The weekend racing in KZN provides a few opportunities for punters to increase their bankrolls before the fireworks in the South African Champions Season begin.

Dennis Drier (Nkosi Hlophe)

In the first race at tonight’s 20/20 polytrack meeting at Greyville, the Dennis Drier-trained Giveuwings will be staying on over a step up in trip to 1400m she will appreciate and could win if starting faster than last time.

In the second race the Michael Roberts-trained filly La Carmelita is a typically big and long-striding daughter of Ideal World who was staying on strongly over 1200m at Scottsville on debut, so will relish this step up to 1400m.  The danger will be Roy’s Monkey, who pulled over 1600m last time out so will likely relish the step down to 1400m.

In the third Burnburry was disappointing on Wednesday with first time blinkers over 1200m, but if she takes her place and the headgear comes off she should be staying on strongly over the minimum trip here in an uninspiring field. Her stablemate Pop Star ran on in eyecatching style in the same 1200m race on Wednesday so will be a big runner here. Minnie The Minx finished close up over course and distance in February and top rider Muzi Yeni should give her every chance.

In the fourth the Highveld raider Alaca showed pace throughout over 1000m at the Vaal last time out in his first outing as a gelding and won by a comfortable 2,8 lengths. He was still full of running at the line so could possibly follow up, although is by no means a confident selection having to jump from draw ten over a step up in trip to 1200m. Royal Roy’s improved effort last time over this trip at Scottsville looks quite good on paper and he should be running on strongly again for an in form yard despite the wide draw. Out My Way could follow up on his 1000m win despite a wide draw as he has the considerable advantage of a sort after 4kg claimer aboard.

Ginger Biscuit (Nkosi Hlophe)

The fifth race is over 1000m and there is plenty of pace in the race so this should set it up well for the closer Ginger Biscuit, despite his topweight. Kept Secret is another closer who should be closing in late. Regardstobroadway has always struck as a decent sort and has stayed on from the front before so could also be in the frame.

In the sixth over 1000m, Thunderwood was not at all disgraced over 1400m last time when out at the weights in a Progress Plate.  He was staying on and from pole position with an astute apprentice up should be right there. The consistent Do Be Snappy will love the course and distance and the topweight Spanish Captain has some class. However, it is quite an open race and an upset result wouldn’t be a great surprise.

In the seventh over 1600m, the form of Vogue idea’s last run over course and distance has worked out very well and she is the one to beat. Lady Ming ran a cracker against a useful sort the last time she ran over course and distance and has a plum draw of three. Ruby Gem won her maiden over course and distance and returns to the poly for the first time since so should be competitive having run quite well last time out from a wide draw over 1400m on the Greyville turf.

The eighth over 1800m Koncealed looks to have plenty of ability, is well drawn over a step up in trip he will enjoy and the form of his only poly start to date over 1600m has worked out well.

Do Be Snappy (Nkosi Hlophe)

In the last race over 2000m the consistent and course and distance suited Live On The Moon could follow up on his last win off just a two point higher merit rating as the form of that win has worked out well and he jumps from another good draw. Highveld raider Triple Beat has gone close twice over course and distance and is a big runner too, while Impact Zone must also be considered.

Scottsville’s first race on Sunday is of interest as first-timer Apres Ski is a well-bred son of Western Winter and Dennis Drier, who has won five of the last six renewals of the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion, hasn’t delivered a true contender for the latter race yet. Apres Ski doesn’t have much to beat, although Gio Ponti’s Legacy caught the eye staying on from well back on debut and should make the frame.

The Listed Sledgehammer over 1750m could see Justin Snaith’s good start to the SA Champions Season continuing with the classy Master’s Eye. He has to carry topweight but should be staying on as he was in the Gr 2 Peninsula Handicap over 1800m last time for fifth place.

The Listed Scarlet Lady could also be fought out by Cape Town horses with Zante and Ma Choix making most appeal.

The Highland Knight Cup over 2400m is also an interesting race and the progressive Solar Star is tipped to beat home useful local stayer Qatar Springs, while Crime Victim could earn over a suitable course and distance off a two point lowered merit rating.

The best bet on the card could be Flash Fire in the second over 1400m where she looks difficult to oppose having been unlucky on debut over the same trip at Kenilworth, despite not having settled well early.

By David Thiselton

Anthony Delpech has landed the plum ride on Legislate in the Independent On Saturday Drill Hall Stakes at Greyville on May 6.

The former champion will also be on the five-year-old when the 2014 Vodacom Durban July winner runs in the Rising Sun Gold Challenge on the same course five weeks later. These two races are the only chances that racegoers will have to see the horse before he is retired to stud.

Anthony Delpech (Nkosi Hlophe)

Jonathan Snaith said yesterday: “He is having only two runs in Durban and he won’t even be nominated for the July. His preparation for the Drill Hall has gone smoothly but it will be his first race since the J & B Met and we are not expecting fireworks. The Gold Challenge is his main mission.”

