Last Winter may have missed almost all of this winter and Champions Season but Dean Kannemeyer has another live-wire in his care.

“He’s got the looks, pedigree and most importantly, a patient owner. I hope Lady Laidlaw was watching,” added Kannemeyer after his colt had stormed to a comfortable victory in the Racing.It’s A Rush Handicap at Scottsville yesterday.

Last Winter (Nkosi Hlophe)

With Lady Christine Laidlaw’s Kaya Stables having dug deep into their pockets it would have been a surprise if ‘looks and pedigree’ had not come with the R3.7 million price tag. However, ability does not always come in expensive packages but Last Winter appears to have it all, looks, pedigree and ability.

“He’s hardly raced and will be a nice four-year-old,” said Kannemeyer. “He’s been a late developer but he’s a beautifully balanced horse and I’m excited. I’m looking forward to the summer.”

“I just hope the handicappers don’t get too carried away.”

Last Winter was rated 83 after his first start and leaped to a 91 for yesterday’s race. But the son of Western Winter took the jump in his stride and put a useful field to bed comfortably. It may be wishful thinking to hope that the handicappers were asleep.

The hard-knocking Isingamoya seldom ever puts a foot wrong for Mark Dixon and the daughter of Muhtafal notched the fifth win of her career to land the Itsarush.co.za Pinnacles Stakes ahead of a useful field.

Isingamoya (Candiese Marnewick)

Surprisingly top weight Final Judgement, more at home over seven furlongs and upwards, was the tote favourite but Isingamoya, having her third run after a lay-off, motored home ahead of Elusivenchantment who came up empty over the final 100m. “She’s been working with London Call so we were pretty confident today,” said Hailey Dixon.

Duncan Howells all but nailed down the KZN trainer’s championship, winning the first two races on the card to go nine ahead of defending champion Dennis Drier. Drier seemingly can’t buy a winner, his runners finishing second in the first three races.

With just three meetings left it will take a monumental effort from Drier to retain the championship but Howells is still cautious. “Dennis is a great trainer and he doesn’t give in. I won’t rest easy until the last race is run next Sunday.”

The Howells / De Melo combination has also proved lucrative for the young rider who is having his best season ever. He cracked his century of winners for the season on Girl In Gold for Howells in the first and followed up for the stable on Up In Smoke in the second although all the money was on Emma’s Oracle.

By Andrew Harrison

The country is bracing itself with increasing anticipation for the Gold Cup Festival of Racing weekend and the Pick 6 will be a bet many will take on both days, because it has a guaranteed pool of R3,5 million on day one with an expected pool of R4 million, and a guaranteed pool of R5,5 million on day two with an expected pool of R6 million.

On day one on Saturday, the pivotal Pick 6 leg will be the Grade 1 Champions Cup over 1800m. Three horses stand out, Captain America, Marinaresco and Bela-Bela, but others have to be considered in a race which has produced upsets before.

Bela-Bela VDJ 2017 (Nkosi Hlophe)`

Captain America finished third in an ultra strong Grade 1 Sun Met over 2000m, where he beat Marinaresco by 2,55 lengths. He will have the advantage of running fresh, but Marinaresco, who is defending his crown, will now be 1,5kg better off. The latter come off his win in the Vodacom Durban July, where he proved again his love of Greyville. He beat Captain America in the Drill Hall over 1400m and his run in the Grade 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge, where comfortably beaten by Captain America, can be ignored as he was too handy in a fast run race. His wide draw of 12 will not be a problem as he will be dropped out before employing his exceptional turn of foot. A draw of ten will not be ideal for the more handy Captain America, but he overcame that identical draw in the Gold Challenge. Bela-Bela will make her swansong here. She has to reverse a 1,5 length beating by Captain America in the Gold Challenge, but she had to be steadied at the top of the straight that day and could have got closer. Two of her three Grade 1 wins have been over 1800m and 2000m respectively, but her ideal trip is a mile. Sail South came from last in the Gold Challenge and was only beaten 2,5 lengths. He is now 2kg better off, runs fresh and will be hoping for a faster pace. However, he is a horse who seldom settles and the trip will stretch him. Judicial finished second in this race last year, and his trainer Tyrone Zackey’s charges can never be written off in big races. He hasn’t run since November, but has won a Grade 2 running fresh before and has a fair draw.  Table Bay comes in relatively fresh and has a good draw. He is highly regarded and his mile form, which at one stage looked disappointing, now looks very strong. He does have to prove he stays further than a mile though. Ten Gun Salute looked to be beaten already when a horse crossed him in the VDJ, but he looks likely to appreciate the drop to this trip, having won the Betting World 1900 in exceptional style. He does have a tough task at the weights and is likely hoping for soft ground. Deo Juvente beat the like Of Legal Eagle when winning the Premier’s Champions Challenge over 2000m and now runs relatively fresh. However, he does have a tricky draw. It’s My Turn was beaten 1,4 lengths in the July and is now 4,5kg worse off with Marinaresco. However, a lot of use was made of him in the July from a wide draw and he was also given only one preparation outing going into it. With more conservative tactics from a plum draw, he could be a threat. Matador Man showed how good his turn of foot when winning the KZN Breeders Mile and his relaxed style might enable him to see out this trip, over which he is unexposed. Black Arthur ran wide in the July, but did have cover and other than having to be switched outward he had a trouble free run, so has a tough task at the weights. Brazuca also has a tough task on paper, but was caught wide in the July and might well enjoy the step down in trip. However, he does have a tricky draw.

