomber looks to be a promising sort and will relish the step up in trip so is the one to beat from a fair draw. Wonderous Climber and Volcanic Sunset are both well drawn and distance suited and have shown ability before so look to be the dangers.

In the next leg Shelly was a touch unlucky last time over course and distance and is well drawn again, but it’s a wide open event.

In the eighth race Unagi loves the course and distance and is the tip to beat the progressive Puget Sound.

The last leg of the Pick 6 is tricky but Goodness Me goes well for Piere Strydom so can beat the talented newcomer Afrostar and Believe Me.

By David Thiselton

Tevez, a beaten favourite or joint favourite in his last two runs, again heads the market at Durbanville on Saturday.

The nine-year-old has been installed 3-1 for the Supabets Pinnacle Stakes with World Sports Betting which goes 7-2 Fifty Cents, 15-4 Olympian, 9-2 Bernie, 5-1 Vincente, 7-1 Horizon, 8-1 Rock Of Africa, 25-1 Cuban Emerald.

Candice Bass-Robinson, trainer of Tevez, has two other favourites on the eight-race card: Nastergal (2-1 in race three) and Meraki who is 3-1 in race four. Brett Crawford also has three favourites: Trippi’s Express who is odds-on at 15-20 in the first, Gimme One Night 2-1 in race five and debut second Vascostreettractor who is 11-10 in the finale.

By Michael Clower

Muzi Yeni will have to defy the odds to cling on to his lead in the SA Jockeys Championships.

Yeni rode an impressive 22 winners in August, eight clear of the joint second-placed jockeys Richard Fourie, Ryan Munger and Anton Marcus.

However, on only one occasion this decade has the log leader in August held on to win the championships.

Muzi Yeni

That happened in the 2013/2014 season when S’Manga Khumalo rode 25 winners in August and went on to be crowned champion.

Last season Craig Zackey led in August on 16 winners and Lyle Hewitson, who had 12 winners in that first month, went on to be champion.

In 2016 Andrew Fortune led in the first month on 27 and eventual champion Anthony Delpech was eight behind on 13.

In 2015 Yeni led on 21 and eventual champion Khumalo was 15 behind on six winners at that stage.

In 2014 Piere Strydom led on 21 in August and eventual champion Gavin Lerena was on 14 winners.

In 2012 Khumalo led on 16 and was only one clear of the eventual champion Piere Strydom.

In 2011 Yeni led on 15 and eventual champion Anton Marcus was on 12 winners in that first month.

In 2010 Fortune led in August with 15 winners and eventual champion Anton Marcus was at that stage on eleven winners.

The bookmakers have not yet priced up on the Champion Jockey title race this season, but it looks wide open.

Richard Fourie would possibly be the favourite as he aims to ride over 200 winners and before yesterday’s Scottsville meeting was six behind the 24 winners of Yeni.

By David Thiselton

Former national champion jockey Gavin Lerena has had a frustrating five months on the sidelines but pending an X-ray and a doctor’s examination yesterday (Wednesday) he will have two rides at the Vaal today.

Lerena had a bad fall in the Derby Trial on Hakeem on March 31 and suffered concussion as well as a broken clavicle (collar bone) and broken scapular (shoulder blade).

There was then a “delayed union” of the clavicle, meaning the bones took a long time to knit.

Ultra sound treatment has helped speed up the process and Lerena has been workriding for about a month.

He said, “I had to take it easy and be careful which horses I rode to minimise the risk. The shoulder feels strong now and the biokineticist is happy.”

Gavin Lerena (Liesl King)

If he gets the go ahead Lerena’s first ride back will be in race one today, a Maiden for three-year-olds over 1000m, on the Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained Australian-bred Ultra Boost. This gelding is by More Then Ready, who is the fifth highest stakes-winning sire in history behind only Danehill, Sadler’s Wells, Galileo and Danzig. Ultra Boost’s unraced dam by Encosta De Lago is a half-sister to the Group 1 VRC Australian Guineas winner Rock Classic (Fastnet Rock).

Lerena has workridden this horse once and said, “I took him through the gates. He is a very nice horse. I think he will need further but he could be good enough to pull it off.”

The horse to beat in the first, a Maiden for three-year-olds over 1000m, is the well regarded Ashley Fortune-trained Big Blue Marble.

Lerena rides the favourite in the third, a Maiden for three-year-old fillies over 1000m. He said about the Johan Janse Van Vuuren-trained Jackson filly Lady Jackson, who is out of the Grade 1 Allan Robertson-winner Geepee S, “She is quite small but she is a trier.”

