Tap O’Noth and White River, separated by only half a length in Saturday’s Forus Cape Guineas, will have a rematch in the Investec Cape Derby on Met day. And it’s quite possible that third-placed Like A Panther, who has already won over ten furlongs, will throw down the gauntlet to both of them.

Saturday’s Kenilworth Grade 1 triumph was as much a vindication of Vaughan Marshall’s judgement as of his training skills because he predicted that this could be Guineas winner number five when the Captain Al colt made a winning debut eight months earlier.

Marshall said: “He is a very good horse and he has done everything we asked him to do. It would be unfair to any of them to compare him with my previous Guineas winners but he is up there with them.”

Tap O’Noth (Liesl King)

The Milnerton trainer was quick to rule out suggestions of a possible Queen’s Plate challenge, saying: “Slowly, slowly. We will go for the Derby next.”

The Captain Al colt started 4-1 favourite and is the third Grade 1 winner bred by Alec and Gillian Foster. He is also the third Guineas winner for MJ Byleveld whose arm-raised victory salute revealed some of the pressure he had been under to get it right from that dreadful draw.

He got across alright but he was only able to slot in with more than half the field in front of him. “It wasn’t easy and I would like to have been a bit closer,” he admitted. “In the straight it opened up and when I asked him he turned it on a bit too quickly. As a result I might have been in front a little too early but he stayed on like a good horse.”

White River wore ear muffs but no muzzle and indeed there was no repeat of the attempted opposition-biting of the Selangor and Greg Cheyne said: “He is still a bit immature and mentally he is still not quite there either but he has huge potential.”

Brett Crawford added: “He is a Derby horse. He is still a big baby, though, and still learning.”

Interestingly Anton Marcus expressed similar sentiments about Like A Panther, saying: “The penny hasn’t quite dropped yet but it will and I thought this was a good run. He is a staying type.”

The disappointment of the race was Do It Again who was backed from 8-1 to 5-1 second favourite but lost ground at the start and managed only ninth.

Justin Snaith, although delighted with fourth-placed Cot Campbell, shouldered the blame. “I debated whether to give Do It Again another gallop beforehand. I decided to do so and I shouldn’t have. This was a flat run.”

Pack Leader, sixth and only beaten two and a half lengths, was unlucky not to finish significantly closer because he was hampered on three separate occasions in the straight.

Bold Respect (12^th) dropped right back in the closing stages but suspicions that this could be more than just lack of stamina could not be confirmed by the vet who reported that nothing showed up. Undercover Agent (tenth) and Sir Frenchie (last) were both reported unusually fatigued.

By Michael Clower

Despite some doubters, barrier trials are starting to show their worth with two trialists, Good Buddy and Anza-Borrego, filling the first two places on the card opener, a maiden for juveniles, at Scottsville yesterday.

Things may have been different had the heavily supported debutant Divine Path not pulled a shoe on the canter down and failing the vet at the start but as things panned out Good Buddy, who had caught the eye in his trial, proved the stronger getting home by just over a length from Anza-Borrego who had finished third in his trial behind Friday’s night’s Greyville winner, The Bayou.

The Duncan Howells-trained Love Theme looked to be an early Christmas gift for punters after the tribulations of her last start but as it turned out, victory was not quite as straight forward as many would have hoped.

Anton Marcus

Up with the pace throughout, she took the scenic route with Anton Marcus testing both sides of the track before winning rather comfortably. It was a win full of merit and when the penny eventually drops, Love Theme could develop into something useful.

Marcus completed a double for Duncan Howells with a hard-fought victory aboard Gingerbread Man in the sixth. In a small field, Marcus made sure he stayed connected to light-weight pacemaker Bling Swing with Draugluin at his quarters.

Marcus made an early move at the top of the straight but the opposition was far from done. Draugluin challenged but couldn’t get past and Bling Swing and Warfarer refused to go away.

However, Gingerbread Man, who looked a spent force with a furlong to run, suddenly picked it up again and crossed the line going away with ears pricked.

Catching shadows was what the opposition were left to do in the Tack & Ball Gaming Maiden as Shadow Catcher barrelled home for Dennis Bosch. Commentator Sheldon Peters called it a dozen lengths, the official margin was 9.5 – I think I would have gone with Peters.

Ivan and Darryl Moore, grandfather and grandson, teamed up with Ballymaine in the fourth, beating home Root Beer and Star Of Kazan with the apprentice rider not making the most of lightly weighted favourite Making Miracles back in fourth.

The Money Man and Toa Nui were involved in a bit of argy-bargy in the fifth with Toa Nui getting the upper hand in the struggle. The stipendiary stewards took a dim view of proceedings and demoted Toa Nui to second in the boardroom.

Louis Goosen, successful with the giant Haddington on Friday, rounded off his weekend with a double as Shwanky had her consistency rewarded with an almost end-to-end victory in the Gold Circle Facebook Handicap. Gunter Wrogemann was on his bike early and some determined opposition proved no match.

By Andrew Harrison

Do It Again and White River may follow him home.

Marshall, not a man given to mistaking his geese for swans, has been talking of this colt being a possible Guineas winner since he first saw a racecourse and he has won three out of four, albeit in workmanlike rather than spectacular fashion.

He is 9-2 favourite yet this is a doubtful honour – seven of the last ten Guineas favourites have been beaten – and the 14 draw is difficult to say the least.

Rocket Countdown (7-1) surprised everybody in the Selangor but, as his trainer said here on Wednesday, he won the race fair and square. He has also won his last three and is clearly on the upgrade. Interestingly the SA horseracing computer says he will win from Do It Again and Tap O’Noth with White River fourth.

Captain And Master

Only three horses have completed the Selangor-Guineas double in the last ten years but three times during that period the Guineas winner had finished second or third in the Selangor.

