Believers in the second and third-run-after-a-rest theory will be wading in on Charlie Strong in the Rugby 5 Maiden at Kenilworth tomorrow – and with good reason.

This gelding ran a cracker when he reappeared 19 months after his debut to beat all except the useful Saint Donan in a 1 200m maiden here in March. Five weeks later, though, when he was backed down to 22-10 second favourite, he proved a bitterly expensive disappointment.

“I thought it was just a question of how far,” recalls Adam Marcus (pictured) ruefully. “But what I think happened was that other horses came across towards him and he became a bit intimidated. But he is fit and well and this race looks quite winnable.”

Indeed it does and Gavin Lerena, travelling far and wide in his search for title-bringing winners, has reason to fancy his chances. He is on the 14-10 favourite and, although Betting World makes the five month-absent Baksteen second favourite at 22-10, the selection probably has most to fear from the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Last Tiger (7-2) who ran as if he found  1 200m too short last time.

S’Manga Khumalo is also hungry for winners and Greg Ennion is pleased to have the champion aboard Northern Corner in the opening maiden juvenile. This colt has arguably better form than Ready To Attack and Victorius Jay and last time’s fourth to Macduff (with subsequent winner Black Tractor third) reads well.

“He was a bit unlucky that day because he raced on his own for a while but he really ran on when he joined the others. He has done very well since,” says Ennion.

Eleven of the 17 runners are newcomers with Angkor Wat catching the eye as Joey Ramsden’s two-year-old crop is particularly strong. The morning performances of Purple Mountains (by Var) have attracted the attention of a number of rival trainers but Glen Puller says: “He and Larimar are nice types but I think they will both need the experience.  I haven’t pushed them at all.”

So maybe Northern Corner will be good enough but Ramsden’s Sugar Frosted should be able to reverse her debut running with Nordic Wind, and confirm with Khumalo’s mount Frenni, in the Soccer 13 Maiden Juvenile. Septima also has the form to win but she has been off for four months.

Roman Silvanus ran well in a sprint last time but the 18-10 favourite appeals in the 1 800m Soccer 6 Maiden. “That last race was his first run back (since December),” says Candice Robinson. “This is his type of distance and he will have a good chance.”

Bono Vox (9-2) is drawn wide but 5-1 chance Hurricane Attack is, intriguingly, fitted with blinkers for the first time after showing signs of improvement on his most recent run. “I am putting them on because he ran in snatches last time,” explains Paddy Kruyer. “But I can’t be confident.”

Perini (33-10) and Alascan Maiden (7-2) head the market for the Racing.It’s A Rush Handicap but at 7-1 Khumalo’s mount Thaler Point makes considerable each way appeal.

By Michael Clower

Cape Town trainers continued their stranglehold on the SW Security Solutions SA East Cape Derby when the Joey Ramsden-trained St Tropez easily landed odds of 15-20 under Anton Marcus at Fairview yesterday.

This was the tenth time in the past 11 years that the race has gone to a trainer based in Cape Town and the third success for Ramsden in the past nine seasons.

Robert Khathi also had a good day, flying to Nairobi to win the Kenya Oaks on Happy Times at Ngong. He had already won both the Kenya Derby and Fillies Guineas on this daughter of Casey Tibbs, bred in South Africa by David Southey.

By Michael Clower

The Dennis Drier yard have said that Captain Of All is on track for the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint to be run over 1200m at Scottsville on May 23. His participation will have an important effect on the weights as he is merit rated 116 and is set to carry 60kg, so without him the weights will all have to be dragged upward.

The two Gr 1-winning fillies Alboran Sea and Fly By Night are second highest in the weights, but are more likely to run in the weight for age Gr 1 City Of Pietermaritzburg Fillies Sprint. The next horse in the weights is Gulf Storm, who was punished nine points by the handicapper for winning the Listed In Full Flight Handicap over 1100m. Gulf Storm, who appeared to relish the tough Scottsville track, is set to carry 56,5kg.

