Dennis Drier will have three chances of winning his seventh Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion this decade and his eighth overall as he runs Querari colt Immortelle, Master Of My Fate colt Goliath Heron and Byword colt Crown And Country.

The yard also contest the Grade 1 SA Fillies Sprint with Sommerlied, who holds the Scottsville 1000m course record and won the Grade 3 Poinsettia Stakes over Saturday’s course and distance last time out, and the Grade 1 Allan Robertson with Outlandos D’Amour.

His assistant trainer Stuart Ferrie said about the Medallion, “It’s quite tough this year, there is no stand out of ours, but Immortelle won a very nice race and the other two have run well enough in small feature company, so we’re going in there hoping.”

Stable jockey Sean Veale is aboard Immortelle, whom Ferry said was the one who was open to the most improvement. Ferrie regarded Cue The Music as likely the horse to beat and said if the Drier yard could not win it they would like to see that one win as he is a half-brother to their former SA Fillies Sprint-winner Val De Ra.

Ferrie said about Sommerlied, who had been disappointing down in Cape Town before her good comeback, “That last run was really good and she may possibly have just needed it so I think she has come on. It looks very competitive but she’s a fit horse and loves it here in KZN.”

Outlandos D’Amour won her first start over 1000m at Greyville in good style, although the form was let down when the runner up Charges D’Affaires was beaten yesterday on the poly.

Ferrie said, “She’s a very good filly and her work here yesterday (Tuesday) was really good, so we’re going in there with a good chance.”

Ferrie described her as not a tall filly but well built and nicely put together. He said although she showed pace on debut, that was more out of necessity due to her wide draw. He added, “1200m will not be an issue and if she can sit behind something that will probably be Plan A.” The Captain Al filly certainly possesses a fine turn of foot.

By David Thiselton

Paul Lafferty’s Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint contender Sniper Shot had an important gallop on Tuesday and came through it with flying colours.

The three-year-old Judpot gelding was the subject of a sales offer recently, but failed the piroplasmosis test, so has missed some work.

Lafferty said, “He’s doing very well. We lost a bit of time with him, but he’s a real bull of a horse. We decided we were going to go for the Post Merchants because he loves Greyville, but then we had a look at the top sprinters around and decided to take our chances here. In his last 1200m at Scottsville he was a tad unlucky and in his last run at Scottsville he won the Fever Tree over 1400m. He’s a top horse, he’s a sprinter-miler and I think he could get a blow in carrying a light weight of 52,5kg if they come back to him.”

Serino Moodley rides him on Saturday and rode him in the gallop on Tuesday.

Lafferty said, “Serino couldn’t believe he had been that fast on a horse. He was really taken aback by his ability. The horse was barely blowing after the gallop. After the Fever Tree he came second in the Byerley Turk over 1400m from a wide draw and was then second in the Daisy Guneas so he’s a very good horse. The speed races are always very tough, but they do go very quickly which could suit us with our 52,5kg, so fingers crossed, we don’t really know, but we’re hopeful.”

*  Robbie Hill runs the well-bred Petra in the Grade 1 Allan Robertson on Saturday and is quietly confident.

This Oratorio filly is out of the Listed-winning Fort Wood mare Loupe and Hill said, “She was very unlucky last time, she is hopefully a serious runner if she can reproduce that run.”

He said she had been doing “pretty well” and she put up a good gallop on the sand of Summerveld’s bottom turn yesterday under Deigo De Gouveia.

She strode out well but Hill admitted she would probably be coming off the pace on Saturday, so the draw of one might be a problem as she might get “closed in.”

However, Lyle Hewitson rides and is in top form. The high-flying apprentice deserves his currents status as national champion jockey elect and the connections can be assured he will do his homework ahead of this important engagement.

By David Thiselton

Dennis Bosch’s unbeaten Oratorio colt, Cue The Music, was looking his usual laid back self in the ring at Summerveld yesterday but was nice and fresh during his trotting exercise. He will be out to justify favouritism in the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion at Scottsville on Saturday.

Bosch also has a lively chance with Billy Silver in a Pinnacle Stakes race over 1000m.

He said about Cue The Music, “He’s doing exceptionally well and his last workout (on Monday) was very pleasing. He’s a very calm and relaxed horse, very easy to work with and shows tremendous ability. He wants to go and do his work and is a very smart horse. These big races are always competitive but I am pleased he has won at Scottsville before. I think 1200m will be more up his alley and I think he will give a huge account of himself.”

