Race 1
Preview: ELYSIAN FIELDS has put in two modest efforts on the poly but his one run on the poly was excellent. A repeat of that showing should see him close. GATES raced green on debut when jumping from a wide draw and is sure to improve on that effort. THE REFORMATION is another who has run his best race on the poly and failed narrowly two runs back at long odds. ROY’S SLOW MOTION speeded up quite a bit when sent on the poly. Although a distant third he can feature in the money again. (Andrew Harrison: 5-9-6-7)

Race 2
Preview: WE’RE WATCHING YOU made a promising debut on the turf at Scottsville. She is likely to handle the poly given the soft ground on debut and meets a modest field. NIGHT AT THE PROMS has run her best races on the poly and was close-up in both recent outings. She has a tricky draw but should feature prominently. AMADORA has put in two decent efforts on the turf. She has a good draw and looks ready. POWER HORSE is struggling but has consistent form and blinkers and cannot be written off lightly. (Andrew Harrison: 12-4-7-1).

Race 3
Preview: Open. PROMISSORY has some god form against much stronger than he meets here. He has a good draw and at best will go close. ARAMOUSE was touched off for second behind One O Won last Wednesday. He is in excellent form and looks the biggest threat to the selection. SEA URCHIN is lightly raced but has ability. He tries blinkers for the first time and is one to watch. ALL TRUE MAN steps up in trip but has been consistent over shorter and can feature in the money again. (Andrew Harrison: 2-1-3-8)

Race 4
Preview: LITTLEBLACKNUMBER is a smart mare who has run some cracking races in strong company. She makes her poly debut and could prove too good for the males. AL CIBERANO is overdue another win. He has a light weight and a top draw so should have every chance here. TOP FORM made a smart return to the track after a break and if he comes on from that he will be a factor. REDCARPET CAPTAIN has a big weight but is unbeaten in two over course and distance since being gelded and can go on again. (Andrew Harrison: 4-11-9-1).

Race 5
Preview: Wide open. GREATFIVEEIGHT has been much improved on the poly and showed even more when fitted with blinkers. He can follow up in a weak field. ROY’S ROLLS ROYCE has shown some fair form on the poly and should feature in this company. THE GINGERMAN also improved in blinkers but has a difficult draw to overcome here. The same goes for SUN DYNASTY who only just got up to shed his maiden when starting a short-priced favourite. (Andrew Harrison: 1-4-3-2)

Race 6
Preview: Tough race. VARIETY ROMP is a lightly raced six-year-old who made a promising comeback after a lengthy break last month. He can go close in this field. APRES SKI only shed his maiden last start but he made major improvement when tried in blinkers on his poly debut. He could follow up. SAN JULIAN BAY has shown up well in two starts on the poly. He has a big weight from a wide draw but can improve on his last effort. HEPTAGON is never far back and also goes well on the poly although battling for his second win. (Andrew Harrison: 6-4-1-2).

Race 7
Preview: BEAUTE NOIRE has done well for her new stable and made a cracking handicap debut. She has a big weight but could prove too good here. LUNA SEA has been in good form on the turf of late. Of concern was her modest last effort on the poly but she has drawn well and has a handy weight.  CHARISMA has had two outings since arriving from the Cape. She should come on from her last outing and can feature. DANCE CITY QUEEN has not been too far back at recent starts but has come down in the ratings. The blinkers come off and she can surprise. (Andrew Harrison: 2-3-6-5).

Race 8
Preview: Wide open. ARCHILLES was not far back to a useful colt last time out. He meets weaker here and should have a strong chance. DISTANT PLACE has shown some promise in his two sprints and should much prefer this trip He jumps form a fair gate and should be thereabouts. ICE RIDGE has shown up well in two recent starts at Durbanville. He makes his poly debut from a wide draw but seems progressive. KINGS EMPIRE take a step up in trip but has improved with each run over shorter. He can feature from a good draw. (Andrew Harrison: 10-7-5-6).

