Kenilworth today sees seven fancied rides for Callan Murray, the first Dan Katz runners for Hassen Adams and, perhaps above all else, Power Grid out to prove that last time’s giant-killing performance was no fluke.

Three of the Murray rides are favourites and two more are second favourites. He has only limited experience of what can be a deceptively difficult course – such rare visitors tend to underestimate the impact of the head winds and go too fast or too early – but he had five rides on Lanzerac day last November and won the Kenilworth Cup on Smart Mart for Mike de Kock.

“He is a top jockey and I feel he is going to have a good day,” says Snaith who, pressed to name those he fancies most, singles out Dynamic Diana in race two – “She was unlucky first time and I think she will run a stormer.”

Unfortunately so do the bookmakers and World Sports Betting have her far shorter than any of the other Murray rides at 6-10. Lady Sutton at 7-2 is the only other in the field on offer at less than 10-1.

Murray should also win the first on 15-10 favourite Varside even though this one carries a red warning light after proving expensive to follow. He has finished second or third in all his last five runs and started either favourite on second favourite in the last four. Such horses tend to go on proving vulnerable.

Above Eleven (33-10) has sound claims in race four. She is rated 4.5kg better than 3-1 shot I Am Captain but is meeting what surely represents Katz’s best chance of the day on 5.5kg worse than weight for age. Know The Ropes is favourite at 28-10, wears blinkers for the first time and may beat them both.

The one race in which Murray does not have a ride is the 2 400m Tabonline Maiden and this looks good for Aldo Domeyer’s mount Rokatenda even though the 8-10 price is pretty miserly.

Power Grid, though, appears to be the bet of the day despite his famous flying fetlock. When he lowered the colours of Tevez and Silicone Valley in last month’s Pinnacle I calculate that he ran to a rating of 95 or 96. The handicappers were only allowed to put him up six points – which they did – and so in the Interbet.co.za Handicap he runs off a mark of 84.

In other words he has 5kg in hand. You don’t need me to remind you that plenty of such racing certainties get stuffed but Andries Steyn reports the horse in great form and the 11-2 on offer looks unbelievably – and uncharacteristically – generous.

By Michael Clower

Anthony Delpech is part of the Rest of The World Team’s taking place at Ascot in England in Saturday’s Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup 2017, the world’s premier international jockeys’ team competition that includes a ladies team headed by Emm-Jayne Wilson.

Delpech, from South Africa, and Japan’s Keita Tosaki are both making their Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup and British debuts. Delpech, 48, champion jockey in South Africa in 1998/1999 and 2002/03, has ridden internationally, while Tosaki, 37, has been the Japan Racing Association’s top rider for the last three years.

Kerrin McEvoy is making his second appearance at the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup and will captain the Rest of The World Team. Formerly a Godolphin stable jockey, the Australian guided Rule Of Law to victory in the 2004 St Leger at Doncaster and has ridden three winners at Royal Ascot. The 36-year-old captured the Melbourne Cup for the second time in November.

Canada’s Emma-Jayne Wilson, the most successful female jockey of all-time in her homeland, is riding at her sixth Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup. She captained The Girls Team to a historic victory in the 2015 Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup and will be in charge again this year.

Australia’s Michelle Payne became the first female rider to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015 on 100/1 outsider Prince of Penzance. She also makes her Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup debut.

– Ascot Racecourse

The new season may be only a week old but the rich Ready To Run races are seemingly already acting as an irresistible magnet – and one of the first things Joey Ramsden said after Wine Festival ran away with a 1 400m maiden at Kenilworth yesterday was that she is qualified for one of the best of them.

This filly, owned by a quartet that includes the trainer’s partner Steph Grentell, was backed down to odds-on and drew further and further away under Grant van Niekerk to score by more than five lengths.

Ramsden said: “I am not sure about the quality of the rest of the field but this is a lovely rangy filly.”

The start was delayed for ten minutes after some of the jockeys spotted what looked like a dangerous patch close to the inside rail. “It turned out to be just an old divot but felt we couldn’t take any chances,” explained senior stipe Nick Shearer.

A bigger problem for Ramsden was his left hand, bandaged after painfully making contact with a red hot hob when he was cooking some bacon. He ended up in hospital.

Seemingly Riaan van Reenen’s problems were more with the Almighty after running Janice’s Secret in totally unsuitable conditions a fortnight ago. “It was p***ing with rain that time, she hated it and I couldn’t sleep for days afterwards,” he related. “But I was blessed when they postponed the meeting after the rain came down again last Tuesday.”

Richard Fourie completed the benediction by bringing the 9-2 chance with a strong run to lead 50m out. Fourie had already scored on Tripple Explosion for Glen Kotzen – when 17-20 favourite Captain Ram flopped and was found to be not striding out. Kotzen also scored with Essenceoflife and he and Fourie completed trebles with Dragon Flame in the last.

