The Vaal stages a competitive nine race meeting tomorrow where the highest rated race is a MR 91 Handicap over 2000m and Amsterdam is taken to maintain his unbeaten record over this course and distance.

This galloping sort was beaten two lengths by the classy three-year-old Like A Panther the last time he tried this trip. Piere Strydom could employ front-running tactics again and the six-year-old will not be easy to overtake as he is a resolute sort. He has been consistent off his current merit rating of 84, which is an attractive one considering he once finished second in the Grade 1 SA Classic over 1800m. The Classic was run in soft going that year, so Amsterdam will appreciate the recent rains on the Highveld. Kilrain could be the dark horse in the race. He was disappointing last time over 1700m, but is probably looking for this 2000m trip these days. He won over this trip at Kenilworth just over a year ago and Mike de Kock steps him up to this distance for the first time since acquiring him in July.

Samurai Blade

Samurai Blade was running on strongly over 1800m last time and with a reversal in draw fortunes and being 2,5kg better off for a 2,25 length beating he can reverse form with Wild Horizon. His comeback in October was a good effort and after some up and down form since then he should now be cherry-ripe to run well over his probable best trip. Wild Horizon has a good record over this trip but does have a tough draw to overcome now. However, he did spread a shoe in that last race but still won comfortably and he is also by the stout Fort Wood so should still have a lot of racing in him. Intergalactic is the only female in the race and this Grade 2 winner has dropped to a competitive merit rating of 91. She was staying on after a slow start over this trip in July in the Gold Bracelet, so from a good draw with in-form 1,5kg claimer Dennis Schwartz up, has a chance. Hidden Agenda was unlucky last time over 1700m and is 2kg better off with Wild Horizon for a 3,15 length beating over 1800m before that. He has won over this trip before and Gavin Lerena aboard is a plus to his chances.

It is difficult to find a Pick 6 banker, but Paree in the last has been awarded the accolade. She has a plum draw of two on a straight course which usually favours low draws. The 1400m is also her ideal trip. This horse would likely have gone places with a better temperament, as she can be a bit headstrong. However, in the good hands of Piere Strydom she went close over course and distance last time. She is off the same merit rating and Strydom is back aboard. Azkur is the top weight in this race and also has a plum low draw. She won her maiden over this trip and followed up by winning over 2000m. She found no extra over 1800m last time, so is interestingly stepped back to this trip. For the PA Azkur is included, because a probable more reliable PA banker than Paree is Skiminac in race three over 1700m.

It always pays to follow Alec Laird when he hits a purple patch of form and he is in such a patch at present. Skiminac has always looked to have a bit of scope and with the blinkers having come off for her last start over 1500m, this trip from a pole position draw will likely be ideal.

The first leg of the Pick 6 over 1700m sees an interesting clash between Our Shining Star, Shakespeare Inlove and Sunshine Silk. Our Shining Star is an impressive daughter of Silvano who will relish the step up in trip and this is her third career start so she is taken to win it from a good draw.

The value bet of the day comes in the next race in the form of the Lucky Houdalakis-trained Whiteout. She caught the eye in the maidens as one who could stay on strongly over middle distances. She has been given a seven point drop in the merit ratings after just one run out of the maidens.

In the first race Mike de Kock steps out yet another well-bred Australian-bred in Sirtain. He makes a belated debut at the age of four, but is by Not A Single Doubt, who was the leading sire of three-year-olds in Australia in the 2015/2016 season. His dam by Falbrav is a half-sister to a Listed winner and he does not have a lot to beat.

By David Thiselton

Betting World makes the lightly raced Gold Standard the biggest danger to odds-on shot Legal Eagle in Saturday’s L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and Glen Kotzen reckons he now has the four-year-old primed to the hour.

Mind you, Sean Tarry said after the Green Point that he had deliberately left something to work on so Gold Standard needs to have come on quite a bit if he is to thwart that third consecutive win for a horse who has never been beaten over the distance.

Gold Standard (Liesl King)

But Kotzen points out: “On that Green Point running my horse has only got two and a half lengths to make up, this is his third run after an eight-month break and we reckon we have him spot on.

“He needed that last run but he wouldn’t have blown a candle out after his gallop last Wednesday and he is now cherry-ripe. I know we’ve got draw 11 to contend with but the horse is moving really well and his jockey is riding out of his skin. It looks like there will be a pace on and my horse will be doing his best work at the finish.”

Gold Standard is 6-1 second favourite but Mike Robinson has been scratching his head over why the bookies have Goodtime Gal as big as 14-1 for the Cartier Paddock Stakes. The mare was only beaten three-quarters of a length in last year’s Majorca and seldom finishes out of the frame. “Maybe it’s because of the draw,” her trainer muses. “But I know she is going to finish right there.”

