The Secret Is Out looks nailed on for the Supabets Conditions Plate at Durbanville tomorrow even though she has been off for over four months.

Good enough to win the Allan Robertson at two, she returned to the scene of that triumph in May to finish only two lengths behind Carry On Alice when third in the South African Fillies Sprint. On adjusted merit ratings she has 5.5kg in hand, she has had a gallop and Vaughan Marshall confirms that she should be fit enough to do herself justice.

MJ Byleveld’s mount was opened odds-on at 17-20 by World Sports Betting yesterday and 7-2 second favourite is Gold Image who has not raced since winning at Scottsville in the last week of July. “She hasn’t galloped but she is very quick and I think she will be competitive,” says Glen Kotzen.

Clifton Sunset (9-2) is the one closest to the favourite on ratings and this is her first race of the season. “She has been doing very well and she will be fit enough to run competitively,” says Brett Crawford who adds: “Obviously she will improve from whatever she does here.”

Red Light Girl (6-1) is the filly with the fitness advantage having taken a less than three-length fifth to last Saturday’s Diana winner Goodtime Gal in a Pinnacle at Kenilworth. That form reads well now and, while theoretically she has no chance with the favourite on the book, she could well go close. Scandola (8-1) is quite useful but she should not win.

The Marshall-Byleveld combination have a good chance of taking the first three races and in the first 17-10 favourite Red Eight is given marginal preference over What A Summer whose form reads marginally better but is badly drawn.

Red Eight, second in his last three, fought it out with Johnny Black in the final furlong of a decent maiden here ten days ago and a line through the winner suggests he can account for 13-2 chance Love Of India.

Star Of London’s promising debut four weeks ago would make her most appealing in the TAB Telebet Maiden were it not for her 17 draw. That looks the kiss of death and gives her considerably less chance than her 4-1 price would suggest.

Marshall’s 5-2 favourite Believethisbeauty, on the other hand, has a midfield draw and her experience may be enough to gain a reasonable start and get the better of 15-4 shot Spam Alert.

Race four is tricky and difficult to predict. Maybe Cape Extreme (28-10) will just be good enough although it is worth noting that the Ramsden-trained Sunset Clause (5-1) wears blinkers for the first time.

Hithimagainchuck should justify 14-10 favouritism in race seven and 35 minutes later Know The Ropes (3-1) can make it three in a row for Andre Nel.

By Michael Clower

Candice Bass-Robinson started the new feature season where she left off last season with a fine win in the Grade 3 Matchem Stakes over 1400m at Durbanville on Saturday with Our Mate Art and she also looks to have a possible Grade 1 WSB Fillies Guineas prospect in Magical Wonderland.

Bass-Robinson became the first lady trainer to win the Vodacom Durban July earlier this year and did it in her first season as a licensed trainer having taken over the reins from her legendary father Mike.

The latters greatest horse was Pocket Power and Our Mate Art carries the same blue, white and pink colours of the yard’s most loyal owner Marsh Shirtliff.

Our Mate Art is a rangy Australian-bred four-year-old gelding by the twice Grade 1-winning miler-to-1800m USA-bred Artie Schiller.

The big bay looked to always be in control of the race on Saturday once he had found cover in a handy position after a good start. He duly ran on resolutely to get the better of Table Bay, a classy sort who could well be at his best over that 1400m trip.

Bass-Robinson said, “It was the perfect race for him, a good distance and not quite against the top, top horses.”

She referred to the like of Legal Eagle and Marinaresco when qualifying the last statement.

Glen Kotzen, trainer of Gold Standard, might have had something to say about that, considering his Gold Standard finished in front of Marinaresco by 1,25 lengths in the Sun Met last year, albeit on 2kg better terms than weight for age.

Kotzen believed Gold Standard, who was having his first run since the Met, would have won on Saturday had he not been cramped between Table Bay and the rail. However, he was delighted by his 1,65 length fourth, especially in light of none of the Western Cape trainers having racecourse grass gallops available to them at present. Kotzen considers grass gallops as a vital aspect of his training program and said all of his horses had gone into Saturday’s meeting short of such a gallop. However, he was pleased that his big guns like Eyes Wide Open, Pack Leader, Too Phat To Fly, Princess Peach and Final Judgement had all pulled up well after running on a surface he described as “beautiful”.

