Turffontein Standside tomorrow features the Grade 1 HSH Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes over 1600m and Folk Dance could upset Nother Russia.

Nother Russia (JC Photographics)

Folk Dance has a fine action which enables her to find gears in the straight at the right time. However, she can be a bit strong in the running so is at her best when well drawn. The last time she had a good draw was in the Fillies Mile and she hacked up. She now has a draw just one higher than her draw in that race, so Keagan de Melo will have a chance of finding good cover. If he does she will have a chance of defeating a similar type in Nother Russia. The latter is also able to find gears in the straight and is drawn in pole. She is coming off a fine second to the imperious miler Legal Eagle so is not surprisingly the 14/10 favourite with WSB in the early market, whereas Folk Dance is good value at 25/1. Cascapedia is the unknown factor. She has won five of six starts including two Grade 3s but has never been tested at this level. She was fancied for the Sun Met but was scratched after travelling down badly from Johannesburg.

She has improved since the blinkers were fitted and is undefeated with the headgear on. All of those races were over 1800m but she won her debut over 1400m and has been seen to over race a touch before, so this trip should be ideal running fresh. On the downside she is drawn wide. Silvan Star from the Cape has always struck as having plenty of class and has not had the luckiest of careers. However, she showed she can mix it with the best when running a 2,1 length fourth to probably the best miler filly in the land, Snowdance, in the Grade 1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes. She has a plum draw of three and will make her presence felt. Orchid Island was most disappointing in the Horse Chestnut when finishing more than 15 lengths behind Nother Russia, but if bouncing back to her best could feature, although she would prefer further. Al Danza has come into her own and is a dark horse over an ideal course and distance.

Simply Royal is another one who could surprise as she is well-bred and oozes class, while being a daughter of Silvano she will be improving all the time. Gimme Six has finished narrowly behind Silvan Star in her last two starts over 1600m and 1450m and has a wide draw to overcome. But she does have a fine turn of foot. Heaps Of Fun won the Gauteng Fillies Guineas but has not reproduced that effort over a mile to date. She’s A Giver finished second to Bela Bela in the Garden Province, although her wide draw will be against her as one who only just gets a mile. Safe Harbour can be a factor if reproducing her form of last season. Fish River proved her class in the Three Troikas over 1400m and is interesting with first-time blinkers on. Tahini looks held at this level but often surprises.

By David Thiselton

Joey Ramsden’s repeated bid to overcome what he regards as a miserly weight allowance with a two-year-old should be rewarded with victory for Tarsus in the Betting World Maiden at Kenilworth tomorrow.

It is quite common for juveniles to beat the three-year-olds in maidens towards the end of the season but less so in April. They receive only 3kg over 1 000m whereas the weight-for-age scale says they should be getting almost three times as much – the reasoning being that a good two-year-old should already be six lengths better than a three-year-old who is still not good enough to win after racing for over a year.

Joey Ramsden

Indeed only interference coming out of the pens stopped Ramsden’s Yolta doing it last Saturday while on Tuesday stable companions Carnage and Sans Regrets were second and third. Tarsus has the form to collect and is a confident choice.

Riaan van Reenen and Carl Burger are doing it the other way round with Celestial Storm in the first. They pitched her against older horses on debut and she led them a merry dance, quickening at halfway and looking like holding on until Capaill finished fast to catch her 50m out.

Punters have been unimpressed, so far at any rate, and have allowed her to drift from 9-2 to 13-2 but the booking of Bernard Fayd’Herbe is a major plus and she can beat Santa Clara who is 13-10 favourite with World Sports Betting.

Captain Of Tortuga is very short at 11-10 for his debut in the TAB Telebet Maiden Juvenile – he is a R4.5 million Captain Al out of triple Grade 1 winner Ebony Flyer and so a half-brother to Cot Campbell – and 22-10 shot Shadowing is chosen to confirm last time’s placings with Perfect Symmetry.

The TAbonline.co.za Maiden (race three) is more difficult because there is so little between 16-10 favourite East Lynne, Hammie’s Fan (17-10) and Everdene (5-2) who has more scope for improvement than the other two. Maybe Hammie’s Fan.

The much-improved Northern Corner has won three of his last four and is on a hat-trick in the Winter Series Handicap. A little surprisingly he has only been raised three points for his last win and, with the capable Sandile Mbhele still able to claim 4kg, the 28-10 favourite may be able to defy top weight. Pillar Of Hercules, 7-2 and only raised a kilo for his most recent win, together with Virtue (7-1) look the most obvious dangers.

