Vaughan Marshall steps into the season-long two-year-old battle between Joey Ramsden and Candice Bass-Robinson at Kenilworth today and he just might beat them both with One World in the 1 400m Juvenile Plate (race four)

The Cape Town score stands at Ramsden 14 and Mrs Robinson 13 whereas Marshall has had only seven but One World made a huge impression when winning on debut at the end of March. Heavily backed, he led two furlongs out, was ridden clear and won by three lengths pulling up. Marshall (“I didn’t think anything could beat him”) promptly started talking in terms of the Langerman.

Vaughan Marshall

The form was nothing to write home about – the second horse was perpetual bridesmaid Frozen Tune and none of those behind has won since – but the impression was memorable.

There is no question that Arabian Air’s form is stronger and he has been backed from 18-10 to 15-10 favourite with World Sports Betting which has One World on 17-10. The Ramsden horse looked a bit special when easily beating older horses on debut and 11 days later went down narrowly to stable companion Twist Of Fate (disappointing at Scottsville on Saturday) after hanging in the last two furlongs. He had the third three lengths back and his trainer said afterwards: “He is a very good horse but he had the worst preparation.”

Ramsden runs four others, the shortest-priced of which is the 11-2 shot Lucky Dancer who was also second to Twist Of Fate last time but was beaten two and a half lengths. That said, he met the stable companion at levels whereas Arabian Air was receiving 2kg.

For once the Bass-Robinson runner does not look good enough. Sacred Arrow (11-1) won at Durbanville and only by three-quarters of a length. While the form book says Arabian Air the memory goes for One World.

In the Betting World Juvenile Fillies Ramsden (four runners) and Bass-Robinson (two) have it between them. With no Go The Distance ( lame and scratched), it looks a straight fight between 9-10 favourite Sans Regrets and Cruise Along (22-10) whose second to Canukeepitsecret reads well after Scottsville. Marginal preference is for Sans Regrets.

In the opening Juvenile Fillies the Brett Crawford-trained Vodka Lime may have come on sufficiently to beat the equally lightly raced Margrethe while Blue Roller’s seconds to Rainbow Bridge and Arabian Air suggest she is a stand-out for TAB Telebet Maiden despite the strong recent form claims of the busy Seventh Sea.

Flower Of Carmel’s below-par last effort is apparently something of a mystery to her stable and so Clifton Beach is preferred in the Tabonline.co.za Maiden.

By Michael Clower

The Dennis Drier yard are on a high after landing their 9^th Scottsville Grade 1 victory and 11^th overall on Saturday and they are now looking forward to a big run from Lady In Black in the Grade 1 Woolavington 2000 at Greyville on Saturday.

Drier is not a believer in the “second run after a rest” theory, which some racing people are adamant about, but the Dynasty filly did run a below par 2,85 length fifth in the Grade 2 Daisy Fillies Guineas last time having won impressively in her SA Champions Season pipe opener in the Grade 3 Umzimkhulu Stakes over 1400m.

Lady In Black (Candiese Marnewick)

Drier said, “She is very well. Last time she ran three wide and the race just didn’t go well for her. Justin Snaith’s filly Oh Susanna is a champion and she is the one we have got to beat but Lady In Black couldn’t be better and has come on a lot for that last run, she will be a different filly on Saturday.

Lady In Black is drawn three out of a disappointing ten nominations. Stable jockey Sean Veale, who rode Var filly Sommerlied to victory in the SA Fillies Sprint on Saturday, will be aboard as usual. Lady In Black was initially an entry for the Vodacom Durban July, but was scratched after the Daisy Fillies Guineas and will stick to the fillies route.

Drier’s Grade 1 day started badly on Saturday when his joint favourite for the Allan Robertson Outlandos D’Amour finished unplaced.

He said he did not want to use the long delay at the start as an excuse but added, “She is usually so laid back, but she was in a muck sweat by the time she loaded and then played up in the pens.”

He believed this Captain Al filly would stay further than sprints, but both hers and Sommerlied’s futures would be under discussion.

Drier had three runners in a strong renewal of the Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion and he claimed a fourth place with the Master Of My Fate colt Goliath Heron.