Earlier, Bass-Robinson’s What A Winter filly Magical Wonderland turned it on in eye-catching fashion to easily win a strong Progress Plate for three-year-old fillies over 1200m.

On pedigree she will have a stamina doubt as she is by champion sprinter What A Winter and is a half-sister to the like of Grade 3-winning sprinter Magico.

However, Bass Robinson pointed out she had switched off nicely on Saturday at the back and possesses “a big turn of foot”. She believed she could get away with a mile against her own age group at this stage, just as her sire had when winning the Grade 2 Selangor Cup. However, she concluded by saying her Grade 1 WSB Fillies Guineas participation would be decided upon after her next intended run in the Grade 2 Choice Carriers Championships over 1400m at Kenilworth on October 28.

Meanwhile, Bass-Robinson’s July winner Marinaresco is in full training after enjoying a holiday at Soetendal Estate and would be taking the traditional top-horse route of Green Point Stakes, L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate and Sun Met.

Our Mate Art would also be considered for that route, although reading between the lines Bass-Robinson does not rate him quite as good as Marinaresco at this stage.

By David Thiselton

Photo: Candice Robinson (hamish NIVEN Photography)

Frankie Dettori said he was “absolutely made up” yesterday after learning superstar filly Enable will be given the chance to continue her dominance next season, as it was confirmed she would stay in training.

The John Gosden-trained five-time Group 1 winner, whose latest dazzling success came at Chantilly in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe this month, is already an extremely valuable broodmare prospect, but she will continue to race on and attempt to add more big races to her profile.

Dettori said: “I’m delighted with the news and very grateful to Prince Khalid. I went to see her this morning, gave her a few Polos and she said hello back.

“She is obviously a filly of a lifetime so I am absolutely made up that she stays in training. What she achieved this year is nothing but sensational and I look forward to riding her again next year.”

Among Enable’s potential targets is a return to France for the Arc. Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Khalid Abdullah, said in a statement: “Her racing programme will be decided in the new year, but the defence of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe will be high in consideration.”

Grimthorpe added: “It was a straightforward decision. We wanted to give her time to settle down and get over the Arc. The prince gets input from everybody. John’s views are the most important to listen to but ultimately it was his call. Prince Khalid loves to see his horses race, especially the good ones.

“With all horses you need a sound and healthy year to reproduce anywhere near what she has done this year. The Arc will be in the mind and how she gets there and what she does has to be decided. She has to get through the winter and spring and then we will see.”

Enable is 3-1 favourite to win the 2018 Arc from stablemate Cracksman who is 12-1 with Paddy Power and Coral.

Since finishing third at Newbury in April, Enable had won the Oaks, Irish Oaks, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Yorkshire Oaks by a combined total of 20 lengths.

She surpassed those feats with a commanding two-and-a-half-length victory at Chantilly, where she became the first British-trained filly or mare ever to land the Arc, carrying her partner Frankie Dettori to a record-breaking fifth success.

The race returns to Longchamp next year, where Enable could have the chance to emulate another female, Treve, who completed back-to-back Arcs in 2013 and 2014.

– racingpost.com

Winter Series winner African Night Sky, who deliberately missed last Saturday’s Matchem in order to start his campaign later, may now begin at Kenilworth on 11 November.

Jonathan Snaith said: “We are looking at the 1 400m Pinnacle that day. He will then go on to the Green Point on 2 December before running in the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate and the Sun Met.

“He is doing amazingly well and I think he will be a better horse this season. He has matured and has more substance than he did when he won the Winter Series.”

Jockeys in South Africa will be glad that they operate in a much more relaxed environment than their counterparts in Mauritius.

Robert Khathi, who has just returned from his first stint on the island, said: “The Gambling Police have taken over racing and they raid jockeys’ houses. They came knocking at my door at 10.00pm one night when I was asleep. There were 15 of them and they searched the house.”