Marinaresco (Nkosi Hlophe)

The final fields for all of the other legs still have to be announced.

In the Grade 2 Gold Bracelet over 2000m on day the Silvano filly Nightingale is the stand out horse over an ideal course and distance. Girl On The Run, Bella Sonata, Star Express, Premier Dance and Epona also have chances and amazingly are also all by Silvano. The non-Silvano challengers will be led by the unexposed Wukkin Up, Fort Ember, Captain Gambler, Witchcraft and Intergalactic.

The first leg of the Pick 6 on day one is a MR 82 Handicap over 1000m on the poly. Paul Gadsby’s trio Vision To Kill, Miss Varlicious and Gunner have all landed fair draws and are among the eye-catchers.

There should be a good pace in this race. with speedy sorts Swakopomund, Gee Whizz and Rocky Valley among the entries. Classy two-year-old Touch Of Magic is a fascinating entry.

The next race is the Listed Umgeni Handicap over 1000m on the poly. The Louis Goosen pair of fillies Effortless Reward and Hashtag Strat are immediate eye catchers from good draws among a big entry list and the up and coming Lloyd’s Legacy could be anything.

The Listed Darley Arabian over 1600m on the poly has also attracted a lot of entries and among the eye catchers are last year’s winner MacDuff, the twice winner of this race, Night Trip as well as Table Bay, Irish Pride, Celtic Captain, Copper Pot, No Worries and Gingerbread Man.

The last leg is a maiden over 1800m on the turf and Texas Sky and Turf Conqueror are two who catch the eye among a huge entry list.

By David Thiselton

Durban July hero Marinaresco, so far a seemingly rock-solid favourite to repeat last year’s win in the World Sports Betting Champions Cup, is reported very much on target for Saturday’s Greyville Grade 1.

Candice Bass-Robinson said: “He was on easy work for two weeks or so after the July. He doesn’t take a lot but he worked last week and will do so again this week. He is fit and well, and ready to go.”

The Vodacom showpiece, although completed in fast time, was marked by a moderate early gallop and Mrs Robinson said: “I think the race could be run differently this time with different tactics but it all depends on what they do with Captain America and on whether he goes to the front. It would suit us to have a pace.”

Marinaresco is 18-10 favourite with the sponsors while Captain America shares second spot with Bela-Bela on 9-2. Other prices are 8-1 It’s My Turn, 10-1 Table Bay, 12-1 Black Arthur, 16-1 Deo Juvente, Brazuca, Ten Gun Salute, 20-1 Sail South, 25-1 Judicial, Matador Man.

Betting World goes fractionally shorter about the favourite at 17-10 with Captain America on 9-2 and Bela-Bela on 5-1.

By Michael Clower

South Africa’s thoroughbred studs are producing world-class racehorses and many of them will be clashing over 1 600m in the two final juvenile feature events of the season at Greyville in Durban on Sunday, July 30, the second day of the Gold Cup Festival of Racing Weekend.