The handicappers must have been feeling generous recently because Omega Force was not raised at all for last time’s second and Grant van Niekerk’s mount looks good for the Supabets Handicap.

By Michael Clower

Geoff Woodruff will be aiming Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic third-placed Secret Potion at the Grade 2 R1 million SA Oaks over 2450m on Champions Day on May 5.

Woodruff said, “I am hoping she will get the trip. Being by Elusive Fort you would think she would get it and on her style of running too, she is not an aggressive runner. If she can get a draw I think she will be a big runner.”

Geoff Woodruff

The long-striding filly is out of an unplaced Parade Leader mare who is a half-sister to Grade 3 Langerman (1500m) winner Heat Of The Night and Grade 3 Winter Classic winner (1800m) Naughty Prince.

Secret Potion enjoyed the quicker pace of a Grade 1 in the SA Fillies Classic as she takes a while to hit top gear in the straight.

Secret Potion will be one of the horses standing between Takingthepeace and the completion of the Wilgerbosdrift SA Triple Tiara, which carries with it a R1 million bonus.

CORAL FEVER UP FOR THE CHALLENGE

Robbie Sage will take it one step at a time with his Grade 2 Colorado King Stakes winner Coral Fever and he will see how he goes in the Grade 1 Premier’s Champions Challenge on May 5 at Turffontein before deciding whether there will be a SA Champions Season campaign for him.

Meanwhile, one of his two best three-year-olds, Vacquero, has been sold to race in Hong Kong and the other one, Seerite, is a pending sale to the same country.

Sage said about the five-year-old Judpot gelding Coral Fever, “He is just off the best but is an honest horse who always tries his best and a horse like that always has a chance.”

He added the chestnut had come out of his victory on 31 March well.

He is at odds of 10/1 with World Sports Betting in the Champions Challenge ante-post market.

Vacquero, a long-striding Silvano colt, finished third in the Dingaans and fifth in the Gauteng Guineas. Seerite, a Curved Ball gelding, was a narrow runner up in the Dingaans.

By David Thiselton

Cape Guineas winner Tap O’Noth put up an excellent gallop with a companion at Greyville yesterday ahead of his SA Champions Season debut in the Grade 2 Daisy Guineas on Friday night May 4.

Tap O’Noth (Liesl King)

Meanwhile, Dennis Bosch is targeting the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion over 1200m at Scottsville with his impressive Oratorio colt Cue The Music, who is a half-brother to the champion sprinter Val De Ra,

Marshall said about Captain Al colt Tap O’Noth, “I thought he worked extremely well, I was very happy with the way he strode out and after his work he was not blowing as much as I had expected him to be.”

Marshall will see how he runs in the Daisy Guineas before deciding his next step.

The colt’s four wins in six starts also includes the Grade 3 Cape Classic over 1400m. His only below par run to date has been last time out in the Grade 1 Investec Cape Derby over 2000m. However, both Marshall and jockey MJ Byleveld said the run had not necessarily meant he did not stay, as he had never been travelling well and was clearly just not himself on the day. He is in fact a half-brother to Strathdon, a Silvano gelding who has won two stakes races over staying trips.

Cue The Music, a R1,6 million purchase, caught the eye when winning a barrier trial over 1000m on the Greyville poly and followed up by beating a number of touted sorts by 2,75 lengths over the same course and distance. Bosch said the colt was still immature so was improving all the time. He plans to race him once more before he lines up in the Medallion.

By David Thiselton

Anton Marcus has been provisionally booked for African Night Sky in the Vodacom Durban July and the four-time champion will ride the big race favourite for the first time in the Betting World 1900 at Greyville on May 19.

Jonathan Snaith said yesterday: “African Night Sky will go on from the 1900 to the Cup Trial on June 9 before running in the July and, assuming all goes well with the horse and that Anton is happy with him, he will ride him in all three races.”

Marcus is one of four jockeys who have won the great race four times (on Dancing Duel in 1993, El Picha in 2000, Dunford five years later and Hunting Tower in 2007. Tiger Wright, Piere Strydom and Anthony Delpech have also won it four times.

African Night Sky, the first since Pocket Power to win Cape Town’s Winter Series, has shortened from better than 6-1 to 11-2 in the last few days.

By Michael Clower

Featured Image: African Night Sky (Liesl King)