Could it also be because she ran one of her few disappointing races in last year’s Paddock Stakes? “I remember that something happened down the straight and she lost her way a little bit,” answers Robinson who reckons it was as much immaturity as anything else. “I feel she wasn’t then strong enough to handle a feature (she won the Victress) and then the Paddock Stakes. She is small but she is a lot stronger now and there is more of her. I honestly believe she is going to handle things a lot better.”

And the 11 draw? “I have told MJ to ride her confidently. She is very fit so he will be able to bounce her out and place her. Then he can give her a breather round the turn and she will be running on up the straight. She is almost always there or thereabouts. You can rely on her.”

By Michael Clower

The L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate meeting taking place on Friday and Saturday this week will be the first of the big events which make January one of South Africa’s most exciting racing months.

On Friday the headliners are the Grade 2 Cartier Sceptre Stakes over 1200m and the Listed Ardmore Jamaica Handicap over 2000m.

The fillies and mares sprint division is strong at present and the Sceptre, a weight for age plus penalties event, is one for the purists to look forward too.

Just Sensual (Liesl King)

The brilliant Just Sensual carried a 2kg Grade 1 penalty last time out in the SW Security Solutions Southern Cross Stakes and she just got up to win over what appeared to be a too sharp 1000m. Blinkers helped her get within striking distance in the running and she then produced her normal strong finish to pip the big outsider Hoist The Mast. The latter was a revelation off a mere 78 merit rating and a slow start might have been the key to her run. This rangy sort was relaxed at the back before slicing through the field and she looked the winner before Just Sensual snared her on the line. Just Sensual will appreciate the step up to 1200m and is the one to beat. However, with similar tactics to last time Hoist The Mast can defy her new merit rating of only 83 and be involved again. Last year’s Sceptre winner Live Life bounced back to form with a strong finish in the Southern Cross to be beaten just 0,8 lengths into third.

The stable fitted a new type of bit for that race after she had choked up in her previous start and it did the trick. She is a definite contender. Her top class three-year-old stablemate Magical Wonderland will appreciate the step down to 1200m and also has a shout. Another three-year-old, Princess Peach, winner of the Grade 2 Debutante at Greyville last season will also appreciate the step down in trip. She has a tough task with Magical WonderIand on paper considering their last meeting over this trip as she is 3kg worse off despite being beaten 2,25 lengths, but she was unlucky that day. Rose In Bloom was beaten just 0,75 lengths by Magical Wonderland in the aforementioned race, which was at Durbanville, but she is now 3kg worse off. She came from a wide draw in the latter race, but so did Magical Wonderland. Shufoog is an interesting three-year-old as she has had only three starts and on the second of them was beaten just 2,65 lengths in the Sceptre. She showed a good turn of foot last time over 1000m when touched off. She might have been sent for home too soon in that race, so will likely be waited with for longer in her first attempt at 1200m.

Green Plains is the SA Fillies Nursery winner and has her third run after a layoff. Desert Rhythm is the Grade 2 Golden Slipper winner and needed her last start over 1400m. This is a sharper trip than ideal, but it’s a tough straight course which will suit her. Sommerlied is the Scottsville 1000m record holder and has her third run after a layoff. She was beaten only 1,75 lengths in the Southern Cross after kicking into the lead from a handy position. She is full of ability but two concerns are the 1200m trip on this tough course and the below par form of the Dennis Drier yard in Cape Town this season.

Jo’s Bond

The speedy Jo’s Bond showed she was effective over this trip when fourth in the Grade 1 SA Fillies Sprint last season and she likely needed her reappearance in the Southern Cross. Anneline stayed on for a 2,5 length seventh in the Southern Cross so could earn over this more suitable trip. Nordic Breeze was a short-head further back, so has a place chance at best too. Felicity Flyer is a dark horse for a place as she will love the fast ground and is capable of a strong finish. Weston is in form but this is a big step up in class. The talented Angel’s Trumpet looks held on her three-year-old form to date, but she now wears blinkers so can’t be written off.

This is an ultra competitive renewal of the Sceptre and if there is any draw bias on the day that might play a part too. The current forecast predicts a strong wind of between 17 and 19 knots, which will play into the hands of the horses who will stay the trip. However, it is predicted to be a Southerly wind so there should be no draw bias as this is roughly a direct headwind.

It all points to a repeat of the Southern Cross finish with Just Sensual winning and Hoist The Mast and Live Life fighting out the second place. Magical Wonderland and Shufoog are the unknown quantities who could upset the applecart. Sommerlied can’t be ignored due to her class and Green Plains is another one who is tough to ignore.

In the Jamaica Handicap earlier, Silver Willow makes most appeal as a still improving four-year-old daughter of Silvano. She was unlucky when finishing strongly over course and distance last time, so will be well weighted sneaking into the handicap with the minimum 52kg. Furthermore, she has landed a plum draw and will be ridden by the top class Richard Fourie.

