DAVID THISELTON

ANDREW Fortune, assistant trainer to his wife Ashley, brought down a couple of horses to gallop on the Hollywoodbets Greyville polytrack before the racemeeting yesterday including Grade 1 contenders Invidia, Chantyman and Validus.

Fortune learnt a lot from the trainer he regarded as the best he had ever worked with, Joey Ramsden, and believes it is important for the lungs to be cleaned out properly in a hard workout ten days before a big event.

Therefore Invidia and Chantyman were galloped together and Validus was worked hard with a companion.

Invidia and Chantyman both put in good workouts and will be ridden by S’Manga Khumalo and Ant Mgudlwa respectively in the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint over 1200m. They were drawn eleven and four respectively among the 15 who were still standing their ground at time of writing.

Invidia won the CTS 1200 on Sun Met day and in his reappearance after lockdown finished a half-a-length second to Eden Roc in the Grade 2 Post Merchants over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville. In the Grade 1 Golden Horse Sprint over that same course and distance he was shifted continually outward from a seemingly good low draw and finished a 1,85 length sixth. He was carrying only 52kg that day so now faces a much tougher task under weight for age conditions.

Chantyman had to give Invidia 4kg in the Post Merchants and was beaten 3,65 lengths by him. He subsequently won a Pinnacle Stakes event over 1100m on the poly on Vodacom Durban July day. However, under weight for age conditions he also has it all to do. 

Invidia will be 8,5kg under sufferance in the Mercury with the highest rated horse Kasimir and Chantyman will be 4,5kg under sufferance.

Validus did nothing wrong under Anton Marcus in yesterday’s workout but the companion he worked with, a first-timer, was particularly eyecatching.

Dynasty colt Validus made his debut in the Grade 1 Golden Horse Medallion over 1200m and finished a not disgraced 8,50 length eighth after opening at 13-2 and drifting out to 14-1. He followed that up with a 1,90 length win over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville at odds of 9-10. He was ridden by Craig Zackey on both occasions but Anton Marcus has been booked for the ride in the Grade 1 Premiers Champion Stakes over 1600m on WSB Gold Cup day. Validus was drawn 12 out of the 15 horses still standing their ground at the time of writing.  

DAVID THISELTON

ADAM Marcus sent the Grade 1 Thekwini contender Princess Calla to Hollywoodbets Greyville today for a gallop on the polytrack and the classy looking daughter of Flower Alley strode out well on her own under Anton Marcus.

Marcus also spoke about some of the other big guns in his yard.

The chief reason for Princess Calla’s move to the Adam Marcus yard is that she will be targeted at the Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas.

The Mario Ferreira-owned filly made a fine debut for Dennis Bosch over 1200m on the poly and, using her big action, pulled away from them in the closing stages to win by 3,20 lengths.

She is rated a 14-1 chance by Track And Ball for the Thekwini.

However, Anton Marcus commented after today’s gallop that she was still very green.

She is drawn nine of the 18 entries. The field will be cut to a maximum of 14 at the declaration stage tomorrow.

She is also entered in the Grade 2 Debutante Stakes over 1200m.

She will be the Adam Marcus yard’s only runner on Gold Cup day.

However, he is looking after two WSB Gold Cup contenders from the Geoff Woodruff yard, Dharma and Sunshine Silk, who have both landed good draws.

He said they had both been doing well.    

Marcus explained the reason for Vardy to return home to Cape Town and thus miss the Champions Cup.

He said Hollywodbets Greyville in fast going had not suited the big 17 hands horse especially when the race was turned into a canter and sprint for home. He also said shortly after the July that it had now been confirmed he did not stay that sort of trip.

He added, “The Champions Cup would have been the best race for him but I spoke to the owners and told them by the time he gets home after that race and then has his African Horse Sickness Vaccinations there would not be enough time for him to prepare for the Cape Summer Season so we opted to skip the race and send him home.”

He said Twist Of Fate’s disappointing KZN campaign this season could be put down to increasingly problematic haemoconcentrating. He has duly been gelded.

DAVID THISELTON

DONOVAN Dillon was at Hollywoodbets Greyville well before today’s meeting to ride the Kumaran Naidoo-trained Grade 1 Thekwini contender Vihaan’s Pie in a gallop on the poly.

He will have some other good rides on Gold Cup day including the Vodacom Durban July-trained Golden Ducat in the Grade 1 Champions Cup and he spoke at length about the potential of this Eric Sands-trained stalwart.

Vihaan’s Pie put up a good workout and Dillon said she was a lot better than the form of her last run suggested.

In that race, the Grade 2 Zulu Kingdom Explorer Golden Slipper over 1400m, she was caught wide early from a high draw and although she did eventually find cover her finishing effort was not strong enough and she passed the line in ninth place, 5,35 lengths behind the winner. 

The good looking chestnut is by Futura and is a half-sister to the Grade 1 Cape Guineas third-placed MacThief (Time Thief), so should enjoy this trip. Her mother, Yellow Card by Trippi, only had seven starts and won two of the first four of them over distances of 1200m and 1400m respectively.

