MJ Byleveld went within a neck of winning last year’s Gr 2 Betting World 1900 and is ironically aboard the horse which beat him, Dynastic Power, in Friday night’s renewal at Greyville.

Byleveld’s mount from last year, Power King, famously went on to win the country’s premier race, the Vodacom Durban July, albeit with Stuart Randolph aboard, while Dynastic Power found himself in the Milnerton yard of Vaughan Marshall at the beginning of this season after the retirement of his former trainer Stan Elley.

Byleveld said Dynastic Power had come on from his SA Champions Season pipe opener at Scottsville and added, “He is doing very well, we’re very happy with him.”

The defending champion was drawn a tricky 12 last year and now has to overcome the widest draw of all in the 16 horse field.

However, Byleveld said the five-year-old Dynasty gelding, who appears to thrive at Summerveld, had enough pace to find a handy position from there.

Dynastic Power (Nkosi Hlophe)

Last time out, in the Listed Sledgehammer over 1750m at Scottsville, Byleveld sent Dynastic Power to the front due to the lack of pace and after relaxing well he stayed on bravely for a 0,2 length third.

A similarly slowly paced race would possibly suit him as it would prevent him from having to use up too much energy early from the wide draw.

In last year’s race he was caught two-wide in about sixth place, but did have some cover and found a strong finish.

Last year his 98 merit rating saw him near the top of the 99 to 95 band of merit ratings and having to carry only 54kg.

This year in a slightly weaker race overall he is off a 101 merit rating, which puts him near the bottom of the 104 to 100 band, and he has to carry 58kg. He is officially 1kg under sufferance with the best weighted horses in the race, who are all of Gold Onyx (107, 60kg), Halve The Deficit (103, 58kg), Master’s Eye (103, 58kg), Solid Speed (103, 58kg) and St Tropez (99, 56kg).

Contrary to most seasons, the 1900 turned out to be last year’s best July pointer as third-placed Punta Arenas went on to finish runner up to Power King in the big one.

By David Thiselton

Anthony Delpech opted to ride Solid Speed from a choice of two Gr 2 Betting World 1900 contenders from the Dean Kannemeyer yard and this has left Stuart Randolph to deal with the talented but headstrong It Is Written.

Delpech felt Solid Speed had a “tough task”, despite his current status as 9/2 favourite with the sponsor, citing the 1900m trip as being “a bit too short for him”.

The tough five-year-old Dynasty gelding did win a good race over 1600m at Scottsville in his SA Champions Season pipe opener last time out, when staying on strongly to beat Dynamic, and Delpech said, “Yes, he is the sort who can come out and run well fresh. He has ability and is not without a chance tomorrow night.”

Solid Speed has a high strike rate, having won exactly half of his 14 career starts. He recorded a hattrick at Greyville last season, winning his pipe opener in a 1900m handicap with ease, before winning both the Highland Night Cup and the Gr 3 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup over 2400m.

He is now off a 103 merit rating, his highest mark to date, and is officially the best in at the weights together with four other horses. He jumps from a tricky draw of 10. Delpech concluded, “He has been doing well at home (Sumerveld).”

It Is Written (Nkosi Hlophe)

It Is Written was unlucky last time out in the Listed Sledgehammer over 1750m at Scottsville, having been hampered late before flying up for a neck second.

Randolph said the key was whether he could switch the five-year-old Dynasty gelding off or not. He said, “He has a tendency to over do it, so you’ve got to be careful, but if he settles he should see out the trip. He is probably most effective from 1400m to a mile, so I will be hoping for a true run race.”

It Is Written did settle well from a good draw of two in the Sledgehammer, but Randolph said it had been “touch and go.”

The pole position draw tomorrow night augurs well for his chances of finding the necessary cover, but the step up in trip could be a problem, because behind a slower pace it will be that much tougher to switch him off. He is 8/1 with the race sponsors and can’t be written off, as long as he manages to relax from the off.

David Thiselton

Night Shadow (Nkosi Hlophe)

The Van Zyl yard have two Silvano geldings in the Gr 2 Betting World 1900 tomorrow night, Night Shadow and Silver Spring, and they are conditioned by Gareth and Gavin respectively.

The four-year-old Night Shadow officially has a tougher task at the weights, but is the more progressive of the two, and stable jockey Warren Kennedy has duly chosen him ahead of Silver Spring.

Gareth said, “Night Shadow ran above his rating last time. He is an immature sort of a horse who has got ability and room for improvement.”

Night Shadow is officially the worst weighted horse in the race tomorrow night, being 4,5kg under sufferance with the best weighted horses in the race. However, the yard have enough confidence in his scope for improvement to have nominated him for the Vodacom Durban July (subsequently withdrawn)

In fact he is only 0,5kg worse off tomorrow night with both It Is Written and Dynastic Power from the Listed Sledgehammer over 1750m at Scottsville, despite being beaten only a head and a short-head respectively.
Night Shadow jumps from draw 8 over an ideal trip and has enjoyed a fine preparation.