By David Thiselton

The Braam van Huyssten money will go on in earnest – no matter how short the price – when Legal Eagle attempts to win the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate for the third successive year at Kenilworth on Saturday.

Never mind the old adage that you shouldn’t buy money by betting at odds-on, the superstar’s new owner believes it would be an act of craven disloyalty not to support him with hard cash and plenty of it. “Absolutely,” he insisted. “I have to back my horse. I know my mate Billy will back him and I have to as well.”

Legal Eagle (Liesl King)

My mate Billy is the Brisbane-based William Henderson whose advice the Bentley-driving Tekkie Town boss sought when he realised he was in with a chance of buying an equine legend.

“When all the bad news hit out there last month, I started to inquire – tongue in cheek really – about Edict Of Nantes and Legal Eagle,” Van Huyssteen recalled. “I was told by Derek Brugman that all the horses would be up for sale.

“Listen,” I said. “I would like to put my name in the hat for both of them. I didn’t know what offers would be made but I knew there would be a lot of interest. Billy is a guy who knows about these things as well as being a good mate.

“He told me: ‘Braam, here is an opportunity to buy a proven Group 1 horse. Let’s go for it.’ I also spoke to another mate of mine, Hedley McGrath in Port Elizabeth. He won a Group 1 with Copper Parade and he said much the same.”

By this time Van Huyssteen had decided to whittle his purchasing ambitions down to just one of the two Markus Jooste stars. “It was my pocket that decided me – I’d lost a few bob of late and Edict Of Nantes was out of my reach. Even then I had to up my offer.”

The price quoted on many websites was R3.2 million. Van Huysteen laughed. “Plus VAT,” he corrected.

Seemingly, though, he gave no thought about the possibility of the horse recovering his purchase price in this month alone. “Not at all,” he insisted. “It’s not what you spend, it’s that on a big day I will have the opportunity to win a Group 1. I have bought some 400 horses already in my life, hoping and dreaming, and maybe God will shine the light on me this time.”

And the Met?  Does he believe that Legal Eagle will make it third time lucky after finishing second in the last two years?  Van Huysteen smiled as he acknowledged the question. “I have to be honest, I’m not a racing connoisseur like you guys. For me it’s all about the Queen’s Plate at the moment. Let’s see how we go in that. After Saturday we can consider what comes next.”

By Michael Clower

Yesterday’s Durbanville meeting might have come under fire – and in some quarters ignored altogether – but it proved to be manna from heaven for Louis Mxothwa who won on his first ride on the course when Essenceoflife came home at 7-2 for new boss Glen Kotzen in the TAB Telebet Handicap.

Mxothwa, 24, said: “Six weeks ago I moved from Port Elizabeth to ride as second jockey for Mr Kotzen. I’ve ridden over 200 winners so far but no big-race ones and that’s really why I am here. Cape Town has bigger yards, better horses and bigger prizes – and I want a chance of winning some of them.”

Glen Kotzen

It was also a Happy New Year for Andre Nel who has had to contend with a sickness in his yard for the past two months and, after a mortifying first race when his pair where beaten by not much more than the length of their teeth, Dalibhunga came good under Anthony Andrews in the Tabonline Handicap to show some light at the end of a nightmare tunnel.

A relieved Nel said: “I was desperate for a winner. Every morning something has a swollen leg or a snotty nose and it has been the worst spell of its kind since I’ve been on the farm.”

The controversial decision to pay R1 000 to trainers for each runner – there were only 49 of them – caused a furore, notably on the comments page of the Sporting Post with some contributors claiming that the payments were actually banned under Rule 11.2.7 which states that a trainer shall not accept payment of any charges in respect of his or her horses other than from the registered owner.

However an NHA representative said the operative word is charges, ie training fees, and that the rule is to prevent unregistered owners running horses in someone else’s name. The NHA man also said the R1 000 payment had a precedent. When the main section of the Kenilworth pens broke just over a year ago, horses had to be scratched to reduce field sizes and those who lost out were paid R3 500 a horse.

Maybe it would have been better to make the payments to the owners. After all they have to foot the bill for the jockeys’ fees (and just about everything else). Seemingly they may just get the money because Phumelela boss Clyde Basel said: “The payments come from Kenilworth Racing, not from the stakes fund, and we will leave it to the trainers as to what they want to do with them. We just want to support those who have supported us, and we have been rewarded with a good crowd.”

– Trip To Heaven looks set to attempt to join the illustrious group who have won the Diadem Stakes in successive years. Last season’s winner heads the 19 entries for Saturday week’s Khaya Stables-sponsored Grade 2 at Kenilworth.

The Sean Tarry-trained six-year-old has to give weight to all except Search Party but dual winners of the race include Flaming Rock and What A Winter while Flobayou and Nhlavini won it three times.

By Michael Clower