Justin Snaith will gallop African Night Sky at 11.30am – an hour before racing -at Kenilworth on Saturday in order to put the Winter Series winner on track for the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and the Sun Met. The stable’s carefully mapped-out plans were thwarted when the Jet Master Stakes was postponed until February.

African Night Sky (Michael Price)

Snaith said yesterday: “He will work over 1 400m with Elusive Silva (Grant van Niekerk) and the relative weights of the two jockeys works out well because I am looking for a bit of gut-buster for African Night Sky.”

In the meantime Snaith is hoping that his recent rich vein of form holds for Saturday’s Forus Cape Guineas in which he has 7-1 shot Do It Again as well as 12-1 chance Sir Frenchie and 25-1 outsider Cot Campbell.

He said: “We are in a good place with the horses at the moment and Do It Again (Fayd’Herbe) did a good gallop last week. We have been waiting for the longer run-in with him because he always comes from too far back and he found trouble in the straight in the Selangor. Had it not been for that I think he would have won.

“Having Callan Murray will help Sir Frenchie’s chances. The horse is well and enjoying his racing but I just wonder if he is good enough to win the Guineas. Only the race will tell.

“Cot Campbell (Van Niekerk)  has twice found trouble on the inside fence. He had to switch out and he wasn’t beaten far in the Cape Classic or the Ready To Run. He galloped particularly well last week – actually it surprised me how well he did work – and it was certainly good enough for him to be a contender.”

By Michael Clower

Brighteyebushytail is a name more fitting of a tree squirrel than a racehorse but the racehorse of that name would hardly care what his name is. Duncan Howells, who saddled a double at Greyville on Sunday, appears to have a decent sophomore on his hands and the son of Dynasty looks destine for far better things than the Excel Tax & Accounting MR 66 Handicap that he contests at Greyville tomorrow.

Duncan Howells

The colt finished well down the field in his sprint debut but is unbeaten in two over ground. He shed his maiden beating the well fancied Kapen Pride who has since franked that form and then got up to beat the giant Haddington at his last outing. Louis Goosen’s gelding has paid tribute to that form, winning three times since.

If there is a chink in Brighteyedbushytail’s armour it is that he has not been out since late August but even if he steps onto the track a little ring-rusty he should still have too much class for the opposition.

Anton Marcus has been conspicuous by his presence at Ashburton on some mornings and is picking the plums in the Howells string. Byline has the worst of the draw in the Say NO to Violence Maiden Plate, always a major disadvantage over 1400m on the Greyville turf, but Graham Elliot’s home-bred is a winner without a penalty. She should never have been beaten by stable companion Roy’s Kaitrina last time out and with Marcus aboard there are unlikely to be any mistakes tomorrow.

Kinsky’s Crusade can open proceedings in spite of her disappointing last effort over 1600m. Corine Bestel’s filly may have found the trip too far as her sprint form was promising. She drops back to the minimum trip here and with blinkers on for the first time the balance of the field are likely to be doing the chasing come the final furlong.

Mighty Mercury looks the part in the second where he is rated a couple of kilos better than his opposition. Charles Laird’s runner contested an apprentice handicap last time out that turned into a race of pot luck, but prior to that got to wining a neck of Winter Blues with Marcus in the irons. This will be his third run after a break and he makes a lot of appeal. Captain Cobalt seems to prefer the poly after a below par performance on the turf last time out and along with Fives Wild is the pick of the balance.

Wendy Whitehead appears to have a smart filly in the making in Twice As Smart who stepped out of the maidens into a tough handicap and finish second to Accidental Tourist who was recording her third win on the bounce. That win earned her a further two-point rise in the handicap but that should not be enough to stop her here although she does faces some seasoned older horses.

By Andrew Harrison

The Western Cape Equine Trust, which finds new homes for retired racehorses, has lost much valuable equipment as a result of a break-in at its Philippi stables.

Committee member Leigh Taberer said yesterday: “The tack room was cleaned out and we lost our saddles, bridles, lead reins, halters and blankets despite our having serious locks on the front gates and on the tack room door.”

The Trust is appealing for donations of second-hand tack. Anybody with anything suitable is asked to contact Ms Taberer on 071-226 6999.

By Michael Clower

The Eric Sands filly has shown superior form to this opposition and is rated the best of them. “She got injured and she then had an abscess,” says her trainer, explaining the lengthy absence. But will she needs the run? “I hope not and she has had a gallop here.”