But it was 26-year-old Mauritian Akshay Balloo who stole the riding honours – quite literally on the Glen Puller-trained Flying Ryan in the Tabonline.co.za Handicap. He pinched a five-length lead on the 61-10 chance and, despite dropping his whip inside the final furlong, the advantage he gained was enough to keep him in front to the line.

Two races later he doubled up, for the third time in his career, when getting up in the final stride of the 1 200m handicap on Storm Front. Maybe he was fortunate to find a gap big enough to drive a bus through but the acceleration he persuaded the Eric Sands runner to produce was more reminiscent of a Ferrari.

Vaughan Marshall scratched two horses with pharyngitis but there was nothing wrong with Captain Falcon (Van Niekerk) who made no mistake after being heavily backed in the first despite being “a big baby and still very green.”

BLOB The Gnostic Wholistic Festival packed the top two floors of the grandstand and the Psychic (at R60 a time) proved a big draw. Madam Irma had travelled from Pretoria and, according to her reports, she had no problem forecasting one winner after another.

By Michael Clower

Darryl Hodgson has brought the curtain down on a training career spanning more than 40 years and has become racing manager for his boss Hassen Adams.

Dan Katz, Hodgson’s assistant for the past eight years, has taken over Adams’ private stable at Milnerton. He trained for a time in the 1990s and has his first runners in his new role at Kenilworth tomorrow.

Hodgson, 67, said yesterday: “I’ve had lots of highs and lows as a trainer, the highpoints being the Met with Past Master (2011) and the Queen’s Plate with I’m Taking It 20 years earlier. But there have been many others including the Guineas with State Control, two Fillies Guineas and Vesta who won three Group 1s as well as finishing second in both the colts Guineas and the Derby.

“My new job is to alleviate a lot of the equine work from Hassen’s load, as he is such a busy man, both on the racing front and on the stud sorting out horses for the various sales.”

Last year’s Durban July winner The Conglomerate has recovered well from the operation he had to remove a chip from his near-fore joint but it would appear that he is not certain to race again.

Joey Ramsden said: “He will be out for quite a while and I will speak to Derek Brugman about him but everyone, including Markus Jooste, is keen for him to retire sound.”

By Michael Clower

One of the unluckiest horses in Equus Awards history has been the Sean Tarry-trained Carry On Alice and there is a chance she might be denied for the fourth time in succession.

 

Carry On Alice won one Grade 1 in each of her first three seasons. However, in her fourth and final term just passed, she boosted both her Equus Champion Sprinter and Equus Champion Older Female award chances by winning two Grade 1s in a season for the first time.

 

However, her stable companion Bull Valley then joined her on two Grade 1 sprint victories when landing the Mercury Sprint.

 

A strong Champion Sprinter case can also be made for the Mike de Kock-trained Rafeef.

 

The panellists will have had a hard time separating this trio.

 

Carry On Alice won the Grade 1 weight for age Betting World Cape Flying Championship over 1000m and the Grade 1 SA Fillies Sprint, a level weights championship race for females over 1200m.

 

Bull Valley’s weight for age Mercury Sprint 1200m win followed his victory in the Tsogo Sun Sprint, a handicap over 1200m in which he carried third top weight of 58kg and won comfortably by 1,5 lengths.

 

However, Rafeef was unbeaten in four races from 1000-1400m during the season. In his only ever attempt at the minimum trip of 1000m he won the Grade 1 weight for age Computaform Sprint impressively by a cosy 1,3 lengths. Significantly, he beat third-placed Carry On Alice by 1,6 lengths in the latter race. Earlier, Rafeef won the Gr 2 Hawaii Stakes over 1400m.

 

Carry On Alice’s other sprint races during the season saw her finishing second in two Grade 2s and winning a Pinnacle Stakes event.

 

However, Bull Valley also won a Listed sprint over 1000m, which puts him on top in terms of stakes sprint wins for the season. In his other sprints he finished second and fourth in two Grade 2 sprints respectively.

 

The Older Female category will have been a boat race between Carry On Alice and Bela-Bela. 

 

Bela-Bela also won two Grade 1s during the season. However, significantly, both were against the girls, whereas Carry On Alice beat the boys in a weight for age Grade 1. On the other hand Bela-Bela’s 3,75 length demolition of a top class field in the Grade 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes over 1600m was undoubtedly the most impressive performance by a filly during the season. Bela-Bela also had a weight for age Grade 1 third against the boys to her name and ended her career by finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Champions Cup over 1800m against the boys. 

 

The Older Female award will thus have been as difficult for the panellists as the Sprinter award.     

 

It will be tough for Carry On Alice’s connections to endure yet another Equus Awards disappointment.

 

Maybe the panellists will have been swayed by her overall career record coupled with her Equus Awards emptyhandedness. If not, it will be no surprise to see her given a special Equus award.

By David Thiselton