By David Thiselton

Dennis Drier clinched his ninth Grade 1 victory at Scottsville this decade when Sommerlied won the SA Fillies Sprint on Saturday and it provided an eighth victory in the space of ten years for the progeny of Avontuur Thoroughbred Farm stallions.

Avontuur have been closely associated with the Festival Of Speed meeting in this period through their stallion Var, the sire of Sommerlied. Their newer stallion Oratorio has now joined the party as he scored a one-two in Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion courtesy of the Tobie Spies-trained Van Halen and the Dennis Bosch-trained Cue The Music.

The four-year-old filly Sommerlied is the holder of the Scottsville 1000m course record but proved she could stay 1200m when winning the Grade 3 Poinsettia in yielding going at Scottsville four weeks ago at odds of 16/1. Ominously, the yard said she had still probably needed that run, her first since returning from a highly disappointing campaign in Cape Town, so it was surprising she was allowed to go off at odds of 15/1 on Saturday.

Sommerlied (Candiese Marnewick)

She jumped well from draw four under Sean Veale and the writing was on the wall for her opponents by the 500m mark as the speedy Jo’s Bond had provided her with a perfect tow. Veale then switched her inward and she was still full of running when hitting the front at the 300m mark. She fended off the favourite Magical Wonderland to win cosily by 1,5 lengths with another KZN horse, Neptune’s Rain, a short-head back in third. Vaughan Marshall’s The Secret Is Out, a previous Grade 1 Allan Robertson winner, emulated her full-sister and stablemate Canukeepitsecret, who had earlier finished fourth in the Alan Robertson. Jo’s Bond was one position worse than last year in fifth.

Drier has walked away with at least one Grade 1 trophy from this meeting in every year this decade apart from 2016. It started with Link Man winning the Gold Medallion in 2010, then Val De Ra won the SA Fillies Sprint in 2011. Potent Power, Captain Of All, Guiness, Seventh Plain and Sand And Sea won the Gold Medallion in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017 respectively, Captain Of All won the Tsogo Sun Sprint in 2015 and Sommerlied made it nine this decade. Drier’s first Scottsville Grade 1 success was way back in 1990 with Spook and Diesel in the Gold Medallion, then known as the Smirnoff Plate.

Var’s run at this meeting began in 2008 when the Vaughan Marshall-trained Villandry won the Gold Medallion. He produced the winner of the SA Fillies Sprint for three years in succession from 2011 courtesy of Val De Ra and the Duncan Howells-trained Via Africa, who won it twice in a row. In 2012 and 2013 he also produced the winner of the Tsogo Sun Sprint through the Charles Laird-trained pair Contador and Normanz.

Sommerlied became Var’s career eighth individual Grade 1 winner and his progeny have now scored 16 Grade 1 victories in total. He is a speed stallion yet his greatest progeny was the magnificent miler Variety Club.

In Saturday’s Gold Medallion the previously unbeaten colt Cue The Music looked set to justify favouritism. He had been up with the pace throughout and kicked ahead at the 400m mark. Unfortunately, he had not had any cover throughout and began wobbling under the right-handed stick in the final 300m. The strapping gelding Van Halen was thus able to reverse form with him under a fine ride by Craig Zackey, who got him up by a quarter-of-a-length. It was the wrong order for Avontuur as they bred Cue The Music, who is a half-brother to Val De Ra. Van Halen’s slow start turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Zackey had originally intended to “bowl him” in front due to his tremendous speed. Zackey had felt he was a 1000m specialist the first-time he rode him and praised the Spies yard for the stamina work they had put into him. Van Halen showed a tremendous turn of foot from off the pace.

Oratorio was described by Timeform of 2005 as “sturdy, good-bodied, who usually impressed in appearance.” He has stamped his progeny and Van Halen is a classic example as he is a magnificent specimen. Cue The Music is also strongly built and like Val De Ra has a magnificent racing temperament.

The purchase of Oratorio was a coup for Avontuur as he was one of the legendary Danehill’s best sons on the racecourse and before his first crop had raced here he had already produced over 40 stakes winners around the world.

