Stalwart Cape trainer Brett Crawford seldom leaves KZN in the autumn without a Graded trophy in the bag and he secured his first big race victory of this year’s SA Champions Season on Saturday when the speedy four-year-old Dynasty filly Alexis proved her liking for Greyville by running on strongly under stable jockey Corne Orffer to win the Gr 2 Tibouchina Stakes over 1400m.

Crawford admitted 1400m was probably the small filly’s best trip. However, she gets a mile and will line up next in the Gr 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes over 1600m on Vodacom Durban July day.

Alexis has now won three of her four starts at Greyville, including last season’s Gr 2 KRA Fillies Guineas, which proved her effectiveness over a mile. The Connemara Stud-bred filly is owned by Delma Sherrell, whose former Springbok rugby-playing son Lance has become very passionate about horseracing and made a rare non-appearance on course on Saturday.

The Mike Bass-trained pair Silver Mountain and Inara ran second and fourth respectively in the Tibouchina. Assistant trainer Robert Fayd’Herbe was pleased with both runs going into the Garden Province. They were split by the ever-improving Weiho Marwing-trained Sensible Lover, whose days of being sent out in big races at long prices are over, despite her still relatively lowly merit rating of 95. She is also an entry in the Garden Province.

The front-running Duncan Howells-trained Little Black Number was swamped late but earned a cheque for a gallant fifth place finish.

The Frank Robinson-trained Olma raced wide from a high draw and finished a 2,75 length sixth. However, Piere Strydom climbed off and immediately asked Robinson for the ride in the Garden Province, which the latter obviously jumped at.

In the Garden Province Alexis has drawn 15 of the 21 nominations, Silver Mountain has drawn five, Sensible Lover eight, Inara four and Olma thirteen.

Crawford’s charges have tended to need their first runs in KZN this season, so should all be watched from now on in.

He later sent out Big Cat in the Gr 2 Cup Trial, but this horse did not appear to be himself and ran last.

Big Cat’s passionate part-owners James Drew and Mike Fullard also have shares in Punta Arenas, who ran ninth in the Cup Trial for the Dennis Drier yard.

The pair had a rare winter last year in which they had no concerns about the perennial borderline Punta Arenas qualifying for the July, as he won the Cup Trial, before going on to finish an unlucky second in the big one. However, it a reversion to finger-nail chewing time again this year.

Drew was initially disappointed in Punta Arenas run on Saturday. However, he was later shocked to see he had only finished 2,65 lengths back, so then became hopeful again as the horse had carried topweight off his 107 merit rating and in his opinion had fulfilled the criteria of “showing his well-being.”

David Thiselton

Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge winner Mac De Lago returned to trainer Weiho Marwing’s Ashburton yard after his victory at Greyville on Saturday and the latter will monitor how he comes out of the race before making the next move in his Vodacom Durban July preparation.

Marwing pulled off a fine training feat as the race, which Mac De Lago was awarded in the boardroom after going down by a short-head, was the horse’s return from a fourth place finish in the tough Gr 1 Premier’s Champions Challenge run over 2000m at Turffontein on April 30.

The four-year-old Australian-bred Encosta De Lago gelding had travelled down from Johannesburg last Thursday and one of the decisions to be made will be whether the horse remains at Ashburton to train for the July or returns to Johannesburg.

The recently crowned champion workrider Sam Mosia will be there to ride him every day in routine work, no matter which training centre he is prepared out of.

Marwing said, “Sam is very loyal, he’s been working for me for the past ten to twelve years, he’s the only guy I really let ride Mac De Lago at home and he gets on with him like a house on fire.”

Also of importance to the progressive bay’s July chances will be the handicapper’s assessment of Saturday’s weight for age race.

Mac De Lago had previously run in ten Graded races without a win and this was without doubt the best performance of his career.