Trainer Johan Janse van Vuuren, jockey Gavin Lerena and owner Laurence Wernars were the dominant combination in the second big Highveld meeting of the season on Saturday, just as they were in the first.

The trio combined to win the main race of the day, the Gr 2 Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile, with the brilliant New Predator, an Australian-bred by New Approach.

Former national champion jockey Lerena rode the Jackpot and all four of the legs were features. Three of these were for Janse van Vuuren. Wernars was the outright owner of two of them and a partner in another of them. Janse van Vurren also had another winner on the card.

Wernars has supported racing as an owner for 25 years, but is yet to win a Gr 1. He should have an outstanding chance of achieving this deserved feat this season.

New Predator will be a major force in all of the Gr 1 weight for age miles. The big question is whether he will stay the 2000m trip of the Gr 1 Sansui Summer Cup. The bookmakers do not rate his chances of doing so and he is still a long shot at 25/1 with Betting World.

The two best Summer Cup trials on Saturday were put up by the Geoff Woodruff-trained Deo Juvente and the Duncan Howells-trained Saratoga Dancer. The former was the narrow runner up in the Summer Cup last year and stayed on strongly on Saturday to finish a 0,8 length third. That was despite it being his second run after a four month break.

Woodruff must have a good chance of landing the Summer Cup one-two for the fourth year in succession, considering last year’s winner Master Sabina, under Lerena, put in an excellent preparation run recently and will run off a merit rating only one point higher than last year. The Woodruff pair are 14/1 shots for the Summer Cup, which looks generous.

Saratoga Dancer stayed on resolutely from a good draw on Saturday and found extra late to get up for second, just 0,6 lengths behind the winner from whom he was receiving 2kg. This long striding sort is perfectly suited to the galloping Turffontein track and his Summer Cup odds of 25/1 also look generous.

Wernars’ best chance of Gr 1 glory this season might lie with the three-year-old Janse van Vuuren-trained Captain Al colt Doosra, who followed up on his impressive maiden win over 1200m by winning his first start around the turn in the Gr 3 Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m under Lerena. He just got up to deny the highly touted Mike de Kock-trained Heavenly Blue, who was making his seasonal reappearance.

Both colts ooze class and will relish a step up in trip, so the Gr 2 Investec Dingaans could see a repeat of last year. In that last Dingaans renewal New Predator only just failed to peg back the De Kock-trained Noah From Goa. The Woodruff-trained Philanthropist gelding Singapore Sling, beaten just 0,4 lengths in the Graham Beck, should also be a Dingaans contender.

Wernars will also have a chance of landing a Gr 1 classic with a horse he part-owns, the Janse van Vuuren-trained three-year-old Philanthropist filly She’s A Giver. She kicked away from the field in the Gr 3 HSH Princess Charlene Of Monaco Starling Stakes over 1400m to win by an impressive 3,75 lengths under Lerena, beating the highly regarded Alec Laird-trained Maleficent.

Lerena’s most lucrative win of the day was aboard the three-year-old Just As Well gelding Chili Con Carne, who kicked well and had enough in the tank to stave off the classy Sean Tarry-trained Africa Rising in the R2,5 million Emperor’s Palace Ready To Run Cup over 1400m.

Chili Con Carne is from the yard of Lucky Houdalakis, whose expertise as a trainer has seen him rising continually season after season. He is lying in 16^th on the current national log and will likely soon be pressing for a top ten position. More should be heard from both the winner and runner up of the Ready To Run Cup, as they are both classy types.

Janse van Vuuren’s other winner on the card was in the Gr 3 Yellowwood Handicap over 1800m with the four-year-old Silvano filly Girl On The Run. She is owned and was bred by Maine Chance Farms and was ridden by Randall Simons.

By David Thiselton

Legal Eagle, Marinaresco, Rabada, Silver Mountain and several others of the best horses in South Africa will leave the country at the end of the Western Cape season to race in America.