White River was only beaten half a length despite trying to bite the winner and victory would come as no surprise but, if the favourite is to be beaten, Do It Again (also a 13-2 chance) looks a better bet. He had won his previous two and he might well be going into this unbeaten had he had a clear run in the Selangor. He also lost ground at the start that day.

Bold Respect (8-1) had a terrible draw to overcome in the Lanzerac Ready To Run and he should confirm the placings with the again badly-drawn 16-1 shot Pack Leader and Sir Frenchie (12-1), although it’s worth noting that the last-named had to be switched twice.

Sean Tarry runs three headed by Ready To Run disappointment Wonderwall, 14-1 and the mount of Piere Strydom. But how on earth do the handicappers rate him seven points better than anything else in the race?

Captain And Master (9-1) only managed sixth in the Selangor and 20-1 shot Purple Diamond  seventh in the Ready To Run. It’s hard to envisage either turning the tables on the leading locals.

Mike de Kock, like Marshall, is bidding for his fifth Cape Guineas. Both 10-1 chance Sir David Baird and Like A Panther (12-1) have top jockeys and have the form to run well but neither stands out as a likely winner.

Undercover Agent (8-1), on the other hand, was only beaten three-quarters of a length by Tap O’Noth in the Cape Classic and Brett Crawford believes he has found out why the colt failed to reproduce his best in the Selangor when “he hung in the straight and never really got galloping properly.” He also believes that he has corrected the niggles that caused this.

Cot Campbell has apparently been working in a way that makes a mockery of his 25-1 price but he looks held on his Cape Classic run.

Last Winter is a 20-1 chance for the Sun Met and those odds could tumble if the Dean Kannemeyer stable star keeps his unbeaten record in the Forus Premier Trophy.  Anthony Delpech’s mount meets class opposition for the first time in his life but, on the way he won at Durbanville and on the amount he appeared to have in hand, he should win.

By Michael Clower

Unfancied on debut, she put up a smart showing at long odds on the Greyville poly but it was four months before she saw the racetrack again, this time the Greyville turf, and she turned in another good effort behind Cause And Effect. The step up in trip tonight should also suit.

Likely opposition are Holy Flame and Viva Le Bleu, the former looking the more dangerous. A beaten favourite in the soft over the Scottsville mile last time out, Holy Flame makes her poly debut and that, coupled with a drop in trip give her a strong chance.

Accidental Tourist (Candiese Marnewick)

With Drier in Cape Town for their summer season, Summerveld assistant Stuart Ferrie could be in front of the cameras again after the fourth where he saddles Biometric. The gelding came up one short when sent out favourite for his last race and sports blinkers for the first time. He looks the part here but blinkers have seen Whiteleaf Hills improve for Alistair Gordon and Paul Gadsby has had similar ideas with Emerald Victory also racing in blinkers for the first time.

Winning four races on the bounce is a tall order but Accidental Tourist appears capable in the sixth. Duncan Howells’s runner has stepped up to the plate and denied the handicappers twice in succession and got a further 4 pounds for her most recent win. However, she has taken to the poly track and the step up in trip could also be in her favour.

It won’t be easy however, as she faces a number of in-form opposition including Spring In Seattle, Moon Princess and Strategic Move.

The Dean Kannemeyer yard has hit form with a vengeance of late and Gadget Man will be out to extend his winning run of victories in the seventh. He took to the poly last time out in spite of drifting alarmingly in the market. He does not have the best of the draw but he is now hitting his straps and given his pedigree the step up in trip should be what he is looking for.

Savuti was a winner on Wednesday so is unlikely to take his place in the final race of the evening but Brett Crawford has ample back-up in Scriptwriter who made a promising local debut on the poly. He drops back to a mile and could prove too swift for top weight Haddington who, although having won over course and distance, could well be more at home over a touch further.

By Andrew Harrison

That fervour was dampened as his long anticipated debut proved to be a major disappointment as much for Mike Azzie as for the racing public in general, not to mention Piere Strydom who was the unfortunate jockey aboard.

Hat Puntano hardly raised a gallop and was eventually eased out of the race.

Hat Puntano

The critics were quickly onto social media hinting that South Africa had been sold another ‘lemon’.

But some serious introspection and a visit to a specialist bit-maker based in Pietermaritzburg got things back on track although after his debut flop, Hat Puntano was easy to back for the Charity Mile where he shouldered top weight.

The race proved a major turnaround in fortunes as Grant van Niekerk set for home with a wet sail and the Argentinian champion showed his worth by putting a high-class field to the sword for a much relieved trainer.

Azzie and son Adam, saddle the colt in a Pinnacle Stakes event at Turffontein tomorrow and given his Charity Mile performance and the weight structure, he looks impossible to oppose. Victory here will also set him up nicely for the Gr1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate to be run in early January.

Sean Tarry saddles three runners, best of which may be Social Order, runner-up to Hat Puntano in the Charity Mile. More was expected of Social Order in the Summer Cup where he finished seven lengths adrift of his lesser fancied stable companion Liege but he is capable of much better than that. However, given that this is a set weights event, Social Order will be hard-pressed to turn the tables on Hat Puntano.

Unagi has come well for Garry Alexander and comes into the race off a string of two wins on the bounce. He is obviously useful on his day but like all the field, he has it all to do against the top weight.

French Navy has not won a race in over two years but was finishing strongly behind Hat Puntano in the Charity Mile and was not too far behind Liege in the Summer Cup after jumping from a wide draw. He is also better off at the weights with Hat Puntano than Social Order but his current winning record is a concern.

Of the balance, Matador Man and Romany Prince have upset chances but given the Charity Mile result and the weight structure here, it will take a good one to beat Hat Puntano.

By Andrew Harrison