Given the heatwave gripping the country it will be a relief for racing at Turffontein tomorrow evening where temperatures will hopefully be a little kinder come sunset. The heat may be brutal but just how Brutal Force fares in the Pinnacle Stakes that heads the card will be interesting. The big purses of the Highveld have lured Western Cape-based trainers out of their stronghold and Joey Ramsden teams up with old ally Andrew Fortune in a Pinnacle Stakes sprint that heads the card.

Trip To Heaven (JC Photo)

Brutal Force’s merit rating may have suffered as a result of the hype that surrounded him early in his career and although has been pitted against the best around his successes may not quite have warranted his current rating.

However, given that this is a conditions event Brutal Force looks to be up against it and it’s difficult to look past top weight Trip To Heaven. Hardly a meeting passes on the Highveld or in KZN when Sean Tarry’s name does not appear in the results column and he looks to have picked another plum for the son of Trippi.

Lightly raced, Trip To Heaven has won four of his eight starts and the form of his last two have held up very well. He had the wood on recent Charity Mile winner Bouclette Top last time out and prior to that beat Bloodstock SA Ready To Run winner Lineker. He does have a fair weight to shoulder but is not giving much away to his rivals and given his rating he should prove too good for this line-up.

An interesting runner is the return of Forest Indigo. One of the stars of his sophomore year it all went wrong for Alec Laird’s runner and he goes to the gate for the first time since March this year.

There is no doubt that he will prefer further but with the Highveld season upon us, just how he fares will no doubt determine his future.

Mike de Kock appears to have unearthed another smart performer in Perfume Lady who does duty in the sixth, a handicap sprint over 1000m. The daughter of Captain Al landed the odds on debut and was then pitted against feature company on the Vaal sand. She was far from friendless in the market and duly obliged at just her second time at the track.

Her sand rating is significantly below her turf rating so she looks well in at these weights and along with Trip To Heaven should make a strong double.

By Andrew Harrison

Miss Varlicious is relatively lightly raced, having had only seven starts, but she has hardly missed a beat, earning a stakes cheque on every occasion and that trend could continue in the fifth at Greyville tomorrow. Paul Gadsby’s runner comes off a comfortable victory at Scottsville, the third of her career, but she faces a useful field and victory could be hard-fought.

Apart from her debut on the Greyville poly where she finished second to the speedy but temperamental Regardstobroadway, Miss Varlicious has raced exclusively at Scottsville with all except her last race being over 1000m. The step up in trip last time out did not faze her and she romped home ahead of Chestnuts N Pearls. It was a strong conditions race field but the win was tempered by the fact that she only had 48kg to shoulder.

Miss Varlicious (Nkosi Hlophe)

Tomorrow she has been lumped with 64kg but Eric Ngwane is back aboard and she takes 4kg relief which puts her in very favourably again. Miss Varlicious has already shown that she acts on the poly and given her recent form and the fact that most of the serious opposition would probably prefer it a tough further she should be difficult to beat.

But she does face another lightly raced filly in the Sean Tarry-trained In Other Words, a winner of three of her only for starts but all over 1400m. Like Miss Varlicious she was a late starter only making her debut in April this year as a four-year-old and all her wins have come on the poly. She has not been out since August and in Miss Varlicious faces more serious opposition than she has beaten to date.

However, the Tarry stable is on the boil and even though In Other Words may be a little race rusty she looks a big threat to Miss Varlicious.

Red Label is another in good form but like In Other Words she does look more at home over a touch further.

Miss Varlicious looks a possible banker in the exotics but an even better bet could come in the final leg with Ten Gun Salute. The Duncan Howells-trained colt has improved with every outing and will never meet a weaker field than he faces tomorrow.

The closure of the Vaal sand will not have pleased St John Gray whose runners did particularly well on that surface and it was fitting that his runners finished first, third and fourth in the final race on that surface.

This has forced him to cast around and we can expect more of his runners on the Greyville poly. The first of these lines up in the second where he saddles Ciao-Ciao and he has booked Anton Marcus for the ride. The gelding has a sand rating of 73 but here races off his turf rating of 60 which puts him well in at the weights.