If this high class, ground-breaking initiative proves successful it promises to end the long-running near isolation of the country’s bloodstock industry from the world stage and it could pave the way for exports of yearlings and mares on a previously unimaginable scale.

Derek Brugman is the man behind it and he said: “The idea is to fill a plane with 15 of the best horses. We have written to trainers and already the owners of Marinaresco and Silver Mountain have said they want to join us. We are waiting to hear from others while we will probably throw in the July winner The Conglomerate.

“The horses will do whatever South African quarantine is required, probably a fortnight for the various injections and vaccinations to be done. The horses will then fly to New York at the end of February or the beginning of March and do a 60-day lockdown in the quarantine station there.”

This avenue has been open to South African horses for quite some time but previously owners and trainers have shied away from it because of the lockdown but Markus Jooste’s racing manager, unhappy with both the time involved in the Mauritius route and in bringing those horses back to race fitness, has been making arrangements for the US option to be less prison-like.

He said: “It has become too cumbersome to travel via Mauritius and our horses will now be able to use a treadmill when they are in the quarantine station. We can decide about who will train them at a later stage but the idea is that they will take on the turf horses in the States.”

Brugman is already thinking ahead to the next stage when American buyers, impressed with what South African horses can do on the racetrack, start realising how cheaply they can be bought.

He said: “We need to get trading with the US as well as compete there, and that trade will be phenomenal as well as of the utmost importance to our entire bloodstock industry.”

In the meantime Table Bay, so impressive in the Jooste Mayfair Speculators colours in the Cape Classic, heads the 20 nominations for the Selangor Cup and the colt could line-up at Kenilworth on Saturday week after all, so giving Joey Ramsden an outstanding chance of winning the mile test for the fifth time in six years.

Brugman said: “It probably fits in with his planned programme of Guineas and Derby to go for the Selangor although it is not imperative that he has to run. We will make a call nearer the time.”

The decision will be important for Mike de Kock as he has three of the next four highest-rated while the Vaughan Marshall-trained Gold Medallion winner Always In Charge heads the 28 nominations for the R2.5 million Lanzerac Ready To Run Stakes on the same card.

Dean Kannemeyer will decide this morning whether City Of Pietermaritzburg Fillies Sprint winner Real Princess reappears under top weight in the Laisserfaire Stakes at Kenilworth on Saturday.

He said: “Real Princess enjoyed herself in Durban where she proved herself against the colts. I gave her a break afterwards but now I want to get her going for the season. She is going to go for the fillies sprint races as well as the Khaya Stables Diadem Stakes in January.”

William Longsword is to be aimed at the Cape Guineas (Dec 17) and the CTS $500 000 mile race on Sun Met day after chalking up his third consecutive win with a most impressive performance under MJ Byleveld in the Soccer 6 Handicap at Kenilworth last Saturday.

Marshall said: “We have always had a high opinion of him and I was very impressed with this win -it wasn’t the strongest field but it was the way he did it.”

This was the middle leg of a treble for Byleveld and Donovan Dillon also went home with three winners including the day’s good thing, even money shot Lloyd’s Legacy in the last. The Dennis Drier-trained colt romped home over four lengths clear.

By Michael Clower

Title image: Silver Mountain (Liesl King)

Gavin Lerena rode the winners of all four legs of the Jackpot on Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile Day at Turffontein on Saturday.

The former champion jockey’s historic feat included victory in the main race of the day, the Charity Mile itself, aboard 7-2 favourite New Predator.

The four-year-old Australian import was trained by Johan Janse van Vuuren, who also had four winners on the day – including the last three legs of the Jackpot, all in the colours of the Wernars family.

There were multiples and co-incidences wherever one looked.

In the main race, the random draw for celebrity representatives saw Lerena and New Predator coupled with his cousin, the boxer Kevin Lerena. Also, the winning charity linked to New Predator was the sponsors’ own corporate responsibility initiative, the Peermont Educational Trust.

The trust claimed a cheque for R150,000 when the four-year-old cruised to triumph in the popular R1-million Grade 2 Charity Mile.

