Experienced Gauteng-based jockey Gunther Wrogemann has landed the ride on the unbeaten Paul Peter-trained star Majestic Mambo for the Grade 2 Betting World Gauteng Guineas and former South African Champion Jockey Gavin Lerena stays aboard Peter’s star filly Folk Dance for the Grade 2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas.

Peter is more confident of Folk Dance’s chances than Majestic Mambo’s due to the distance of the two races and the respective quality of the opposition.

Gavin Lerena (Liesl King)

He said, “Majestic Mambo would prefer further, but we have to take our chances because it’s the first leg of the Triple Crown. But, I think it will be the hardest leg for him. He is doing very, very well and the draw is not a problem because he comes from off the pace.”

He added, “The colts race has a lot of hard-knockers. There is Big Bear and Mike de Kock has a lot of good horses and Monk’s Hood is a definite danger, but please God things go our way, because he does stay well and the next two legs will be easier for him.”

The Mambo In Seattle colt cost, just R40,000 at a CTS Ready To Run Sale and has put daylight between himself and the opposition in all three of his starts, all over 1800m. He won his maiden by 5,5 lengths, his second start (in a Novice Handicap off a merit rating of 83) by 4 lengths and then the Listed Sea Cottage Stakes by 2,25 lengths. In the latter race he showed a devastating turn of foot from last place. Anthony Delpech rode Majestic Mambo in his last two starts, but is retained by the owners of Monk’s Hood, Wilgerbosdrift Stud.

Peter said of Folk Dance, “She is very well. She has a wide draw but she has a lot of gatespeed and has a quick turn of foot. She is ideally course and distance suited.”

This classy Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein Stud-bred Tiger Ridge filly was bought for R100,000 at the National Yearling Sale. She has won four of six starts, including the Grade 3 Fillies Mile by three lengths in her last start on Sansui Summer Cup day. Lerena has ridden her in her last two starts.

Peter regards the De Kock pair, Fish River and Silver Thursday, as the chief dangers.

He runs Fort Ember in a Pinnacle Stakes event on the day and said she was very well.

He also runs the progressive Imperial Stride gelding Pera Palace in the Grade 2 Hawaii Stakes and thinks he will handle the step up to 1400m, so is quietly confident.

By David Thiselton

Featured Image: Big Bear (Candiese Marnewick)

Majorca third Rose In Bloom has been installed 2-1 favourite to extend Joey Ramsden’s strong record in the Vasco Prix Du Cap at Kenilworth on Saturday.

World Sports Betting seems to think three-year-olds will dominate the race because it opened Justin Snaith’s Lanzerac Ready To Run winner Miss Katalin second favourite at 15-4 while Richard Fourie’s mount Elusive Heart is next on 5-1.

The Dean Kannemeyer-trained Summer Sky is 4-1 favourite for the Kepu Trading Jet Master Stakes on the same card with Milton, Mambo Mime, Perovskia and Waiting For Rain all on 6-1.

Donovan Dillon has postponed his return from injury and Corne Orffer takes his place on Milton. Orffer, who also rides Louisiana in the Prix Du Cap, is taking part in a panel discussion on the race to be shown on Tellytrack at 6.30pm today. Waiting For Rain’s trainer Piet Steyn is also on the panel.

By Michael Clower

Last year’s Sun Met winner Whisky Baron faces nine opponents on his Dubai debut under Colm O’Donoghue in the Zabeel Mile at Meydan today and the race has a strong South African flavour because the nine include the Mike de Kock trained pair Janoobi (Jim Crowley) and Noah From Goa (Christophe Soumillon).

Janoobi’s triumphs include last year’s Gauteng Guineas while Noah From Goa won the 2015 Cape Guineas. Whisky Baron runs for the first time since the Shadwell Joel Stakes at Newmarket last September and will be Brett Crawford’s first Dubai runner. The race is live on Tellytrack at 6.50pm.