His merit rating will likely be raised significantly from its current mark of 107. The possible line horses are the next four in the running, 113-merit rated Trip To Heaven (short-head margin), 115-merit rated French Navy (beaten 1,8 lengths), 110-merit rated New Predator (beaten 3,8 lengths) and 109-merit rated Captain Aldo (beaten 5,8 lengths).
Marwing lodged the objection on Saturday after the stipendiary stewards had announced a steward’s enquiry.

If the stewards had not already made up their minds they would soon have been convinced by jockey Piere Strydom’s argument.

Strydom pointed out the two different types of horses which were involved, Trip To Heaven being a sprint-miler type and Mac De Lago a middle distance type who took a while to get going. He then asked for the official winning distance, which was a short-head, before asking for the tape to be rewound to about the 150m mark, which was the stage just before Trip To Heaven had received the first of two bumps from Mac De Lago. The margin before the bumps was shown to be about half-a-length, meaning Mac De Lago had been finishing the faster of the pair despite the interference, which had caused him to be carried a number of horse-widths inward.

Trip To Heaven’s trainer Sean Tarry also presented a good argument, saying Trip To Heaven had come from last under the hands and his jockey Grant Van Niekerk, due to the proximity of Mac De Lago, had been forced into riding his mount with the hands all the way to the line, while Mac De Lago in the meantime had been hard ridden. Both he and Van Niekerk also pointed out the first movement, however slight, was made by Mac De Lago towards Trip To Heaven (although they did not brush at that stage).

However, the stewards did not take long to announce the upheld verdict and the majority, including Marwing, believed they had made the correct decision. Elated part-owner Dylan Chinsammy was on course to receive the trophy on behalf of the connections, who also include Hassen Adams, CF Delport, Lawrence Pillay, TJ Smith and ODT Visser. It was Chinsammy’s second Gr 1 win, the first being with Ash Cloud, who won the SA Oaks for the Marwing yard in 2014.

Mac De Lago finished second in last season’s Gr 2 KRA Guineas and fifth from the widest draw of all in the Gr 1 Daily News 2000, so clearly loves the tight city course.

His Champions Challenge run looks very good, as the fifth placed horse Judicial was 4,3 lengths behind him. Mac De Lago was receiving 2kg from French Navy in the Champions Challenge and the latter beat him by 1,8 lengths. Before the running of the Gold Challenge, Mac Delago was set to receive 4kg from French Navy in the July, which would have given him a massive chance. However, his task will now be harder with the pending merit rated raise.

French Navy meanwhile ran a tremendous July preparation race in Saturday’s event and it should bring him spot on for the big one. He was running on strongest of all to finish a 1,8 length third. He will be very well weighted in the July, unless Legal Eagle is scratched before the publishing of the weights tomorrow (Tuesday).

The three scenarios from now in are: If Legal Eagle is scratched before the publishing of the weights, French Navy carries 60kg and July favourite Black Arthur carries 53,5kg; if Legal Eagle runs in the July, French Navy carries 57,5kg and Black Arthur carries 53kg; if Legal Eagle is scratched after the publishing of the weights, French Navy carries 60kg and Black Arthur carries 55,5kg.

Strydom was not sure yet where his July ride would come from. However, he is sure to be in demand. The master jockey has already ridden two Gr 1 winners since returning just three-and-a-half weeks ago from a three-and-a-half month layoff for a broken collar bone.

By David Thiselton

Former National Champion Trainer Charles Laird scored a tremendous treble at Greyville on Saturday, including winning two black type events for his chief client these days Alesh Naidoo.

However, Laird said he would not be supplementing Gr 3 Cup Trial winner Exit Here for the Vodacom Durban July. He said, “He has drawn well in five for the consolation event anyway.”

Laird was relieved to have been proven correct in his assessment of Exit Here’s poor last two runs, in which he believed the jockeys had gone to hard out in front. The blinkered Moutonshoek-bred Jay Peg colt was asked to go a particularly ridiculous pace in the Gr 2 Canon Guineas.