However, he faces a Tarry runner that also comes off the sand with a 9-point lower turf rating. With a pole position draw and Delpech up, he could be the right one in this field.

Gray sends out two runners in the opening leg of the Pick 6 and both Don Vito and Mind Games need to be included in the Pick 6. Guilty As Charged is the form runner having taken to the poly surface however, he may just find this trip a touch sharp which opens the way for the opposition.

By Andrew Harrison

Durbanville will have a synthetic-surface track alongside the grass course within six months, the grass track at the Milnerton training centre will be more than doubled in length and land surplus to requirements at Kenilworth will be sold to fund the upgrading of facilities.

Hassen Adams revealed his ambitious plans at Saturday evening’s launch of the ‘Summer of Champions’ season. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect is that he and his fellow directors have managed to persuade the supposedly hidebound City Of Cape Town (CCT) authorities to agree to swap land at Durbanville that Kenilworth Racing doesn’t want for that at Milnerton which it does.

Durbanville race track

Adams said: “We are basically unlocking the three entities and we are trying to extract value from them without selling the silverware.”

The CCT owns the actual course at Durbanville but Kenilworth Racing will use part of its land on the outside of the stands area for the land swap while chutes/spurs will be added to the course to cut out some of the bends on the sprint course.

Adams said: “We will introduce the synthetic track so we can race there a lot more and we hope to have this and the spurs installed by the end of March. I am not calling it an equitrack at this stage – we have been having discussions with various suppliers – but it will be the best artificial-surface track in the country while the infield will be used as a park.”

Traditionalists will be relieved to hear that there are apparently no plans to install a polytrack or similar at Kenilworth, and not just traditionalists either. Justin Snaith recently voiced fears that this could happen, saying that soft ground horses wouldn’t get a chance because racing would be switched to the polytrack whenever rain threatened the grass.

It is at Milnerton where the most badly needed improvements will take place. For years trainers there have had to race horses to get them fit because the gallops at the training centre are not long enough.

Adams said: “The place looks like a dog’s breakfast but we will redevelop the middle part and we are going to have a 2 000m grass track going right round. We are looking to see if we can do the same with the cinder track and also have a synthetic track.”

The area where the old grooms quarters used to be will be sold, more stabling will be added and the front façade will smartened up.

Adams added: “At Kenilworth we have submitted rezoning applications that will bring us a huge amount of money. There is a big demand for upmarket residential and commercial plus an opportunity for a hotel.”

BLOB The two main supporting features on J & B Met day – the Investec Cape Derby and the Klawervlei Majorca – will be run a week earlier next year to be added to the card on the day of the CTS Million Dollar (Jan 23).

The Betting World Cape Flying Championship, originally scheduled for January 23, will replace those two Grade 1s on the Met day programme.

By Michael Clower

Under a masterful ride from Anton Marcus, Exit Here booked his place in the Gr1 CTS Cape Guineas with a tactical victory in the KZN Guineas Trial at Greyville yesterday.

Marcus is at his most lethal when allowed to dictate matters and he played the field on the brake from the jump as Charles Laird’s runner notched his fourth consecutive victory.

Not a cheap buy, prolific owners Alesh Naidoo and Markus Jooste pushed to R1,1 million at the Cape Thoroughbred Yearlings Sales to acquire the son of Jay Peg, but after yesterday’s victory things are looking up.

Rikitikitana was the talking horse of the race in spite of Exit Here having reeled off three straight, much to the surprise of Laird. “I’m surprised that he was written off. He had the best form and he’s a fighter. He hasn’t reached (his potential) it yet. He’s not a horse that shows much at home but as I say you don’t win at home, you win at Greyville.”

Exit Here (Nkosi Hlophe)

Marcus echoed Laird’s sentiments. “The penny still hasn’t quite dropped. He shows absolutely nothing at home and if you had seen his work on Tuesday you would not have backed him in a maiden.”

But all credit must go to Marcus. He set his own fractions and when first challenge by Beluga and then Rikitikitana, Exit Here kept finding and eventually drew off to win as he liked.