Only four jockeys have ridden Legislate in public. Girish Goomany had the mount first time and  Muzi Yeni also rode him just once before Richard Fourie took over for 14 consecutive races, winning the Cape Derby, KRA Guineas, Daily News, July, Green Point and Gold Challenge. Piere Strydom rode him in the Queen’s Plate (second) and Met (sixth).

Michael Clower

Legislate – Liesl King

If Anthony Delpech had not become a jockey he could have found employment as an assassin – figuratively that is. He may have been aboard the 7-10 favourite for the Greyville opener but his plotting the demise of the opposition was as skilled and ruthless as any professional on a roof with a silenced rifle and given yesterday’s strike rate he would have earned a ‘silver baltjie’ had he been a guest of former president PW Botha.

Miss Minver (Nkosi Hlophe)

All at sea on debut, Miss Minver had learnt little from the experience and in less capable hands would have blown the odds. But Delpech kept his mount together, trapped market rival Lil Gambler on the rail, got first run and coaxed his mount home.

“She needs more ground,” opined Dean Kannemeyer, a view shared by Delpech. “This was way, way too short. She wants a mile.”

The combination was wide of the mark in the second although it was not tactics but sheer ability on the day that saw Lee’s Star home for Dennis Drier and Sean Veale. Delpech had Rand Hedge challenging hard with a furlong to run but Lee’s Star, in the familiar Braam van Huyssteen silks and here shared by Greg Bortz, kept grinding to pull clear when it mattered.

Justin Snaith, sans the spikey hair of last season, opened his winter account with a double both courtesy of Delpech. Surprisingly Brooklyn Brawler’s name was not among nominations for the Gr2 Canon Guineas but that may change come the supplementary date. “A nice surprise … but where to now I don’t know,” smiled Snaith after the gelded son of Dynasty made things difficult for himself. He always looked to have his race won, a view confirmed by Delpech. “I was going a common half-pace with the favourite in front of me,” he confided but Brooklyn Brawler took exception to the infield TV screen and a fancy to the Greyville Braai Zone.  Fortunately he was well clear of Guineas entries Celtic Captain and Ole Gunnar.

Brooklyn Brawler (Nkosi Hlophe)

Secret Seven, this time favourite, completed the Snaith stable double in the seventh but not quite according to plan as Delpech found himself in front. “You ride a race according to pace. I didn’t want to be in front but I didn’t want to fight her. If I had fought her we would have got beat.”

None of the field were entries for the Gr2 Daisy Fillies Guineas but again Snaith may be tempted given that Secret Seven finished second to the top rated Nightingale in what Delpech had earlier described as a false run race.

For the past few winters Alyson Wright has hosted a few Cape raiders and she was quick off the mark with Abound West who romped home in the third for owners Lammerskraal.

Ashburton-based Belinda Impey is never one for the spotlight but given the opportunity and the horses and she can get them home like the best of them. It was a close run thing for You Bolt and Sean Veale in the fourth but they got up in the last stride to touch off Roy’s Folly.

Auction King (Nkosi Hlophe)

South Paw looked the safest bet on the card and after a scare at the top of the straight when the meat in a closing sandwich, Delpech punched him through to win comfortably for Chris Erasmus and Yellow Star Stud.

Apprentice Lyle Hewitson is likely to ride out his 4kg claim before month end as he rounded off the meeting for Paul Lafferty aboard Auction King. Two months as a professional and 18 winners will see him in a Mercedes sooner rather than later!

By Andrew Harrison

Dennis Drier has won six Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallions, including five of the last six runnings, and punters and pundits have become used to scrutinising his Juvenile race results at this time of the year.

However, the Summerveld-based maestro trainer is even better known for bringing the best out of older horses, with the amazing mare Beach Beauty being the best example, and his six-year-old gelding Barbosa has blossomed this season from a useful top division handicapper into a Gr 1 World Sports Betting Computaform Sprint candidate. A former Medallion winner of Drier’s, Guinness, has also been entered for the WSB Computaform Sprint but will not be ready in time, so will not be making the journey to Turffontein. The WSB Computaform Sprint will be run on Champions Day, April 30.

Drier admitted his Juvenile runners to date this year had not shown Medallion credentials.

However, he was hopeful a couple could still emerge, so his two-year-old first-timers should be watched closely in the next few weeks.

A Western Winter colt called Apres Ski he has entered in a 1200m Maiden Juvenile Plate at Scottsville this Sunday has a most interesting pedigree.

Western Winter is known for the speed he imparts and has produced Medallion winners Ice Cube (2003) and Warm White Night (2008).

Apres Ski’s dam is the Fort Wood mare Topless Towers, who won only one race over 1600m, but she is a half-sister to the Gavin van Zyl-trained Horse Chestnut filly Banbury, who won the Gr 3 Fillies Mile. Topless Towers has to date produced the useful Mike Azzie-trained filly Peep Show, a Listed-winning five-time winner from 1400-1450m. Topless Towers’ dam is Lady Helen, a twice Graded runner up, who is a daughter of the outstanding broodmare Lady Shirley Bird. Lady Helen is therefore a half-sister to dual Gr 1 winner Lord Shirldor, Gr 2 winners Dog Rose and Kestrel, and Listed winner Maximum Power. Lady Shirley Bird’s female descendants have been prolific stakes-producing broodmares. Apres Ski looks likely to have the speed to be competitive over 1200m and the stamina reserves to cope with the tough Scottsville finishing hill. On pedigree he might well be full of class. His owners Nicholas Jonsson and Dr NIcholas Labuschagne will likely be awaiting Sunday’s race eagerly.