On a day of generosity and giving, the name New Predator didn’t seem to fit in. But a horse doesn’t know what it’s called and the colt carrying that moniker delivered a bounty of both cash and pleasure to a big crowd at Tuffontein on Saturday.

The general feel-good factor of the event wasn’t dampened by a 70-minute Highveld storm delay.

When the big race finally got under way, New Predator looked a class above in the preliminaries – a towering four-year-old son of 2008 Epsom Derby-winner New Approach, looking as fit as a fiddle.

Appearances didn’t lie. From the No 7 gate, Lerena had his charge right in behind the early sprint. Outsider Captain Aldo (66-1) set the early pace, with Mogok Magic, Romany Prince, Saratoga Dancer, New Predator and Champagne Haze and St Tropez in behind.

As they straightened, Cape Town raider St Tropez made a dash for glory, but it was short-lived as New Predator, Deo Juvente (22-1) and Saratoga Dancer (also 22-1) swept by.

In the final strides, New Predator always had the power to overcome his challengers and he passed the post 0.60 lengths ahead of Durban raider Saratoga Dancer, with Deo Juvente just 0.20 lengths behind that. Irish Pride (8-1) – also trained by Van Vuuren and owned by the Wernars, ran on well from far back into fourth.

Lerena commented: “He’s an amazing horse. He needed his last run; it put him in the zone and he was spot on today.”

After completing his Jackpot with a hair’s-breadth win on Doosra in Race 8, the R250,000 Grade 3 Graham Beck Stakes for three-year-olds, Lerena thanked his family profusely for their contribution to his stellar career.

His four winners were Chili Con Carne (15-1) in Race 5, the Ready To Run Cup; She’s A Giver (15-1), in Race 6, the Grade 3 Starling Stakes; New Predator (7-2) in the Charity Mile, and Doosra (13-10, favourite) in Race 8.

TABnews

Another leg of the KZN 3YO Series takes centre stage at Greyville today. Raced over 1600m in the memory of Angelina Paul, the race has attracted a small but quality field where the filly Dawn Calling could put one over the colts.

The race was originally scheduled for the Greyville turf, but as the grass has not fully recovered from its spring treatment the event was switched to the poly track. Duncan Howells then made the decision to send Roy’s Magic to contest the Gr3 Graham Beck Stakes instead leaving Dawn Calling to take her chances as she has already shown an affinity for the synthetic surface.

Dawn Calling recently made her seasonal debut in a 1200m sprint against some useful older fillies where she was not well in at the weights and over a trip that already appears to be well short of her optimum. However, she was all over a winner except at the line as Impala Lily got up to deny her victory.

Although taking on some smart males Dawn Calling is nicely in at these weights and will much prefer today’s trip. With the G1 Cape Fillies Guineas on the agenda, just how she fares will give some indication of her chances should she take her place in that race come early December.

Howells will have a line on most of the field with Palladium, Highway Eightyfive, My Pal Al and The King Of Random all behind the Howells-trained Roy’s Magic at Scottsville last month.

It was a desperately close finish but Roy’s Magic came from off them to nail My Pal Al and Palladium on the line. On that showing there should be very little between My Pal Al and Palladium again today but both could find the filly too hot to handle.

Something of an unknown quantity is the Frank Robinson-trained Winter Is Coming. The colt took time to come to hand but once stepped out on the poly his form improved dramatically. His last run was super impressive as he put a maiden field to the sword, winning by eight lengths easing up. The handicappers were also impressed and he earned a 94 rating. Whether that rating is justified, we will know by this evening.

Olympic gold medallist Chad le Clos has been cleaning up at the World Champs and will be hoping that the horse named after him and which he also owns in partnership can do the same. Unbelievable Chad started his career in promising fashion but has since been disappointing. He has his third run after gelding in the seventh and with the stable in good form, Unbelievable Chad could get back on the winning trail.

Andrew Harrison