Captain And Master (Nkosi Hlophe)

The meeting, that is headed by the R1.25-million, eLan Gold Cup, is the grand finale to South Africa’s Champions Season 2017 and the 2016-2017 South African racing season and results of the major races on the day could have an important influence on the annual Equus Awards in August.

The juvenile programme in KwaZulu-Natal is run at Scottsville and Greyville during South Africa’s Champions Season and starts with the Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion and the Allan Robertson Championship over 1 200m at Scottsville before the 1 400m clashes in the Durban Golden Horseshoe and Gold Circle Golden Slipper at Greyville on Vodacom Durban July Day to the Premier’s Champion Stakes and Thekwini Stakes that close off the programme over 1 600m on eLan Gold Cup Day at the end of July.

A tribute to South African breeders is that only one of the 31 horses carded for the two races this year was not bred in this country so the likely major players in both races will be locally-bred horses.

In the R750 000, Grade 1 Premier’s Champion Stakes champion trainer Sean Tarry holds a strong hand, saddling three runners that include the winner and third-placed horses from the Durban Golden Horseshoe, Purple Diamond and Captain And Master with Warrior’s Rest completing the team.

Desert Rythym (Nkosi Hlophe)

However, as strong as the Tarry team appears to be, they could be upstaged on this occasion by the Joey Ramsden-trained Oratorio colt Ancestry that was just a head behind Purple Diamond in second place at the line.

Tarry will also be strongly fancied to win both juvenile races on the day as he did on Vodacom Durban July day, with his Mambo In Seattle filly Desert Rhythm that won the Gold Circle Golden Slipper, looking to have a chance of completing the double by winning the Thekwini Stakes.

Let It Flow, that ran second to her that day by a length, is not in the race with her closest rival from that encounter, stable companion Rockin Russian, having to make up two lengths to turn the tables.

But, there is another special filly in the race and she is the Dennis Drier-trained daughter of Dynasty, Lady In Black. She is unbeaten in two starts and all the talk has been about her being something special and a filly with a bright future.

She has yet to meet this level of competition but she is likely to be one of the shorter-priced runners in the race and will command the greatest respect as a major challenger to Desert Rhythm.

By Richard McMillan

Highveld trainer Weiho Marwing will bid to win the unofficial “stayers triple crown” when he saddles his four-year-old Ideal World gelding Hermoso Mundo for the R1.25-million, eLan Gold Cup over 3 200m at Greyville in Durban on Sunday, July 30.

The gelding has won the 3 200m Gold Bowl at Turffontein and the Grade 3 SABC Gold Vase over 3 000m at Greyville in his last two starts and will confirm his status as the country’s champion stayer if he can lift the ultimate marathon challenge title on the second day of the Gold Cup Festival of Racing Weekend at the Theatre of Champions at the end of the month.

Weiho Marwing (Nkosi Hlophe)

Marwing has proved time and again that he is one of the best conditioners of long distance runners and with brother Weichong in the saddle for this important encounter, Hermoso Mundo has a good chance of completing the treble. The record shows that the further they go the more he loves it and in winning the Gold Bowl he humiliated his opposition in winning by 5.25 lengths.

Completing the treble may not be that easy in the eLAN Gold Cup where he will meet, among other top stayers, the four-year-old Captain Al gelding from the Justin Snaith stable, Captain Splendid, that beat Hermoso Mundo by about a head only to be denied victory in the steward’s boardroom after an objection in the SABC Gold Vase. Piere Strydom, a master at judging pace, retains the ride on Captain Splendid and this time his mount will be 2kg better off in the weights with the Marwing runner.

Hermoso Mundo received a six-point penalty for his win in the SABC Gold Vase while Captain Splendid escaped a penalty and the difference could well have its effect over the extra 200m of this race.

But both could be upstaged by the Mike de Kock-trained Australian-bred gelding Kinaan, the four-year-old son of one of the world’s leading sires Galileo, that finished third in the SABC Gold Vase just 1.55 lengths behind the other two. He is again set to carry the low weight of 52.5kg which will be in his favour over this longer trip with top rider Callan Murray, back from a stint in Hong Kong, in the irons.

Others that could feature in the finish are Krambambuli, Mr Winsome, Trophy Wife, Banner Hill and Zante but it is the top three finishers in the SABC Gold Vase that could hold the aces in what should be a great race to bring the curtain down on South Africa’s Champions Season 2017.

By Richard McMillan