Meanwhile, Drier is very happy with Barbosa.  The Captain Al gelding has won all of his last four attempts at the 1000m trip of the Computaform Sprint and has done it in impressive fashion.

However, KZN form has become a bit questionable of late. On the other hand, one horse who has put his hand up for the province is the Michael Roberts-trained Computaform Sprint entry Muscatt. He recently broke the Scottsville 1000m course record and followed up by beating two horses with good Cape Town form, Captain Alfredo and the Drier-trained Gr 2 Cape Merchants winner Triptique. Therefore, it is interesting to note Barbosa has defeated Muscatt no fewer than six times in his career and has been on the receiving end only twice. Barbosa has also given chunks of weight away to Muscatt in their last four clashes and beaten him every time. However, it has to be said Muscatt appears to have blossomed in the Roberts yard and the pair’s ninth career clash at Turffontein will be no foregone conclusion. Furthermore, the like of Carry On Alice and Trip Tease are going to be tough nuts to crack.

By David Thiselton

Port Elizabeth trainer Jacques Strydom has not yet planned to bring his polytrack hero Gogetthesheriff to run in the Listed R150,000 Darley Arabian over 1600m on the Greyville poly at the end of the South African Champions Seasons, but is aware of the option. An appearance by the five-year-old gelding at Greyville will add a further twist to the Super Saturday meeting on the last weekend of the season, because the Darley Arabian would then shape as a South African polytrack championship event.

Gogetthesheriff is the reigning East Cape Polytrack Horse Of The Year and on Monday put his owner Freddy van Onselen in line for a R250,000 bonus by adding the second leg of the World Sports Betting (WSB) East Cape Poly Challenge series over 1400m to his first leg win over 1200m.

The long striding chestnut has a short run in so has to be waited with for as long as possible and therefore the course and distance of the tight Fairview polytrack suit him perfectly.

Ryan Munger dropped him out from a wide draw on Monday and he produced a devastating late charge down the inside rail to win by a length.

Port Elizabeth’s legendary commentator “Bumpy” Schoeman didn’t reserve many plaudits for the final leg of the Poly “Triple Crown” as he screamed “What a Beaut! What A Beaut! … Hero-Hero!”

Strydom bought Gogethesheriff as a one-time winner at a dispersal sale at the end of the 2014 season. The Go Deputy gelding had previously raced for one of Mike de Kock’s chief international clients, Sheik Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, and his only win had been a seven length romp at Clairwood in a maiden over 1600m.

Strydom and Van Onselen bought him with the dream of landing Port Elizabeth’s most prestigious race, the Algoa Cup.

Gogetthesheriff (Pic – Coastal Photos)

However, at the time of the purchase Fairview was experiencing some problems with the turf course, so Strydom eventually decided to put him in a poly race over 1200m. He stormed home to win from a wide draw at odds of 20/1 and has not looked back. He has notched up seven wins and a second from eight starts on the poly and his winning distances range from 1200m to 1900m.

Strydom and Van Onselen are still chasing the Algoa Cup dream and Gogetthesheriff has thus had eleven starts on the Fairview turf for three wins. However, last year the dream was ended by Gogetthesheriff contracting an illness. Strydom thus planned a tilt at the East Cape Poly Challenge series. He was criticised for bringing the horse back from illness with three turf races, considering the Challenge was on poly. However, he knew when he won the last of the three preparation turf races over 1400m his charge was “spot on.” He then “freshened him” up for the Challenge 1200m event, which he won by a head, and gave him “normal” work into Monday’s 1400m race. He will now just keep him ticking over for the East Cape Poly Challenge 1600 on May 13, which is sure to attract a lot of interest from around the country because a win will land Van Onselen the R250,000 bonus from WSB.

The merit rated band conditions of each race of the series has made Gogethesheriff hard to beat at the weights, despite him having to carry 62kg on each occasion, because the upper band includes horses merit rated 100 and upward and he is merit rated 108.

Strydom will see how Gogetthesheriff goes in the Challenge’s last leg before planning the horse’s future, but the Darley Arabian and/or the Algoa Cup look the obvious target or targets.

The Frank Robinson-trained Dynasty filly Olma is likely regarded as the best poly horse in KZN, having recently added the Gr 3 Kings Cup over 1600m against the boys to her fine record on the surface. However, the Mike Bass-trained Night Trip could lay claim to being the best poly horse in the country at present as he has won the last two renewals of the Darley Arabian and is merit rated 109.

There is no award at present which recognises the best poly horse in the country, but if the Darley Arabian winner is recognised as such it might be possible the snubbed Lammerskraal sire Go Deputy has the best turf and poly horse in the country for the season as he is sire of both Gotthesheriff and the Triple Crown-chasing Abashiri.

By David Thiselton