By contrast Weichong Marwing rode him to perfection on Saturday, controlling the pace from the front before extracting the necessary extra to repel challengers and beat the second favourite Dynamic by a quarter of a length. He converted odds of 40-1.

Naidoo was largely behind the decision to purchase Exit Here for R1,1 million at the CTS March Yearling Sale in 2014. Exit Here is a half-sister to Eventual Angel, who won four races for Naidoo, including the Gr 3 Umzimkhulu Stakes. Naidoo owns Exit Here in partnership with Laird’s long-time stalwart client Markus Jooste.

Earlier on Saturday, Laird and Naidoo had combined to win the Listed Gatecrasher Stakes over 1400m with the Avontuur-bred Silvano colt Palladium, who remains unbeaten after two starts.

Despite the tailwind, Palladium was able to come from last with an impressive run and beat the favourite Daffiq by a neck under Keagan De Melo.

Laird had advised De Melo to stick with Palladium after his strong finishing-debut win over 1200m at Greyville, knowing Anton Marcus would be tied to ride the Markus Jooste-owned stablemate Buffalo Soldier, who ran a decent 1,9 length fourth on Saturday.

Laird said he would keep De Melo aboard for Palladium’s next two races, which are due to be the Gr 2 Golden Horseshoe over 1400m on July day and the Gr 1 Premiers Champion Stakes over 1600m on eLan Gold Cup day.

Palladium is a half-brother to the former Equus Champion Sprinter Val De Ra, but Laird said he took more after his sire Silvano and would get the mile.

Laird clinched the treble with a brilliant front-running ride by Marcus on the Jooste-owned Top Form in the R200,000 KZN Winter Challenge 1200.

There was also disappointment for the yard as the luckless Ice Machine ran unplaced in the Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge.

Laird said Ice Machine had always been a horse who preferred being taken to the outside for his run as he was then able to be taken through the gears gradually on the back of a momentum building outwards catapult,  whereas taking a horse inward for a run, like he was on Saturday, required committing the horse too soon. “He is not getting any younger,” he said about the seven-year-old.

By David Thiselton

The Sean Tarry-trained three-year-old Dynasty colt Liege made himself a Vodacom Durban July final supplementation possibility when winning a traditional pointer to the big race, the Gr 3 Jubilee Handicap over 1800m at Turffontein yesterday, in cosy style under stable jockey S’Manga Khumalo despite being 0,5kg under sufferance off his 93 merit rating.

The most fancied July horse in the field, Deo Juvente, who was a 13-1 shot for the big one, started favourite yesterday but had to be pulled out of the race. July 150-1 chance Rainy Day Blues was 3,5kg under sufferance and ran a 1,1 length second. Three-year-old Romany Prince was 25^th on the last July log and remains a borderline horse after finishing a 2,2 length third while giving the winner 4kg.

Judicial, Jubilee Line, Stonehenge and Diesel Jet were not in the top 25 on the last log and did their chances of making the July field no favours by finishing fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. Earlier, the Tarry-trained Trophy Wife, who was 21^st on the last July log, put her hand up for a place in the final field with a fine win of a Pinnacle Stakes race for fillies and mares over 1400m.

By David Thiselton

Mac De Lago and Dynamic were the big movers in the Vodacom Durban July betting yesterday as bookmakers assessed the results, and likely impact, of Saturday’s big Greyville races.

Word Sports Betting cut the promoted Rising Sun Gold Challenge winner from 18-1 to 11-1 while Betting World shortened Weiho Marwing’s charge from 16-1 to 10-1. Dynamic, as big as 50-1 before his second to Exit Here in the Cup Trial, is now a best-priced 22-1.

French Navy, who ran on in eye-catching style to take third in the Gold Challenge, was shortened from 11-1 to 9-1 by WSB and is 8-1 with Betting World. However the layers were unimpressed with fourth-placed New Predator and marked him out from 60-1 to as big as 90-1. Black Arthur remains favourite at 11-2 (5-1 with Betting World) and Marinaresco has shortened a point to 6-1.

By Michael Clower