Seven-year-old Silver Spring is known to be full of issues but never gives anything other than 100% and Gareth, speaking on behalf of Gavin, said he was currently in a good space. However, he is officially 1,5kg under sufferance and is drawn wide in 12, while his highest ever winning mark is a full eight points lower than his current mark of 92. He and Triple Crown-winning jockey Karl Zechner have it all to do.

By David Thiselton

Geoff Woodruff has been “encouraged” by the recent form of his Gr 2 Betting World 1900 contender Master Switch, who arrived at Summerveld from Randjesfontein on Tuesday evening.

Woodruff said Anton Marcus’ decision to ride The Conglomerate in the race did have  a bit to do with the weights, as Master Switch had originally been set to carry 54kg, before the weights were dragged up 2kg due to none of the runners being in the 110-114 merit rated band. However, his big race rider Callan Murray knows him well from training track work.

The four-year-old Jet Master gelding looks to be going the right way, but Woodruff said the race would tell how good he was. He is versatile in style, having done well from the front, from handy and from off the pace.

Master Switch was raised six points to a 98 merit rating for his win last time out at Turffontein over 2000m. He drew away well to beat Fort Meyers by 1,5 lengths in that race on April 16. However, the latter could only manage a 1,9 length third, albeit off a three point higher merit rating, in a handicap over 2000m at the Vaal on Tuesday.

However, Sean Tarry named Master Switch as one of the horses to beat in the 1900 earlier this week, so clearly has a good regard for Fort Meyers.

Master Switch carries 56kg and is officially 0,5kg under sufferance. He has a plum draw of three and is 14/1 with the race sponsor.

David Thiselton

Since cutting formal ties with the powerful Mike de Kock yard and going freelance early in the season, Anthony Delpech has not looked back. He is an important cog in the Dean Kannemeyer operation that has been a main source of his many winners but along with agent Deez Dayanand, they have cherry-picked with great success.

It was an up-and-down afternoon at Greyville yesterday when favourite Gregorian Chant failed to deliver and found to be lame post-race after the first and hot favourite Tripandie dug in his toes and refused to load for the seventh. But these were mere hiccups as he was in front of the microphone for the third and followed up just for good measure.

Tripandie, looking for his fourth win on the bounce, was in short order for the 99 Divided Handicap but refused point blank to take his place in the line-up resulting in him being scratched.

Captain Chaos (Nkosi Hlophe)

But whether he would have matched the finishing effort of the Mark Dixon-trained Captain Chaos is debateable. Since arriving in the Dixon yard for the season from Ronnie Sheehan in Cape Town, Captain Chaos has taken time to find his feet, but back to a sprint he landed running yesterday.

“Today was the first time I was happy with the horse. He had put on condition, his coat had come right and his work on the poly was phenominal. With myself and Kegan we said if he doesn’t run well today then we are really in trouble,” he said.

“He arrived with a big reputation,” said Kegan de Melo, “but he was not putting in what he was showing in work. I think the blinkers did the trick.”

Highway Explorer pinched an early lead at the top of the straight but was running on memory at the furlong marker as Captain Chaoas was produced with a telling finish by De Melo. Psycho Syd gave MJ Byleveld a torrid ride but stayed on to finish a well-beaten second.

Doug Campbell, in the second box after the first as King Of Scots found the De Kock-trained Coyote, a pick-up ride for Anton Marcus, just too good was lavish in his praise after Delpech produced Golden Fort with a perfectly timed run to out-do Roy’s Sailor and Just Positive. “It’s wonderful to have a top jockey,” said Campbell and it appeared that he needed him. “He’s a big boy, very strong,” said Delpech of Golden Fort after punching the gelding out to the line hands and heels. “He still doesn’t know how to race. He has his head in the air and I didn’t want to hit him. It doesn’t do these types of horses any good.” By Elusive Fort, Golden Fort was home-bred by Claire and William Meyer on their farm outside of Mooi River.

Delpech was back in front of the cameras 30 minutes later but having to work much harder on the Des Egdes-trained Just Rap who held off the attentions of Brave And Bold and peace-making favourite La Gitano. “It was a cracking ride by Anthony,” enthused Egdes who is always lavish with his instructions. “Des told me to stay out of the kick-back so I was happy to be three wide,” said the rider, “but I had to work hard for this one.”

Silver Inspiration was given a patient ride by Warren Kennedy for Chris Erasmus and owners Koos de Klerk and Bruce le Roux in the fifth.  Being Julia tried a repeat of her end-to-end victory last time out but came up empty as Silver Inspiration ran her down and Airtime finished off her race nicely to relegate her to third.

Hardly a meeting passes without apprentice Lyle Hewitson making a visit to the winner’s box and he picked up another on a chance ride for Pal Lafferty and prolific owner Roy Moodley. Admittedly the scratching of the fancied runners Surrey and Shenyang opened the door for Roy’s Strike Force but the son of Lecture quickened away smartly at the top of the straight and won unchallenged.

Andrew Harrison