By David Thiselton

Brett Crawford proved at Scottsville that the practice of protecting handicap marks can be counter-productive when his three-year-old Bold Silvano gelding Bold Respect clinched the Listed In Full Flight Handicap/Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint double.

Brett Crawford

In 2015 Crawford had Gulf Storm well enough to win the In Full Flight Handicap and despite the horse being raised nine points for that win he went on to finish second in the Tsogo Sun Sprint to the brilliant Captain Of All.

Bold Respect was also in good enough shape to win the In Full Flight in his SA Champions Season pipe opener four weeks ago. He was raised five points by the handicapper but the effort in going all out in that race not only brought him to his peak, but it also gave the yard confidence. Crawford had pointed out last week a first outing at Scottsville was always tough for a horse and they would likely be better in their next attempt. Bold Respect duly more than made up the required 2,5kg improvement by winning the Tsogo Sun even more easily. In the In Full Flight he beat his stable companion Sunset Eyes by half-a-length and on 1kg worse terms beat him by 2,5 lengths in the Tsogo Sun. Sunset Eyes finished third, 0,75 lengths behind the Dorrie Sham-trained Pinnacle Peak, who made it a Grade 1 runner up double. It was a rare one-two for three-year-olds in the race. Sham said after the Querari gelding had finished second in the Computaform Sprint that she was thrilled to just have a runner in the SA Champions Season. Pinnacle Peak gave Bold Respect half-a-kilogram and will no doubt be back to contest the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint.

Bold Respect jumped well and Corne Orffer was happy to let him use his big action in front. Pinnacle Peak lay second throughout on the outside. The perfect horse for Scottsville’s tough track is one that has both the speed to free-wheel down the hill and then produce a kick to put the opposition under pressure when the climb begins at the 500m mark. Bold Respect duly responded well to Orffer’s urging at the 400m mark and his long stride did the rest. He never looked in danger of defeat and justified 113-20 second favouritism. The favourite Kasimir, jumping from draw one, moved up well at the 400m mark but his effort petered out and his sixth place completed a day to forget for the national champion elect yard of Justin Snaith.

Bold Respect, considering the speed and class he showed, will likely start favourite for the Mercury Sprint. On Saturday he received 3kg from the Computaform Sprint winner Attenborough and beat him by four lengths.

This was Crawford’s first Grade 1 win this season. Last year he won six, including the Rising Sun Gold Challenge with Captain America, who runs in the same Delmar and Lance Sherrell-owned black and white colours as Bold Respect.

By David Thiselton

Jeff Lloyd will have his final throw of the Vodacom Durban July dice on board Rocket Countdown if the Selangor Cup winner makes the cut.

The Guv’nor’s rides on the big day are being organised by Deez Dayanand but his trip is sponsored by Kuda Insurance whose managing director Wehann Smith is part-owner of Rocket Countdown – and the booking was confirmed straight after the horse finished second to the unbeaten Rainbow Bridge in Saturday’s Winter Classic.

Jeff Lloyd (Supplied)

At the moment the gelding is just one of seven listed immediately below the July log’s top twenty but he has crowd-pulling appeal way above the other six. In addition to his legendary jockey, who will be bidding to finally win the great race at the 26^th attempt and will hang up his boots shortly afterwards, the horse is trained by the history-making Candice Bass-Robinson who became the first of her sex to train the winner (Marinaresco) last year and in her first season at that.

She has been in blistering form all this season and she has no doubt about her horse’s claims to get into the race, saying: “Why shouldn’t he get in? He deserves his place in the line-up after winning a Grade 2, he was giving weight all round in the Winter Classic, he will enjoy Greyville and he has a turn of foot. I want him to run.”

Oh Susanna, who could create a vacancy as Snaith Racing has said that she is only 50:50 to run, is a prohibitive 4-10 for the Woolavington at Greyville on Saturday, her first race since winning the Sun Met. World Sports Betting quotes Fiorella as 11-2 second favourite and goes 11-1 Lady In Black, 13-1 Elusive Heart, 22-1 and upwards others.

Daisy Guineas winner and leading Durban July fancy Do It Again is 7-2 favourite for the Daily News on the same card with Surcharge on 5-1, Pack Leader next at 6-1 and Majestic Mambo on 15-2.

By Michael Clower