By Michael Clower

Featured Image: Janoobi (JC Photographics)

Apprentice Ashton Arries is fast making a name for himself as a rider to follow. In spite of never having sat on a horse before arriving at the South African Jockey Academy, the young Arries has an all-important affinity with his mounts and a great pair of hands.

A natural light-weight rider and a man of few words in company, there is a quiet steel about him, probably the result of a tough childhood in the impoverished Western Cape community of Atlantis. Importantly, he rides his own races and is not intimidated by his seniors. That, coupled with a racing brain should see him go far ­- if he can keep it all together!

Tough Girl (Candiese Marnewick)

Arries was quickly to his 60 winners and lost his claim at Scottsville last Sunday when partnering the Michael Roberts-trained Statute. For many apprentices, the loss of their claim often heralds a time of drought as trainers look elsewhere for some relief. Not so Arries, who has already put a further three in the bag, winning at the Vaal on Tuesday and adding a double at Greyville yesterday.

Lyle Hewitson, a certainty to break Gavin Lerena’s record of winners ridden as an apprentice, arrived at the academy with a wealth of experience in work riders races, a superb feat given that he is only serving a three-year apprenticeship given his early experience and his battle with the scale.

Arries still has nearly three years of his apprenticeship to run and given that he is unlikely to have any weight problems unless he tucks into hamburgers and pizza on a regular basis, Hewitson’s impending record could already be in danger.

Arries’s two winners yesterday came in contrasting style, underlining his talent.

Mark Dixon’s runner Tough Girl lived up to her name as Arries took her to the front and kept her going strongly to hold off the attentions of the two fancied runners, Roy’s Novice and Go Thuli Go, Brandan Lerena and Anton Marcus aboard respectively.

The win was not entirely unexpected however, in spite of a dismal showing on debut, Tough Girl came in for some inspired market support and proved up to the challenge.

There is an old racing adage that says, ‘if a horse is fit and well, don’t leave it in the box,’ a saying that Sean Tarry obviously subscribes to as Kahula backed up her third in the umThombothi Stakes at Scottsville on Sunday with a comfortable win under Arries and 62.5kg in the third.

The race was run at a funerial gallop but Arries was content to sit in the dickie seat. In the straight he knew exactly what he had under him, waited for a gap and punched his filly through for a comfortable victory in another polished performance.

There is a widely held school of thought that local horses at the bottom end of the handicap, or anywhere really, are cannon fodder for out-of-town raiders but Louis Goosen, recently moved to Ashburton from the Vaal is not convinced. “It’s hard to win races here. The KZN form is a lot stronger than what many people think.”

Brian Wiid, successful on more than one occasion with his raiders, found that out as the well-backed Jackman came up short in the fifth as Toltec, under an inspired ride from Tristan Godden, made all the running on the Lezeanne Forbes-trained gelding. The petrol light was flashing red on the dashboard for Godden entering the final furlong but he kept his mount going long enough to hold Jackman who was slowly eating into this lead.

By Andrew Harrison

The unbeaten Dean Kannemeyer-trained Dynasty filly Hashtagyolo will be scratched from the Grade 2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas due to a suspected virus she has contracted.

Meanwhile, Kannemeyer’s Sun Met runner up Last Winter entered quarantine last Thursday bound for overseas. Kannemeyer will remain the trainer when the Western Winter colt eventually arrives in England after going the usual arduous quarantine route via Mauritius.

Hashtagyolo

Hashtagyolo had been doing very well in Johannesburg, where she had been training for the last five to six weeks in order to acclimatise her for the Triple Tiara series.

Kannemeyer had been travelling to Johannesburg regularly to see her and had been very pleased.

Piere Strydom had been booked for the ride and was due to gallop her this week.

However, the gallop had to be cancelled due to her illness.

After consultation with the owners Kannemeyer has decided to scratch her.

Kannemeyer will bring her back to his Summerveld satellite yard and might give her a two or three week holiday on the farm.

He is not sure yet whether she will be ready in time to run in the SA Champions Season.

Meanwhile, a disappointed Strydom had been trying to secure another ride for the Gauteng Fillies Guineas but without success so far.

By David Thiselton