Cape Town handicapper Ken Nicol, handed the retrenchment red card by the National Horseracing Authority, aims to stay in racing either as a handicapper overseas or as a journalist.

Ken Nicol (hamish NIVEN Photography)

He said yesterday: “I’ve been in racing for quite a while, firstly in computers and as a jockey’s agent. I also owned a couple of horses and spent five years with the Sporting Post before becoming a handicapper in 2010. Now I want to continue my involvement with the game.”

Nicol, 55, will be a serious loss to the local handicapping scene. He made a point of going into the parade ring before each race to study the horses, see which were fit and which weren’t, and which were playing up, showing signs of nerves or anything else that might stop them running up to their best. Those taking over his job from TV screens in their offices in Johannesburg and Durban won’t find this so easy.

By Michael Clower

The Vaal has an eight race meeting tomorrow and punters look to have some fair chances.

Gavin Lerena (Supplied)

The first over 1000m is full of intrigue as it sees a number of two-year-olds taking on older horses in a maiden. The first-timer two-year-old from the Johan Janse van Vuuren yard, Radiant Cut, is the only filly in the field but being by Var and a half-sister to the useful Gr 3-winning sprint-miler Brilliant Cut she should have a fine chance from a plum low draw. She only has to carry 54,5kg.

Imperial Past has the advantage of being a three-year-old who only has to give his male two-year-old rivals here 3kg as opposed to the 8,5kg he would have to give them if it were a weight for age race. He showed good pace over 1200m on debut and should have come on from the run. He was over racing early and was reported to have made a breathing noise, so should relish the step down in trip too.

Captain Kangaroo is an interesting two-year-old male here. He was well beaten on debut over 1160m, but he showed excellent early pace in a decent field and should come on from the run. Significantly, Gavin Lerena has stuck with him.

Bravo Zulu wouldn’t be described as a scopey sort, but has some pace and was quite close to Laurent du Var last time and the latter went on to finish second in a Gr 3. The three-year-old Jet Sailor can earn on his best form, while the first-timer Brigtnumberten is speedily bred being by Eightfold Path out of a mare who won by 5,5 lengths on debut over 800m.

The Great Duchess has been chosen as the value bet of the day and she runs in race two, a maiden for fillies and mares over 1000m. She is a big, improved horse who will be staying on strongly from her unfavourable high draw. She is against her own gender here after running well in a mixed maiden field last time.

Sean Tarry (Nkosi Hlophe)

The best bet of the day, Guns And Roses, runs in race three over 1475m. She was slow away on debut over 1160m, but ran on strongly and the form has worked out well. She will enjoy the step up in trip on pedigree and is drawn on the right side in a moderate field. However, Sean Tarry has two first-timers, Miss Evolution and Gypsy Jazz, and considering the exceptional strike rate this yard has with first-timers, any money for them must be respected.

The rest of the races are handicaps, so will be more competitive.

In race five the topweight Whosethebossnow looks to possess class and should start coming into his own now. He is well drawn and should appreciate the step down to 1700m after disappointing over 2000m last time in the Listed Derby Trial. Blue Diamond Road will be a threat as he has a fair draw over a suitable trip and looks to be off an attractive merit rating at present. Those two have been chosen to be enough to get through the Pick 6.

The last race has been chosen as the other leg to go thin in the Pick 6 as three horses, Movie Show, Hashtag Strat and Lay Of The World look to have the speed, class and scope to be potential victors over a suitable 1000m trip.

By David Thiselton

Africa Rising and Copper Force gave early notice for South Africa’s Champion Season after finishing first and second respectively in the Gr 3 Byerley Turk at Greyville yesterday. The race – once called the Rupert Ellis Brown and run at Clairwood and a happy hunting ground for former champion trainer Terrance Millard – is the natural stepping stone into the Gr2 Daisy Guineas.

Africa Rising (Nkosi Hlophe)

Sean Tarry is so far ahead on the current national trainers’ log that he could turn in his licence today and still be crowned champion but he is far from done and added another feature to his already impressive record this term as Africa Rising cruised home under hands and heels from apprentice Lyle Hewitson from Copper Force and Buffalo Soldier with Kenny Trix staying on resolutely for fourth.

From his inside draw, Hewitson tracked the early pace on the heels of Copper Force who was the first to tackle the leaders in the home stretch. However, Anthony Delpech left an inviting opening up the inside fence and Hewitson took full advantage, punching Africa Rising through the gap to win going away.

Justin Snaith was on record as saying Copper Force was not fully primed for this event and Delpech geared him down once his chances had gone. Both Africa Rising and Copper Force look likely to come on from this showing and the Daisy Guineas should provide for a tighter contest between these two.

If Snaith was cautious about the chances of Copper Force he was bullish about Gimme Six in the Gr2 Umzimkhulu Stakes. “This is Gimme Six’s main target and she is properly ready,” he said earlier last week and it was bull’s eye. Delpech had her in the box seat throughout and brought the daughter of Gimmethegreenlight through smoothly to justify Snaith’s confidence.

