The Vaal has an eight race card on the Standside and as usual the draw will be a factor as the Standside going is usually favourable, or at least the jockeys tend to go to this side which often makes it tough for low drawn horses.

The most interesting horse on the card is Kostya Zu, who runs over 1200m in the sixth, a MR 72 Handicap. On Saturday he ran over 1200m on the Turffontein Inside track in the Gr v3 Spring Spree Stakes and finished 6,5 lengths behind the exciting Kangaroo Jack. He was 9kg under sufferance so on paper ran below his handicap mark in comparison to Kangaroo Jack taken that over 1200m 1kg equals half-a-length. However, the latter was running off a capped merit rating, having been awarded a maximum six points after his facile Gr 2 Post Merchants win, and proved it by winning ever so cosily. Kostya Zu also had to jump from a high draw and was reined back in the early stages. He was not persevered with in the closing stages so could have got closer. Furthermore, his form includes a 7,5 length fifth to Carry On Alice over 1100m when receiving 7,5kg. Tomorrow is his third run after a rest, he jumps from a fair draw and is in the handicap for a change. He comes from the Coenie de Beer yard of Equus Champion Sprinter Talktothestars and like the latter will run shoeless. De Beer has a small string but keeps a high strike rate, which this season is around 18% (two winners from eleven runners). The danger to Kostya Zu could be the topweight Ronin Warrior. He started awkwardly over 1000m on the Turffontein Inside track when disappointing last time. He might prefer returning to a straight course. He had shown in his previous two starts over 1200m and 1000m at the Vaal that he has good pace coupled with the ability to kick on in the final stages. He will need to use both assets in order to overcome his unfavourable number one draw. Three-year-old Master Boulder produced a fine run first time out the maidens over this course and distance when a 1,5 length third in a Novice Plate. He proved there to be up to, if not better than his 80 merit rating, considering he ran at level weights with the winner, who was merit rated eight points higher than him, and all of the second, fourth and fifth placed horses were merit rated higher than him. He is a big runner on paper, but on the downside he has a low draw and this race has more older horses involved than he faced last time.

The best bet suggestion is Jackman in the fourth race, a Maiden over 1200m. This is a nice looking horse with a long stride and he ran on strongly over 1160m at Turffontein last time to only just fail. He now has a favourable high draw and does not have much to beat, unless the Australian-bred Baudelaire, who makes his debut from a plum draw, proves above average.

The value each way bet suggestion of the day comes in probably the most open race of the day, the last, which is a MR 67 Handicap over 1400m. Intandokazi is reunited with Raymond Danielson, who remains an underrated jockey, who has an astute tactical awareness. He also has an affinity with horses and learns quickly how best to ride them. Danielson rode this big horse in his penultimate start from a similarly tricky draw over this distance on the Vaal Inside course and after holding him up he flew through for a 1,75 length third to Awesome Adam, who franked the form by winning next time out. Danielson will likely attempt to hold the horse up until he has found a favourable spot behind horses on the standside and with a similarly strong finish will have a chance.

In the second race, a maiden over 1600m, Rubybay has those to have run beaten on form and has a favourable draw. However, there is a well-bred first-timer involved, the Irish-bred Cidada, who is by none other than world leading sire Galileo and is a half-sister to the Gr 2 Premier Trophy runner up from 2009, Vision Of Grandeur. However, the record of Galileo’s Southern Hemisphere runners falls way short of his Northern Hemisphere runners and it is also concerning to see a 1,5kg claimer aboard first up, although she does have a plum draw.

In the first race over 1200m Lily Love is a form choice, but the question is whether she can overcome a low draw, but she does have champion workrider Sam Mosia aboard so is still tipped to win at the expense of the moderate Chinese Whisper, who has a plum draw and proved last time when placed second over this trip that she could win a race of this uninspiring quality.

David Thiselton

The National Horseracing Authority’s Racing Control Executive Arnold Hyde has reportedly confirmed there will be an enquiry into the objection in race 1 at Turffontein on Saturday, one of the most controversial upheld decisions in recent times.

Jockey Karl Zechner aboard Nordic Storm, who had been backed from 8/1 into 7/2,  objected against the favourite Querari Viking on the grounds of being bumped at the start and on interference in the straight. However, in a live explanation given by a stipendiary steward to Tellytrack viewers, it was divulged that the chief incident looked at by the stipes was the one in the straight.