She has earned a cheque in all four of her starts, two of them being on the Greyville poly over this trip, and will face some tough competition from the like of  Variety Moon, Red Tara and three first-timers, Blonde Vision, Paschal’s Chrishele and Tehuano.

Lerena has been keeping an eye out for a ride in the Grand Heritage, in which he is unbeaten having ridden the inaugural winner Irish Pride in 2016 and last year’s winner Forest Fox.

He said, “I would like to ride Mardi Gras, but don’t think I am going to get the ride.”

Mardi Gras is currently a 15/4 shot to give Janse van Vuuren a second win in the Grand Heritage. The race, to be run on 29 September this year at the Vaal, caters for 28 runners, the biggest field in South Africa’s annual racing program. Draw bias can play a part so those 15/4 odds looks a touch skinny, although this well-bred R3,2 million grey gelding by Oratorio is without doubt a horse to follow this season as he has class and looks to be coming into his own.

Lerena’s goal for the season is to ride as many Grade 1 winners as possible. He said he has been given support by many yards since returning to the training tracks, so he should have a good choice of horses once he is back in full swing.

Lerena was the South African champion jockey in the 2014/2015 season in which he rode 221 winners at a strike rate of 20%.

He was in 11^th position with 74 winners at a strike rate of 21,33% at the time of his fall last season. He will have a mountain to climb if he is to chase the championship this season as Muzi Yeni has got off to a flying start and before yesterday’s Scottsville meeting was already on 24 winners, six clear of title-chasing Richard Fourie.

Lerena’s time off has been frustrating but it did allow him to spend quality time with his family and he concluded, “Their support has kept me going and kept me sane.”

By David Thiselton

Balladeer Peter Sarstedt once sang a popular hit about a ‘lovely’ that got a racehorse for Christmas but it was a wedding present that arrived at Scottsville yesterday. Given the vagaries of the sport, the Christmas present may just as easily have turned out to be a moderate maiden but Mary Slack’s wedding present to daughter Jessica and husband Steven Jell has turned into a swan.

There has not been an easier winner of a race in KZN since Run Rhino Run took his rider on a scenic trip of Greyville – and bolting home in a barrier trial yesterday – but yesterday’s performance by odds-on favourite Golden Chance was a far more impressive and had Sean Veale looking for the opposition some two furlongs out.

Golden Chance (Candiese Marnewick)

“I kept on looking back to see if it was a false start,” he said as he rolled home on the Dennis Drier-trained filly by an official seven lengths that could have been many more had Veale put the hammer down. “This was nothing but solid pace-work.”

Given her pedigree, Golden Chance has already paid her way.

In contrast, Rocket Fire is unlikely to make it to stud unless Duncan Howells is able to cool his temperament as the good-looking son of Rock Of Gibraltar, who started favourite for the second, boiled over in the paddock coming close to chopping one of his lead grooms in half.

He went to the start with a lead pony but he was head-in-the-air all the way home as he gave Craig Zackey a difficult ride and never looked like threatening.

But those punters who followed the money, were in the money. Perfect Peter found some solid market support and Gavin van Zyl’s runner landed the gamble in convincing fashion. Van Zyl is one trainer who uses barrier trials to his advantage and after making a useful debut late last year, Perfect Peter was given two trials in the interim. “He’s a smart horse. A beautiful, beautiful horse,” enthused Van Zyl after the gelding’s four-length romp.

Dave Hawkins and Pat Robinson have been staunch supporters of Richmond trainer Doug Campbell and both were on course to lead in Ohh La La after winning the third. Both go back to the early 1990’s as owners and this was Hawkins’s 100^th winner as an owner.

Scottsville is a track that finds out many a horse but there are others that excel on the track. Burra Boy is one such as the seven-year-old gelding racked up his fifth victory from 44 starts with 17 places in between. He plugged gamely up the inside rail under Brandon Lerena to deny Gauteng raider runner Defy Gravity by a rapidly diminishing short-head much to the chagrin of the visiting supporters who bellowed long and hard from the members balcony.

With modern photo-finish technology dead-heats are few and far between these days but not even a pixel separated Drageda and So Var in the fifth.

“We tried,” said head judge Wayne Simpson. “We blew up the picture until the pixel’s got blurred.”

Drageda looked dead-and-buried 400m out with commentator Craig Peters calling him under pressure, but he rallied hard and was a winner a stride after the line. Unlucky was Archilles who took a knock early in the race and was then chief sufferer as Antony Hotspur drifted across under pressure causing a concertina effect that certainly compromised Archilles’s chances.

By Andrew Harrison