Final Judgement was game in second but Richard Fourie had his hands full keeping her on a straight course while Sail had every chance. Dawn Calling had a tricky outside draw to overcome but was doing her best work late.

Apprentice Ashton Arries is four shy of losing his 4kg claim and is doing it in a hurry as he booted home a brace of winner for Paul Lafferty to take his total to 16. Sniper Shot benefitted from Arries’s claim to get the better of the first timer Procal Harem with favourite Sit Frenchie in third and Arries followed up on the Lafferty first timer Dark Moon Rising to relegate the luckless Indian Tractor to another runner-up berth.

Tiger Hill gave notice that he is a lively candidate for the big staying races over the next three months and even a crack at the Vodacom Durban July with an impressive performance in the KVN Shipping Handicap. In a race run at a cracking pace, Glen Kotzen’s runner kept plugging home under top weight with lightly weighted favourite Mr O’Neill caught way out of his ground and under the pump coming up the hill into the final bend.

By Andrew Harrison

Joey Ramsden is to give Brutal Force his final race before the Computaform Sprint in the 1 000m Pinnacle at Turffontein on Saturday.

Brutal Force (Liesl King)

He said: “Brutal Force is doing very well. I saw him when I was up there last weekend and he looked fantastic. Both he and Pillar Of Hercules are likely to run.”

Brutal Force, beaten a head by Gulf Storm in last year’s Cape Flying Championship, would have gone on to the Computaform but for suffering an attack of colic so serious that he had to have an emergency operation. He returned to winning form in the Vasco Food Trucks Pinnacle at Kenilworth in February.

Vaughan Marshall confirms last year’s Gold Medallion winner Always In Charge on course and in good shape for the 1 100m Pinnacle at Scottsville on Sunday. This is a prep for the Tsogo Sun Sprint at Scottsville on May 27, but stable companions Exelero and Elusive Path will miss next Sunday’s race.

Search Party will represent Brett Crawford in the Scottsville Pinnacle. The Philippi trainer recently returned from the big Inglis Easter Yearling Sale in Sydney where he bought fillies by So You Think and Foxwedge for the Ridgemont Stud operation.

Jonathan Snaith reports that the now world-famous two-year-old Fake News will not make his debut until June or July.

By Michael Clower

Cot Campbell seemingly remains the real deal despite managing only sixth of nine when odds-on for his debut at Kenilworth on Saturday.

Greg Cheyne (Liesl King)

Chris Snaith warned this paper that the R3.3 million colt would need the run and he ambled out of the pens with about as much urgency as a pensioner going to the post office. In no time he was six lengths last and, although he made up the leeway, he was a spent force by the time he met with interference almost on the line. Even so he was less than three lengths off Pen-Chan, trained by Eric Sands for one-time Sporting Post columnist Rose Leheup.

“You can put a line through that,” said Jonathan Snaith. “This is a horse to follow and you can expect major improvement next time.”

Kingston Passage, on whom Greg Cheyne completed a double, was already in many punters’ notebooks even before making all in the Kieswetter brothers’ Whisky Baron colours in the 1 000m handicap.

“He is a sprinter with a hell of a lot of gate speed and he has his races won at halfway,” said Brett Crawford. “He will stay in Cape Town as the Durban programme doesn’t really suit sprinting three-year-olds.”

The recent Ramsden two-year-old dominance continues with Lily Theresa benefitting from Donovan Dillon’s subtle change of tactics (“I decided to put her behind something and it made all the difference”) to take the stable’s tally to 50% of the last 14 Cape Town juvenile races.

The stipes have instructed Riaan van Reenen to ensure that he continues to race Mistico’s Secret with blinkers after the almost formless filly served up a 16-1 shock under Grant van Niekerk in the Racing Association Maiden.

Van Reenan explained: “She developed a low-grade airwave disease and couldn’t finish her races. I managed to fix this problem but it was still in her mind so I put blinkers on her here and that worked.”

The Warm White Night filly is a half-sister to Gold Medallion winner Seventh Plain but, related the trainer, she is so small that he was able to buy her for Mike Wall for only R100 000.

Craig Bantam and his 4kg claim (worth four lengths over a mile) are becoming an increasingly valuable commodity and his all-the-way success on Benjan for Candice Bass-Robinson in the finale means that he has now had a winner at six of the last seven Kenilworth meetings.

There were some unusual starting prices returned on Saturday, notably on the Aldo Domeyer double – 72-10 for Call Me Darling and 61-10 for Step Out. Nobody seemed to know why.

‘Now wait for the rain’ was the message from Vaughan Marshall after MJ Byleveld led over 100m out for a convincing win on the Truters’ Tiger Warrior in the mile handicap. “He will be much better when there is a cut in the ground – and I’m sure he will win again,” said the Milnerton trainer.

By Michael Clower