Jo’s Bond, who beat Carry On Alice in the CTS Southern Cross before finishing just over a length fourth to the star mare in the Betting World Cape Flying Championship, will be one of the first of Justin Snaith’s big KZN team out of the blocks.

Snaith said: “She runs in the KwaZulu-Natal Stakes at Scottsville on Sunday week. However there is not a lot for her in Durban as she is limited to five furlongs and I would be surprised if she goes back to Scottsville for the City Of Pietermaritzburg Fillies Sprint.”

Copper Force, who had subsequent Gauteng Guineas winner Janoobi behind when coming from a long way back to beat all except William Longsword in the CTS Mile, will also be making an early start.

“Copper Force had a shocking draw that day,” Snaith recalled. “But he will run in the Byerley Turk (at Greyville on  April 7) before going for the Canon Guineas.”

The former champion trainer has long had a particularly high opinion of Star Express who went close in the Klawervlei Majorca despite missing most of last year.

“She rapped a tendon. It was nothing that serious but it was a warning sign and so we had to back off with her,” Snaith explained. “We will see how she goes in a couple of races and then make a call. Her best distance is 2 000m.”

On the local front the stable has found an explanation for Kasimir’s shock Kenilworth defeat at 2-10 earlier in the month. The colt was found to be shin-sore afterwards.

Greg Cheyne has been suspended for ten days (March 25-April 3) for interference when winning on La Favourari last Saturday.

By Michael Clower

Trainer Bob Baffert keeps steering back to the present those who want to talk about Dubai World Cup favourite Arrogate in forward-thinking terms, reminding all that ‘gimmes’ simply do not exist in competitive sports.

“Right now we are just trying to stay focused that he is doing well, because you have to make sure that they show up,” Baffert said. “Right now, we know he is an exceptional horse. He is the heavy favorite. But he still has to have racing luck.”

The luck of draw was the latest obstacle to be cleared in Arrogate’s favor with the 4-year-old gray colt landing post No. 9 in a field of 14 for the March 25 Dubai World Cup.

The draw for the 2,000m test was largely kind to its main contenders as fellow Gr 1 winner Gun Runner drew post No. 5, Mubtaahij drew the outside gate 14 with Keen Ice, Neolithic and Hoppertunity set to break from posts 10, 11, and 12, respectively.

“He’s settled in pretty well and everything has gone pretty smooth,” said Baffert, who will also saddle Hoppertunity. “We’re just playing the waiting game now. The draw is over so that’s the last of the suspense. We just have to keep him happy the next couple of days.

“As long as he shows up, that’s the key. But he’s done everything well here. If he runs his race, we know what he can do.”

What Arrogate can do is set a track ablaze and break his opponents’ hearts all while looking like a big, goofy kid out for a stroll. What the connections of Gun Runner hope their colt can counter with is a high cruising speed that, when left to its own devices, has its own track record of running foes into the ground.

With Arrogate not always the fastest out of the gate, Gun Runner will likely have every chance to set the pace in the Dubai World Cup and make his champion rival have to go through him at the finish.

“I was happy with it,” co-owner Ron Winchell of Winchell Thoroughbreds said of the draw. “Just let him use his natural speed and hopefully they’ll let him go on the lead. The track seems to play speed-favoring.”

-Bloodhorse.com

Andre Nel, preparing for his first assault on a Gauteng Grade 1, took the progressive Kampala Campari to Kenilworth for a work-out last Saturday.

“Grant van Niekerk rode him in a gallop over 1 400m and he went well,” said Nel who reckons Saturday week’s SA Classic is a better option than Cape Town’s Winter Series for the colt who has won two of his three starts. “The Classic is no stronger than a Winter Series race and it is worth eight times the money.”

Nel is fully aware that he has the altitude to contend with but he believes that the results of a recent recce put him in good stead, saying: “I sent five horses up there by float and, while two didn’t handle the going, the other three were placed.”

Philae, who has also won two out of three, runs in the Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic but SA Classic entry Loadshedder goes for the presumably easier pickings of the East Cape Guineas at Fairview tomorrow week.

Ngaga, the forgotten member of the Plattner Racing three-year-old line-up, has not been seen since making it three out of three at Kenilworth on New Year’s Eve but Igugu’s half-sister is on the way back.

Nel said: “She strained a suspensory in that last race and, while it wasn’t career-threatening, I had to back off and rest her. I had been planning to run her in the Investec Cape Derby – and I think she would have run very well. She came back into work last Friday and she will run in the Winter Series assuming it doesn’t come too soon for her.”

Riaan van Reenen will run Cape Guineas fourth Elevated, also runner-up in the Cape Classic, in a 1 400m Pinnacle at Kenilworth on Saturday week.

He said: “I put him in the 1 200m handicap this Saturday but it would only have been a grass gallop and it makes more sense to run him over 1 400m as he is going to run in the Winter Guineas on April 22.”

By Michael Clower

After taking a hammering country-wide over the weekend most punters will be hoping for a change of fortune at Greyville today although they again face another tricky card.

With the South African Champions Season on the horizon, trainers will be warming up their feature race contenders but as the Drum Star Handicap showed at Turffontein last Saturday, most of the big guns will be short of peak fitness going into their warm-up races so caution needs to be in the back of the mind when looking at these contests.

In Other Words and A Womens Way are two that fit that category when they line up in the Racing.Its A Rush Pinnacle Stakes on the poly this afternoon but in spite of the cautionary, look likely to fight this one out.

In Other Words is well weighted and although she is returning from a break she has an excellent record over course and distance. Couple that with Sean Tarry’s blistering form and you have a likely winner.