Nordic Storm is being aimed at a narrow gap between Querari Viking and the rail at about the 300m mark but has the door closed on him. He thus switches outward and after being hard ridden is beaten 1,1 lengths. Meanwhile, Querari Viking had galloped strongly to the line. In the view of the stipendiary stewards the interference at the 300m mark had affected  Nordic Storm’s momentum and in their opinion it had cost the horse a length-and-half. Considering he had then closed the gap to about a length, which was the distance separating the horses at the time of the interference, they decided to award the race to Nordic Storm, albeit on a split decision.

However, in the view of many irate punters the switching movement had not cost Nordic Storm much, if any, momentum. In their opinion Querari Viking had simply been travelling the stronger at the time and had pulled clear before duly holding on to win comfortably.

Due to rule 69.3.1 upheld objections usually pertain to horses which are beaten narrowly, while at the same time having been cost obviously more ground than the winning margin.

Rule 69.3.1 states: a placed HORSE was interfered with by another placed HORSE and/or its RIDER during a RACE and the HORSE which was interfered with would, but for the interference, have finished ahead of the HORSE which caused the interference, in which event, the OBJECTION BOARD shall place the HORSE which caused the interference behind the HORSE which was interfered with or it may disqualify the HORSE which caused the interference.

Yesterday’s Scottsville meeting was also tinged with controversy.

In the fifth race jockey Keagan de Melo was not ready when the starter pressed the button as some equipment on his mount was still being adjusted. His mount thus left the stalls riderless. The starter, upon realising what had happened, called a false start. However, not all of the jockeys heard the call. Once a false start is called the event immediately becomes a “no race”. Therefore chief stipendiary steward Sean Parker was left with only two options, to re-run the race later or declare it null and void. He opted for the latter, it being the fairer choice on the horses. He said an enquiry would be held into the jockeys not responding to the false start call and added the current “recall” procedures would be looked into to see whether they could be improved upon.

David Thiselton

It seems that misfortunes come in pairs and following on the heels of Saturday’s controversial objection in the first race at Turffontein, the fifth at Scottsville yesterday was declared null-and-void after the riders failed to heed a call of a false start.

The race was won in a canter by odds-on favourite Magic Memory.

Explaining the start, Chairman of the Stipendiary board, Shaun Parker, said they did not have an option.

He explained that the bridle on Dundrum had come loose in the stalls and while the handlers where trying to get it back in place the start was effected. “The rider was not seated and the starter called a false start.” It would appear that not all the riders heard the call and carried on with the race. “Some said they heard the call and others said they did not,” said Parker.

He said that there would be an investigation into the start but pointed out that once the starter had declared a false start it “was just that”. The option was to re-run the race later or to declare the race null-and-void.

This is the second time within three months, also at Scottsville, where a race has continued with some jockeys declaring that they had not heard the starter’s call of a false start!

Dame Eleanor (Nkosi Hlophe)

Jockeys – and trainers for that matter – have long been critical of the Scottsville straight course, for years maintaining that you can only win from a low draw. Recent results have demolished that long held myth as Anthony Delpech confirmed when winning the first from the extreme outside draw yesterday. “We need to forget about the inside draw. The track is very even and very fair. In fact I now prefer to be drawn wide.” His view may have been coloured by the fact that he had just scored aboard the Mike de Kock first timer Dame Eleanor – a difficult customer by all accounts. “She’s a bit hot but she handled herself quite well,” remarked long-time assistant Nathan Kotzen.

If anything the following two races confirmed Delpech’s view. He was aboard favourite Sir Edmund in the MBK Agencies Maiden but after giving his mount every chance from gate 7 he was swamped by three runners drawn way on their outside. Roy’s Magic (12), Cabinda (15) and Amazon King (16) all jumped from outside gates with Roy’s Magic making it two-from-two for Australian-breds in the opening exchanges, the Life Is Good form proving reliable with the first three past the post having finished behind Alyson Wright‘s runner.

Bubka, racing in blinkers for the first time, got a peach of a ride from visiting Highveld rider Marco van Rensburg, who was carted off to the doctor after being dumped by his mount by Natatela in the sixth. Also drawn deep at 15, Van Rensburg arrived late on Pat Lunn’s gelding and although this was not the strongest of fields, blinkers appear to have extracted the best out of the lightly raced four-year-old.

The Michael Roberts-trained Seatops, a reluctant starter, put it all behind her to get up on the line in a tight finish to the KZN 3YO Series to deny favourite Anime in a tight finish.

Andrew Harrison

Mubtaahij, second in the Dubai World Cup for Mike de Kock in March, continues to make waves on his current stint in the US and was denied by a whisker in the $600000 Woodward at Saratoga on Saturday.