Eric Sands (hamishNIVENPhotography)

She opened at 22-10 with World Sports Betting on Sunday and was 2-1 yesterday. The Dennis Drier newcomer Sunshine Mint is second favourite at 33-10 with Vice Versa on 7-2. This Brett Crawford runner did not get a clear run on debut and rates the danger ahead of the Snaith filly Spam Alert (5-1).

Aldo Domeyer’s mount Waterbaby is a 9-1 shot and has been off since August. “She cracked her pelvis in her last race so she will probably need it a bit,” says Paul Reeves.

His Photocopy reverts to 1 200m in the TAB Telebet Maiden 35 minutes later and is 22-10 favourite but the shorter trip may not be in the colt’s favour. “He is not a sprinter but he has been haemo-concentrating,” says the trainer, explaining the drop in trip (haemo-concentrating does not have as much impact in sprints).  “We are hoping to get a win out of him before he is gelded, and he is fit and well in himself.”

In the circumstances, though, the vote goes to Bernard Fayd’Herbe’s mount Count Rosberg (33-10) although there is not much in it between him and 5-1 shot Strabo on their last run.

Andre Nel has been having a quiet spell by his standards – even though Hoist The Mast so nearly did it in the Southern Cross – but Washington Square (28-10) may have come on enough to confirm last time’s placings with 19-10 favourite Inertia in the Tabonline.co.za Maiden.

Tyrandeus looks a big price at 15-2 on the form he showed the first time but he has been well beaten twice subsequently. “We gelded him and he is having his first run since,” says Candice Bass-Robinson. “He is a nice horse but he needs to strengthen up more.”

With the Snaith horses in such form Tease at 2-1 is given marginal preference over 17-10 favourite Dynasty’s Blossom in the Betting World Maiden (race four) while Make It Raine gets the vote in the Supabets Handicap despite the strong claims of Sassy Lady, Sun At Midnight and Swift Dancer.

By Michael Clower

It’s been a tough week for Markus Jooste but at least Just Sensual did him proud by getting up in the dying centimetres of the SW Security Solutions Southern Cross Stakes in the teeth of a gale at Kenilworth on Saturday.

From the stands it looked as if Donovan Dillon had just held on to spring a 66-1 shock on Hoist The Mast – Anton Marcus thought so too – but the camera showed that last year’s Cape Fillies Guineas winner had won for the sixth time.

Off for over five months and running over the shortest trip of her life, this was some training performance and Joey Ramsden disclosed: “She is not the biggest so her runs are limited and you have to plan them. I now think that the Garden Province at the end of last season was probably a race too many.

Just Sensual (Liesl King)

“She will go for the other fillies’ sprint (Sceptre on 5 January) but we might also do the Majorca with her too.”

Jooste, leading owner for every one of the past ten seasons, has put an enormous amount into racing and his investment has been a major contributor to employment. He may shy away from the spotlight in victory – a smiling “I’m not allowed to speak to the Press”  is normally all you ever get out of him – but he has given racing manager Derek Brugman free rein.

Plans for the horses, and observations about them, are happily given for onward distribution to the public, and no question is ever shirked or side-stepped. The horses are run openly and honestly while his trainers are positively encouraged to take each other on.

Sometimes the wrong horses win but never once have I heard a racecourse punter complain about the way they have been run. And in a sport where accusations are bandied about as freely as losing Tote tickets (and often as a direct result), that is a statement that speaks for itself.

If, as seems inevitable, he has to cut right back some people will find it easier to win races but many will be out of a job, some of the top stables will be decimated and the bloodstock industry (which he has heavily supported through Klawervlei and at the CTS sales) will take a serious knock.

But back to Kenilworth where Justin Snaith landed a four-timer to take his haul to 13 of the 27 races run in Cape Town so far this month.  Three of Saturday’s winners  were ridden by Grant van Niekerk who looks like being the major beneficiary should Bernard Fayd’Herbe decide against trying to starve himself within striking distance of 55kg to partner Snowdance in the Majorca on the richest day of the season.

Snaith said: “At this stage it’s Grant, otherwise it would be Anton Marcus. But Grant is putting in quite a bit of work in the yard and that is what is likely to get him the ride.”

Friendly Tibbs, described in the racecard as a reliable veteran and by Piet Steyn as “rough and tough like his trainer,” won for the eighth time in 71 starts in the 1 800m handicap despite seldom seeing his stable. He is kept in a paddock night and day to stop him box-walking. He cost a mere R20 000 yet his winnings now exceed R600 000.

 Sean Veale has been suspended for a week (17-23 December) for interference on fourth-placed Anime in the race won by Red Ginger.

By Michal Clower