A Womens Way was eligible for the CTS $500 000 1200 last time out and Duncan Howells had little option but to send her on the long trip to Cape Town to take her chances. It proved a trip in vain and A Womens Way was never going well, finished down-field. Her form before that was promising and she should appreciate the step up in trip. Just how she features here will be watched with interest.

The handicapper appears to have caught up with Pearl Emblem but she loves this course and distance and as this is a set weights race she cannot be written off. Littleblacknumber is never far off and was out-paced throughout behind stable companion Elusivenchantment at Scottsville last Wednesday and will prefer this trip. Stable companion Wind Singer loves this course and distance and with a light weight gives Howells a trio of options.

Howells could get the meeting off to a winning start where he saddles Victory Cross, a beaten favourite last run. She makes her poly debut but has shown promise on the turf and can make amends if she handles the surface.

The Durban View Restaurant Handicap could rest between Variscite and Winder Darling in an open affair. Gavin van Zyl’s filly Variscite has improved in a tongue-tie and although only shedding her maiden last run she does not take on much of note and after only four outings still has room for improvement. Veteran Winter Darling on the other hand came in for some market support last run and has been thereabouts at recent starts. Anthony Delpech will be aboard for Dennis Bosch who hit form at Greyville on Sunday and the stable, that has been quiet for some time, could be turning the corner.

In the sixth, Noodle can make amends for her no-show on the turf at Scottsville last time out compounded by the soft ground and goes much better on the poly. She has a bright chance of coming good in this field with Anton Marcus booked for the ride. Danger could be See The Sea who surprised recently but only got a two-point raise in the handicap and can go in again.

In the last, Liquid Rainbow has run two fair races since taking to the track and with the experience looks to have a bright chance in this field comprising mostly of professional maidens. The obvious dangers are Gold Chalice who was disappointing last run after showing improvement but he now sports blinkers and may be worth another chance while Mojo King disappointed when sent out favourite on debut but possibly didn’t handle the soft ground and may also be worth another visit.

By Andrew Harrison

Veteran jockey Andrew Fortune will be having knee surgery this week, but on the bright side he is only expecting to be out for three weeks.

Fortune had made recent inroads into Gavin Lerena’s lead in the National Jockeys Championships, but he now admits a top five finish would be a good result.

Meanwhile, Greg Cheyne, who is in second place on the Jockey’s log, did not lose much ground to Gavin Lerena during his three week injury layoff as the latter has been through a rare dry spell.

Fortune booked off his rides on Saturday due to swelling in the knee and cancelled his rides for Monday’s meeting at Flamingo Park. However, he did ride yesterday (Tuesday) and notched up his 100th winner of the season. The years of attrition from jockeyship has led to arthritis in the knee. He has no cartilage left in the joint. The operation will be in order to clean the knee out, i.e. to get ride of the bone chips etc. Fortune recently copped a ten day suspension for a riding misdemeanour and will take it while recuperating.

The jockeys title looks likely to be a two horse race between Lerena and Cheyne, although stalwarts Anton Marcus, Anthony Delpech and Richard Fourie would all be within striking range if any of them decided to chase the title.

Lerena ended the weekend still locked on 110 winners, the number he has been on since February 28. It is amazing by his standards to not have had a winner for the whole of March to date.

Cheyne was two winners off the lead at the time of his nasty fall on Nebula on February 25 at Kenilworth, an incident which saw him laid off for three weeks.

He made his comeback on Friday at Fairview. A winner there plus another winner at Kenilworth on Saturday put him on 106 for the season, just four off the pace. Fortune rode eleven winners during Cheyne’s absence and has surged into third place on the standings.

He was philosophical about the pending layoff and said, “After years of riding there is wear and tear on the body, it is going to happen, and you just have to take it on the chin. But a top five finish will still be an accomplishment, I will be turning 50 in about two months’ time.”

Fortune started the season like a greyhound out of a trap. He was generally riding at four centres, Gauteng, Kimberley, Cape Town and Kimberley, and was 24 winners clear midway through October. However, a filly he was riding on October 13 at Turffontein reared over backwards and the consequent injury put him out for seven weeks.

By the time he had returned on December 2, Cheyne had gone top of the table, although the latter’s 58 winners had him only one winner ahead of Fortune. Lerena at that stage was six off the pace.

However, Fortune then curtailed his schedule and by the end of last month had dropped 21 winners off the pace, which was now being set by Lerena.

Both Lerena and Cheyne ride in Port Elizabeth on top of their home bases of Gauteng and Cape Town respectively.

They both commandeer excellent support wherever they go. However, Cheyne definitely has the upperhand in PE as the first call rider to Alan Greef, who is well clear in the Eastern Cape Trainers Championship.

Marcus and Delpech both ended last weekend on 95 winners and Fourie, who had a treble at Kenilworth on Saturday, was on 92. However, none of this trio appear to be chasing the title.

Ceaig Zackey had a treble at Turffontein yesterday to move ahead of Fourie on to 93 winners and sixth place on the log. The jockeys who has had most rides this season, Muzi Yeni, is in eighth position on 91 winners. Apprentice Lyle Hewitson is 9th on the log on 85 winners.

Reigning champion S’Manga khumalo served a 60 day suspension at the beginning of the season and is in 10th place on 80 winners, so is probably too far back to mount a challenge.

Table topper Lerena proved two seasons back that he is lethal when the pressure is on. In June 2015 he set a South African record for the number of winners in a month, 42. Of those 42, 12 were at Turffontein, nine were at Fairview, eight were at The Vaal, six were at Scottsville, four were at Flamingo Park and three were at Greyville, which is an indication of how taxing it is to chase the title. However, those winners saw him forging clear of S’Manga Khumalo, who had been level with him at the beginning of that month.

By David Thiselton