The two stand outs at the weights are the former Gr 1 SA Nursery winner Willow Magic from the yard of champion elect trainer Sean Tarry and last year’s Tsogo Sun Sprint winner Normanz from the yard of Charles Laird. Both horses are set to carry a mere 54kg, amazingly light for respective Gr 1 winners. However, Tarry said recently that Willow Magic’s participation might depend on the draw he lands and he could otherwise be rerouted to the Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge over 1600m on June 6.

Normanz missed what would have been a useful preparation in the recent 600m dash race at Scottsville, which had to be cancelled due to a rain affected track. However, he only has to carry 1kg more than last year, when leading throughout and producing a good kick under Athandiwe Mgudlwa. Laird is going for his fourth successive victory in this race and has won an incredible ten Gr 1 races at this festival with nine different horses. Laird’s other two recent Tsogo Sun Sprint winners, Delago Deluxe in 2012 and Contador in 2013, carried 54kg and 53,5kg respectively, so Normanz has the right looking weight again this year.

However, before Laird’s three victories the race was dominated by top class sorts who had to lug big weights. In 2007 Kildonan carrying 57,5kg touched off his three-year-old contemporary Mythical Flight, who carried topweight of 60kg. J J The Jet Plane carried topweight to victory as a three-year-old in 2008 and again carried topweight when winning in 2010. In 2009 Earl Of Surrey won with topweight and Shea Shea carried 58kg to victory in 2011. Captain Of All is already a Gr 1 winner at this track having won the Tsogo Sun Medallion as a two-year-old and the manner of his win at Scottsville in his penultimate start suggests he could well join some of those aforementioned stalwarts by triumphing with topweight on May 23.

By David Thiselton 

Picture: Nkosi Hlophe

Dean Kannemeyer’s tremendous run since arriving in KZN for the Champions Season in March continued yesterday when his four-year-old Dynasty gelding Solid Speed won the Non-black Type Highland Night Cup over 2400m at Greyville under Donovan Dillon.

However, the winner of earlier Greyville races, Mambo Mime and Maybe Yes, as well as St Tropez, who won yesterday’s Gr 3 SW Security SA East Cape Derby in Port Elizabeth, look set to have just as big an impact on the Champions Season.

Solid Speed, starting joint 4/1 favourite, sat in fifth place off a fair pace set by Jay Power and produced a sweeping run on the outside to win by a comfortable two lengths from the always handy Akii Bua and Crime Victim, who ran on well. Coltrane and Kolkata ran disappointing races beaten 3,65 and 14,65 lengths respectively considering the suppressed handicap conditions favoured them at the top of the weights.

Solid Speed has now won half of his mere eighth career starts and is unbeaten in two starts over this trip so could possibly give Kannemeyer a third career Gr 1 Gold Cup (sponsored now by eLan Property Group).

At Fairview the Joey Ramsden-trained Silvano gelding St. Tropez  also announced himself as a Gold Cup contender.

Despite a slow early pace and being near the back of the field and wide, he travelled into the straight under a double handful before finding a strong finish under Anton Marcus to win comfortably. He started at odds of 15/20 and could possibly get into the Gold Cup with a light weight. The Justin Snaith-trained Master’s Eye and the Stan Elley-trained My World were the second and third highest merit rated horses behind St Tropez and respectively helped make it a one-two-three for Cape Town based trainers.

There was plenty for Port Elizabeth trainers to cheer about at the very well attended meeting, especially when the talented Alan Greef-trained Var colt Juan Two Three won the Listed Dahlia Plate over 1200m for two-year-olds in impressive style under Greg Cheyne.

Earlier in the Greyville meeting the Brett Crawford-trained Tiger Ridge filly Maybe Yes, who won last year’s KRA Fillies Guineas, was surprisingly sent to the front in a competitive Conditions Plate over 1400m. However, this didn’t bother her as she quickened just as well as usual under S’Manga Khumalo and won easily by four lengths. She was second best in at the weights, but it was still a fine performance and a point to note is that she sweated in the preliminaries so this shouldn’t be seen as a negative for her in the future.