Shaman Ghost, under Javier Castellano, split horses in deep stretch and outlasted Mubtaahij to the wire to win the Woodward by a head. It was another head back to Frosted, the 2-5 favorite, who had to come eight wide in the stretch.

Frosted got third by a head over Breaking Lucky, who was 7 1/4 lengths clear of Tapin Mojo.

Shaman Ghost was a relatively close-up fourth throughout, while Frosted raced in sixth position about six lengths off the pace.

Entering the far turn, Shaman Ghost, Samraat, and Frosted launched their bids. But with Bradester in the No. 4 path and Breaking Lucky off his flank in the No. 5  path, Shaman Ghost, Samraat, and Frosted had to come six, seven, and eight wide.

Meanwhile, Mubtaahij, who raced in seventh under Irad Ortiz Jr., was able to save some ground around the turn and entering the stretch.  He made a bid for the lead at the eighth pole inside of Shaman Ghost, who was splitting horses, Breaking Lucky, who was persevering, and Frosted, who was still under a hand ride.

Little separated that quartet from the sixteenth pole to the wire, but Shaman Ghost was able get up over Mubtaahij, Frosted, and Breaking Lucky.

Kiaran McLaughlin, the trainer of Frosted, said the trip probably cost his horse.

“I thought we were going to get there, but the horse was very wide and the fractions weren’t very fast,” McLaughlin said. “He just didn’t have his ‘A’ game today.”

McLaughlin said it was too early to say what the future holds for Frosted, who has already secured fees-paid berths into the Breeders’ Cup Classic at 1 1/4 miles and the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Frosted is winless in three tries at 1 1/4 miles.

McLaughlin is also the trainer of Mubtaahij, who despite breaking from the outside post had a good trip in comparison to his rivals, but couldn’t match strides with Shaman Ghost late.

“Mubtaahij ran great, post position hurt him,” McLaughlin said.

It is likely that Shaman Ghost and Mubtaahij will meet again in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

DRF.com (David Grening)

Picture: Horseracingnation.com

Sales toppers the world over have mostly not lived up to expectations. Two that spring immediately to mind are The Green Monkey and even more spectacularly Snaafi Dancer. Both were expensive failures on the track and to add insult to injury, Snaafi Dancer also proved infertile at stud.

Closer to home, Horizon, a R5.2 million purchase started favourite at Kenilworth yesterday and finished with only four behind him on debut. To be fair he is a magnificent specimen and judged on his pedigree and his action going to the start, he should prove a better proposition over much further. The jury is still out on this one.

That said, Savannah Cat, a R4,75 million purchase by Fort Wood steps out in the first at Scottsville on Sunday for Duncan Howells.  The majority of the field are also having their first race so one can read nothing into the form but news from the yard is that Savannah Cat is showing good work and the stable is cautiously optimistic.

Of the three that have run, Northern Storm didn’t feature on the poly after two promising efforts over tomorrow’s course and distance behind subsequent stakes winners in A Womens Way and Querari Falcon.

Gavin van Zyl has declared blinkers on his filly along with four-claiming apprentice Dennis Schwarz so she is likely to be hopping along from the jump.

Howells has three strong contenders in the second but his trio are up against a few others that have shown promise. Anthony Delpech stays

Anthony Delpech (Liesl King)

aboard Sir Edmund who was caught three jumps from the line at his last start and may prove the pick although Amazon King is sure to improve on his debut effort as should Roy’s Magic who finished ahead of his stable companion at much longer odds.

Second in that same race that afternoon was the Michael Roberts-trained Cabinda who was virtually friendless in the market which suggests that this form may prove suspect. My Pal Al has shown up nicely in two starts for Alistair Gordon, his debut effort behind subsequent Gr1 winner Gunner, and he too warrants serious consideration.

Dennis Drier, KZN Champion Trainer for last season by races won, has got his current season off to a rollicking start with 13 winner’s in the first month and can add to that tally in the KZN 3YO Series Fillies that heads the 10-race card. He saddles Anime, yet to finish out of the first three in four outings including two close-up efforts behind A Womens Way and Querari Falcon.

She was unlucky when touched off in her first outing on the poly and is likely to start at fairly cramped odds on Sunday.

Howells has a yard full of lightly raced fillies that he is loath to start on the poly and he starts to maidens in the race in Accidental Tourist and Rainbowinthesky. The latter makes her debut but Accidental Tourist made a smart debut when third behind the highly rated Maple Story and the Howells-trained Online who franked that form when winning last Sunday.

Just how strong that form is, only the race will tell but given that Accidental Tourist is likely to improve many lengths on her debut effort, she will be a threat to Anime.

Andrew Harrison