They didn’t find anything because there was nothing to find but Khathi was struck by the general air of suspicion. “If people see two jockeys together somewhere they often seem to think they are plotting something and they will take pictures which can end up in the papers.”

Despite the unsettling circumstances Khathi did well in Mauritius and finished up equal third on the log with 14 winners from 98 rides.

He said: “My trainer, Shirish Narang, is in only his second season and, while he had no big horses, he was doing well. I am riding freelance once more and I am looking for rides.”

By Michael Clower

Gold Standard showed he is very much in contention for the two top Kenilworth races when finishing an honourable and unlucky fourth in the World Sports Betting Matchem Stakes at a packed Durbanville on Saturday.

Off for eight months, giving weight to most of the field and a gallop short, he was as friendless as if his Facebook page had been deleted and he drifted from 12-10 to 9-2. Twice he was squeezed against the rails by second-placed Table Bay – and at one stage Richard Fourie had to stop riding – yet his mount was beaten less than two lengths into fourth.

The stipes were most unhappy about the second incident and announced that they intend holding an inquiry while Fourie said: “Gold Standard is not a 1 400m horse but I would just about have won If I’d had a clear run. We are going to lock horns hard with Legal Eagle this season.”

A well-satisfied Glen Kotzen added: “It was a lovely run considering everything and it will be the Green Point next.”

Our Mate Art, the 10-1 winner, will renew rivalry in the December 2 mile Grade 2 on a kilo worse terms. He had the advantage of a recent run and Aldo Domeyer said afterwards that he always felt he was going to win.

Candice Bass-Robinson added: “He has improved since last season when he fractured a splint bone early on and when the Winter Derby was miles too far for him.”

Table Bay, who started favourite, was beaten less than half a length and Anton Marcus reported: “I thought he ran a great race.” So did the horse’s trainer but Joey Ramsden was less than happy about the training restrictions.

He said: “I was pleased with the horse and the way he settled – indeed I am not convinced that a mile will be beyond him – but I feel very let down and disappointed that I wasn’t allowed to give him a gallop.”

The jury is still out on whether La Favourari gets any further than sprint distances. Almost immediately after he was loaded Bernard Fayd’Herbe’s mount reared right up and smashed his way through the gate leaving his unfortunate rider hanging onto the uprights. The gelding had blood on his mouth when he galloped back into the parade ring and was promptly scratched.

Magical Wonderland will be tested over seven furlongs for the first time in the Choice Carriers on 28 October after stretching her unbeaten run to four with the performance of the day in the Fillies Progress Plate. The 8-1 chance, giving away lumps of weight and running for the first time since May, looked too far back to count early in the straight but, when Domeyer switched her into gear, she accelerated as if she was fitted with a supercharger.

Mrs Robinson said: “She is not very big but she is an athlete. I don’t know if she will stay the 1400m because she is a half-sister to Magico (second in the Computaform Sprint) and she is so quick.”

But Domeyer has no doubts, explaining: “What is in her favour is that she waits for you to tell her what to do, and you can pull her out without her losing momentum.”

Gimme Six, who also came from well back to take second in the Diana, will go for the top fillies races but she is the subject of a new training strategy.

Justin Snaith said: “I’m doing things differently this season in that I’m not revving the horses up for their early races. It means biting my lip but hopefully it will work.”

Goodtime Gal, backed down to 2-1 favouritism, benefitted from a typically bull-by-the-horns Marcus ride, striking for home early in the straight and Mike Robinson again has both the Majorca and the Paddock on her schedule.

Snaith took the male Progress Plate with the Grant van Niekerk-ridden Kasimir who suffered from sore shins last term – “I’m not going to run him a lot this season either but I would like to have him primed for the summer” – but the Brett Crawford-trained Umkhomazi and KZN Million winner Al Mariachi could be a better prospect. He was beaten less than three lengths into third despite conceding 6kg.

Many of the huge crowd seemed more interested in the braais than the racing but it was the largest Durbanville attendance in my near-12 years in the country. Some can remember the days when even a Wednesday meeting attracted 5 000 people but Snaith said: “It was the biggest I’ve seen here since I rode at the Cape Hunt amateur meeting 20 years ago.”

By Michael Clower