Vihaan’s Pie is drawn ten out of 18 entries and is rated a 36-1 shot by Track And Ball. The field will be cut down to a maximum of 14 at the declaration stage tomorrow and this race will undoubtedly have one of the strongest fields on the day. 

Meanwhile, Golden Ducat has drawn nine out of eleven entries in the Champions Cup and Track And Ball have him as the 10-1 fourth favourite.

Dillon said this Philanthropist half-brother to Hawwaam and Rainbow Bridge did not yet know how good he was and reckoned he would win next year’s July.

Golden Ducat’s performance in the July this year was incredible considering he raced handy behind a blistering pace and had no cover virtually the whole way around and yet still managed to stay on for a 1,90 length fourth. 

Dillon said the strong pace had suited the big galloper as he was a horse who liked to use his action. 

Golden Ducat’s July run suggests he has oodles of stamina and Dillon agreed he would have been a big runner in the Gold Cup, a race he might be aimed at in time to come. However, Sands is wisely sticking to the classic distance Grade 1 races at present considering he has been showing enough speed to be a contender and is improving all the time. The Cape Derby winner did not handle Hollywoodbets Greyville in his first two starts this season but the fitting of a new noseband did the trick for the July.

Dillon’s successful effort in slimming down to 53kg to make the weight for Golden Ducat in the July did not receive the accolades it deserved. Although his official riding weight is 56,5kg the tall youngster had been walking around at 59kg in some stages of this season. He said he had taken advice from experienced jockeys and formulated a three meal a day routine with a limited number of calories and the pounds had come off. He said he had not felt any weaker for it but had fallen ill a couple of weeks after the July, so his body had obviously felt the effects. Today’s meeting was his first since August 5.

Dillon felt Golden Ducat had a tough task at the weights in the Champions Cup against the like of Rainbow Bridge and Do It Again but he was confident this horse would have a fine season and he was obviously hoping to keep the ride for his Cape campaign.

PHUMELELA’s Business Rescue Practitioner, John Evans, has published his long-awaited Business Plan, in which it has been established that MOD (Mary Oppenheimer Daughters), has provisionally acquired the horse racing assets and business from the embattled company following a head-to-head contest with UK Bookmaker, Betfred.

In effect this means that, on approval of the Business Plan by Phumelela’s creditors and regulatory authorities, MOD will take control of Phumelela’s racing assets and establish its vision and own management for the business of racing thereafter.

Approval of the plan, with or without modification, will depend on the outcome of a creditors meeting to be held electronically on the Zoom platform on Tuesday, 1 September 2020 at 11am.

ANDREW HARRISON

A top stable, a top jockey, an international owner, a blue-blood pedigree and a R2 million price tag do not necessarily make for a racing certainty but Blue School Baby ticks all those boxes and the gentlemen of the crossbar – named when they stood out in the weather under an umbrella – have taken no chances and 14-10 was about the best price on offer ante-post yesterday.

The opposition in the second at Hollywoodbets Greyville today does not look particularly strong although Lucy Lu has the benefit of a run and the experience. Slow out but finishing strongly, Lezeanne Forbes’s filly is sure to have made some improvement from that outing and should give Blue School Baby a run for her money.

Most punters took a pounding a Hollywoodbets Scottsville on Sunday and they could be in for further punishment on what looks to be a decidedly difficult card where obvious bankers are in short supply.

There should not be much between Ticket To Cairo and Precious Love in the opening leg of the PA with just over a length separating the pair when last they met. The former is a short-priced joint favourite while Precious Love, who was making her local debut and having her first run in five months, is 14-1.

However, Johan Janse van Vuuren saddles two debutants in On A High Note and Wildeye, both short in the market.

Celtic Voyager, a smart winner on VDJ Day can back up that win in the first leg of the jackpot. With apprentice Jabu Jacobs claiming 2.5kg, his handicap penalty has been nullified. He is a possible banker but once you look past him, the field in this Pick 6 leg becomes an option.

Punters face a similar dilemma in the fifth although this time around there does not appear to be an obvious standout. The books are offering 5-1 the field which just about sums the race up.

Whizz Of Odds is slowly coming down in the handicap and gets 4kg off her back. Extravagant was narrowly beaten by Dice Captain last time out but the latter has a tougher draw while Clock Stopper took to the poly last run and can go one better.

Donald McDonald is unbeaten since being put over ground and will be a popular banker in the sixth but Pollard will be a threat after being touched off by the useful Christopher Robin in the KZN Breeders 1900 and the Rivalland stable is coming good.

Santa Vittoria is a tentative choice in the seventh but she is a little too short in the ante-post market at 2-1 as there are plenty among the opposition that will make her gallop, including Super Fluke and Pina Colada although both are hamstrung by a wide gate.

Corvette Captain is a weak favourite for the seventh, another open race, but he is lightly raced and may be looking for the extra furlong now that he is older.

Cliffie Miller has led the way for his fellow former Kimberley-based colleagues with three successes so far but it could be the turn of Sarel Von Willingh Smit in the last where he saddles Rock To The Music with Miller’s Mambo Lyric a likely threat.