Pleasedtomeetyou can prove to be just that so far as punters are concerned by defying assessment logic in the TAB Telebet Progress Plate at Kenilworth tomorrow.

The Andre Nel runner should finish with only one behind him on adjusted merit ratings but he has race fitness on his side and his running in last month’s Cape Classic points to his chance over this furlong shorter test.

He finished third in that race after racing prominently and failing to last home – “He had every chance but he didn’t finish the race. He ran out of steam,” said Nel afterwards. “But we now know where we are going – sprinting.”

Sand And Sea

Bernard Fayd’Herbe, who won the Sophomore on the colt at Durbanville two months ago, regains the ride and the three-year-old was 19-10 joint favourite with Sand And Sea in the books of World Sports Betting yesterday.

Sand And Sea has a big theoretical advantage over the selection because Anton Marcus’s mount only concedes a kilo whereas the official weight-for-age scale says he should be giving away five. However he has not raced since April and that is a major disadvantage.

Speedpoint, the other four-year-old in the field, is a 33-10 chance. He is officially the best horse in the race but has not been seen since finishing a creditable two-length fifth in the Mercury Sprint three and a half months ago. If race-fit he would be well-nigh impossible to oppose even if the Nel horse is as good as this scribe thinks he is.

Of the others Lanza (9-2) was a length behind Pleasedtomeetyou in the Cape Classic and looks held as does Clipper Captain (15-2) who was a further four lengths back after getting himself in a state in the pens. Run To Denmark, stable companion of the selection, is the outsider of the party at 15-1.

In the fillies Progress Plate (race five) Temple Grafin stands out after running a cracker in the Western Cape Fillies Championship, her first run since winning the Debutante at the end of last season. She started favourite and beat all except Clouds Unfold. She is also favourite here (at 11-10) and Anton Marcus again has the mount.

Diana Stakes runner-up Miss Katalin (5-2) is the highest rated but watch out for Nous Voila at 17-2. She has been beaten at odds-on in two of her last four but she failed to act round the turn in her last two races and this is why she is being put back up the straight.

In the first Kingston Rock can confirm placings with Dragon Power and possibly get the better of Fayd’Herbe’s mount Empire Glory who ran well last time.

By Michael Clower