Diego De Gouveia trotted the strong bay colt yesterday and spoke of what a good feel he always gave. On Saturday he will be ridden by Gunther Wrogemann. Cue The Music is a half-brother to the champion sprinter Val De Ra, who won three Grade 1s including the SA Fillies Sprint at Scottsville, so it not surprisingly took R1,6 million to secure him.

Bosch said about Billy Silver, “He’s been doing quite well. He’s a very speedy horse for a Silvano. He came back from Cape Town, we had a few hiccups with him. He has to start somewhere and we’re starting here.  We had to show him the turn once or twice so if he comes along he’s a nice type of a horse and I’m happy with him.”

By David Thiselton

Brett Crawford runs the fancied Snitzel colt Traces in the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion at Scottsville on Saturday and has a strong hand in the Grade 1 Tsogo Sprint too with Bold Respect and Sunset Eyes.

Crawford said about the Australian-bred colt by Snitzel, Traces. “He has done very well. He had a good prep run when he first arrived here and has come on immensely. Scottsville first time out is never an easy track for a horse to handle so I am expecting a big run from him.”

Traces had his African Horse Sickness vaccinations in March, so they had to take it easy with him. Therefore he needed his SA Champions Season pipe opener when beaten 6,75 lengths into third by the Medallion favourite Cue The Music over 1100m at Scottsville. Furthermore, he is blind in his near-side eye so from a draw of one the field were on his bad side that day, but he now has a high draw so will be able to see most of the field this time and Crawford believed this would be a “big plus” factor.

Crawford said about the three-year-old Bold Silvano gelding Bold Respect and the four-year-old Western Winter gelding Sunset Eyes, “They are both coming off great runs in the In Full Flight Stakes (over 1100m at Scottsville first and second). Bold Respect’s really done well subsequently as has Sunset Eyes. Being a handicap, off their respective marks I expect them both to be competitive. Bold Respect is a horse who I think will keep on improving and Sunset Eyes is as honest as they come, so I expect both horses to run big races.”

Crawford said the Cape Summer season had not worked out well for Bold Respect after they had initially tried him over further, so the best should be seen of him now that he is sticking to sprints.

Corné Orffer rides Traces and Bold Respect and Warren Kennedy rides Sunset Eyes.

By David Thiselton

Ordinary mid-week meetings on the Greyville poly are often just more of the same and one goes through the afternoon in a somnambulistic coma.

Then there are other days likes yesterday, that offer much to ponder. Do barrier trials work, is apprentice Lyle Hewitson as good as he is made out to be and does it pay to take notice of runners that take a drop in class?

Hot favourite Charge D‘Affaires put a kink in the form of Outlandos D‘Amour’s chances of winning the Gr1 Allan Robertson Championship at Scottsville on Saturday when she was beaten by Noemi in the card opener.

Charge D‘Affaires had no answer to the late challenge from Neomi, patiently ridden by Hewitson, who added another win to his fast-growing tally to squeak home aboard Karen and Greg Anthony’s Zadora in the seventh.

Garth Puller has been around the block more than once in a brilliant riding career. More than that, he was a horseman rather than a high-class ‘panel-beater’ and he has used the barrier trials to his advantage. Noemi was close-up in her trial without being asked for anything close to maximum and the experienced paid dividends yesterday.

Seasoned race watcher David Thiselton gives his expert opinions on the barrier trials on the Gold Circle website and anyone who took the trouble to look up his comments will have been rewarded.

“2^nd 0,5 lengths Noemi (Godden/Puller 2yof 56kg) This athletic Crusade filly took a keen hold from the off and was under a tight hold when sitting behind the eventual winner. When switched out she displayed a nice daisy cutting action and was still under a tight hold at the line. She appears to have plenty of natural speed and some scope.”

There is a meeting of trainers and Gold Circle scheduled for today to discuss the merits of barrier trials and while they are an added frustration and expense to trainers, and there are some valid points that need to be addressed, barrier trials are far from misleading if viewed in the correct light. Australian heroine Winx had to trial before her last umpteenth Gr1 victory where she finished a distant fifth!

There is no doubting that Hewitson has what it takes and in a year where his senior opposition, notably Anthony Delpech, have been sidelined through injury, his quest for the National Jockey’s title has been made a lot easier and now a formality. But he is a class act which ever way you choose to look at it.

Under the current merit rating system of handicapping, one of the ploys by trainers is to run horses against superior opposition, get them tuned up without a penalty – a bonus being a drop in their rating –  and then pitting them against horses of their own calibre. It doesn’t always pan out but it did for the Tony Rivalland-trained Fantasy Art who dropped a division and comfortably won the sixth.

By Andrew Harrison