Duncan Howells was bitterly disappointed that Saratoga Dancer didn’t make the field for last week’s Charity Mile after the handicappers, in a rare show of charity when not needed, they failed to raise the gelding’s merit rating that would have seen him into the race instead of first reserve

The Sansui Summer Cup was planned but after yesterday’s hard-fought victory in the seventh over ten furlongs, Cup pretentions were shelved.

“He was so well for the Charity Mile that I had to run him. But I think it was his class that got him through today and I think the Turffontein 2000m would be beyond him.”

Exit Here and Saratoga Dancer restored some sanity to what proved a day of upsets with the two Apprentice Handicaps the culprits.

Four-claiming Ntokosi Gumede has not had many opportunities but if he needs any racing tutelage it cannot come from better than veteran Garth Puller, one of the legends of the South African turf. In what always looked to be a difficult race, Gumede produced Rumbullion with a wet sail to nail favourite Kolinsky.

Puller was critical of the handicappers, echoing what has long been a gripe among trainers. “I know handicapping is a difficult job but rating young horses up in the eighties after their first win is tough.”

From an early rating of 82, Rumbullion raced off a MR of 62 yesterday plus a 4kg claim.

“With money so tight owners can’t wait a year-and-a-half for their next win,” said Puller.

Hevlan van de Hoven replaced Xavier Carstens on rank outsider Lady Cougar in the second of the apprentice races and the pair torpedoed the majority of Pick 6 tickets. In a driving finish, with short-heads separating the first four, the mare got up to shade Fantasy Art, Secret Warning and Bermuda.

By Andrew Harrison

Silver Mountain looks like starting hot favourite for the World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas after the way she made light of her supposedly impossible 16 draw to power home in the Choice Carriers Championship at Kenilworth on Saturday.

Aldo Domeyer, winning this Grade 2 for the first time, said: “She has improved with every run and in the straight it was unbelievable. I had some very good horses in front of me yet it seemed as if they were standing still.”

This was the first Choice Carriers win for the Mike Bass stable since Joshua’s Princess 11 years ago and for good measure they also had the third, Taffety Tart, who will also take her chance on the first Saturday in December.

Bass’s wife Carol said: “Mike thinks Silver Mountain is amazing. We have four really stunning fillies (Sublime Lady and Miss Marker are the other two) but this one is in a league of her own.”

Daughter Candice added: “Silver Mountain is a super filly. She has impressed from day one and she has always been that much better than anything else.”

Approaching the furlong marker it looked as if the only danger to Entisaar was the riderless Star Express who had unshipped Craig du Plooy in the pens and was afterwards declared a non-runner. But the 2-1 favourite was left standing by the winner and was beaten a length and a half. She was promptly ruled out of the Fillies Guineas.

Anthony Delpech said: “She didn’t quite get the trip – she’s got too much speed  – and I think she is a sprinter.”

Mike de Kock added: “Second was not bad after five months off but I am convinced we were beaten by a better filly. Ours would have no chance with the winner over a mile and she is probably better over six furlongs.  I will carry on sprinting with her.”

Flying Ice (33-1) was beaten less than three lengths into fourth but Neil Bruss was unhappy about the choice of course, saying: “This is the Cape season with Group races. Why are we still running on the winter course with its short run-in?”

Grant van Niekerk, who partnered the other two legs of a Bass treble, came in after the Harry The Horse Handicap convinced that Three Ballons is just the sort for the J & B Urban Honey Stayers on Met day.

Andre Nel puts Captain’s Flame, the Domeyer-ridden winning newcomer in the first, “in the top three of our fillies.”

Keagan de Melo rode his first Kenilworth winner when the Brett Crawford-trained 40-1 shot Accountability dead-heated with Greg Cheyne on Glen Kotzen’s Kiss Me Now (20-1) in a shock blanket finish to the Spring Valley Stud Maiden.

Sean Cormack picked up a week’s suspension for causing interference to fifth-placed Sava Sunset when scoring a most convincing win on 11-10 favourite Qing for Justin Snaith in the Drakenstein Veterinary Clinic Maiden.

– Michael Clower
– Picture (Liesl King): Silver Mountain wins the Choice Carriers Championship at Kenilworth