Only Mike de Kock stands between Table Bay and a fifth Selangor in six years for Joey Ramsden at Kenilworth tomorrow.

Joey Ramsden

Anton Marcus’s mount has the proverbial stone in hand. Indeed, according to the handicappers, he is seven lengths better than anything else in the field and in truth on the way he won the Cape Classic he should be as short as 1-3.

But the spectre of an unbeaten De Kock runner, coming from Joburg especially for the race, is enough to give any Cape Town trainer the heebie jeebies and Al Fahad could be anything. The Hamdan Al Maktoum Australian homebred went to the front two furlongs out in a Turffontein three-year-old handicap last time and came home ears pricked. He wouldn’t have troubled Table Bay on that run but it’s the amount of improvement he obviously has in him that makes him a threat.

“Mike’s record down here is exemplary,” says Joey Ramsden, all too aware of the danger. “I’ve also got to be impressed with the way William Longsword won last time but all is good with Table Bay and he breezed a mile on the course last Saturday.”

William Longsword, most impressive a fortnight ago, is on a four-timer but Vaughan Marshall is cautious – “It’s very competitive and hard to give him a chance but we want to see if he would be competitive in the Cape Guineas.”

Edict Of Nantes did not get a clear run when over five lengths-third in the Cape Classic but he is now a kilo worse and is drawn wide. “He has come on since then and he worked well over 1 300m when I brought him to the course last Thursday,” says Brett Crawford who is in unstoppable form. “We will definitely get closer and I think we will be in the money.”

Things didn’t go well for Our Mate Art when starting favourite in the Classic – he was never really able to switch off – and he is a whopping 5kg worse with Table Bay but the extra 200m is what he wants. Candice Bass-Robinson cautions that he is “going through a growing stage at the moment.”

Our Mate Art (left)Table Bay (right) Liesl King

Longshot A New Dawn impressed Ramsden in his Kenilworth gallop last Saturday while Piere Strydom’s mount African Night Sky is two from two with much talk about what he could be capabale of. “This is quite a jump and he has it all to do,” says Justin Snaith. “But he is a nice horse and we don’t know how good he is.”

For those betting against the favourite, three of the last five have been beaten and Cape Classic winners have a poor record in tomorrow’s race. Since Jay Peg ten years ago only one of them has won this. But, even with the  Al Fahad threat, Table Bay looks a racing certainty.

The Lanzerac Ready To Run eclipses the Selangor in stakes value even if not in class but Grade 1 winner Always In Charge is rated 2k clear, is in form, has a good draw and gives Marcus an outstanding chance of initiating a notable double.  “He is very well and we are very hopeful,” says Marshall for whom victory would be some compensation for Thursday’s dreadful setback.

But watch out for Zodiac Ruler. “I thought his comeback run, only a head behind Marinaresco, was one of the best of any of the three-year-olds,” says Justin Snaith who adds that Sergeant Hardy despite a 12 draw, will set the pace – “He only knows how to run from the front.”

By Michael Clower