The Dean Kannemeyer-trained Mambo In Seattle colt Mambo Mime was an impressive winner of the first race, a competitive Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1600m. This good looking sort was quite headstrong in the running and came from some way back under Stuart Randolph, so looks to have plenty of improvement in him.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Solid Speed winning the Highland Night Cup (Nkosi Hlophe)

A Hydro Spa as well as an Infrared Solarium Lamps facility have been installed at Summerveld for the preventative and recuperative treatment of horses and one of the first to make use of it has been the former Equus Champion two-year-old male and Vodacom Durban July entry Kochka.

The Hydro Spa is an excellent training aid and this is the first one in KZN. Trainers have had one available to them in both Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth. Showjumpers and sports horses will also be able to make use of the one at Summerveld.

Mike de Kock’s chief owner Sheikh Mohammed bin  Khalifa Al Maktoum installed a Hydro Spa at De Kock’s Dubai stables in 2011. De Kock said  about it at the time, “Trainers in the UK are raving about it and we’ve put it to the test with good results.”

After the horse has been walked into the contraption and the watertight doors on either side closed, the spa, which has a capacity of 3000 litres, is filled with water infused with Epsom Salts. The water level covers the legs of the horse. A tiny amount of bleach is also put in the water to kill bacteria. The water is aerated and has a washing machine effect.

The hydrotherapy stimulates blood circulation for the prevention of injuries and also aids in increasing mobility and reducing swelling in the limbs before and after competitive racing and training. It treats such leg parts as ligaments, tendons, joints and stifles and typical conditions which respond well to equine hydrotherapy include tendonitis, suspensory ligament desmitis, soreness, stiffness, arthritis, hoof and foot problems including laminitis, joint conditions, soft tissue damage, sore shins, cuts and bruises.

The horses appear to thoroughly enjoy the hydrotherapy, especially once they are used to it.

Kochka is quite a highly strung sort and was introduced to the Hydro Spa early last week with a ten minute session. On Thursday he had a fifteen minute session and was clearly loving it. He munched on carrots and apples and blew contentedly. In future he will be booked for normal twenty minute sessions, which is the most effective usage time period.

Kochka was off the race track for about a year-and-a-half due to a tendon injury, which was fortunately caught at just the right time, meaning he was able to recuperate through rest. He returned in February with a decent second over 1 200m at Scottsville before winning his last start in March over 1 200m at Greyville. Those were fine performances considering he is looking for a lot further.

An injured tendon will never strengthen to the exact level it once was, as there will be a small percentage of scar tissue, and trainers tend to underwork horses with such weaknesses. Kochka’s trainer Alyson Wright was therefore thrilled with the arrival of the Hydro Spa, which she said was “perfect” therapy in his case.

As well as being used as an injury preventative measure before and after exercise, equine hydrotherapy has rapidly established a reputation for resolving lameness much faster than normal. It works effectively in conjunction with, or as an alternative to, conventional treatments. The Solarium Lamps treat the neck, withers, spine, hindquarters, coxix and glutes before and after excercise. It is a system

of large red lamps that give off infrared heat and provides deep muscle therapy. The lamp positioning is designed to treat specific muscle groups and helps the horse by improving performance, increasing circulation, and reducing the chance of injury. The heat, set at a pleasant temperature, penetrates the skin, and aids in warming up prior to exercise and loosening muscles after exercise. It can draw out lactic acid and is especially useful in the case where a horse has tied up. This form of infrared therapy is a safe method of natural health care and physiotherapy for the horse.

The Summerveld Hydro Spa and Solarium Lamps are owned by a company called Equine Spa and Wellness Centre run by Juanita Baxter and Leigh-Anne Dunkley and a grand opening demonstration will be given at 17h30 on Thursday May 14. The pair said that trainers can pay a monthly fee and tailor it according to what they need, but they emphasised that booking a time was important to prevent queuing.

By David Thiselton