Brett Crawford, still waiting to avenge Angus’s head defeat by Ipi Tombe in his first season as a trainer, is hoping that 16 years on the well-backed White River could be the one to do it.

Crawford has been quoted as saying that the Cape Guineas runner-up has as good a chance as Edict Of Nantes who was beaten little more than a neck when third 12 months ago. Yet White River was only fifth in the Daily News and sixth in the Cape Derby, both of which were won by his former stable companion.

Corne Orffer

“White River is a talented horse who hasn’t really shown it yet due to circumstances of which being a colt was the biggest,” says the Philippi trainer. “Now that he has been gelded he is a much more manageable horse and he focuses on his work much better.”

But will he stay? After all he is by Trippi, hardly an influence for stamina. “That could be a question mark but I don’t see a lot of speed in the race and I don’t think it’s going to be a testing 2 200m,” says his trainer. “In the 2 000m Daily News he was only beaten a length and three-quarters and we have him much fitter now. Indeed he has done very well since that race and, with only 53kg on his back, I make him a big runner.”

White River will be only the second July ride in the past 12 years for Corne Orffer who rode in the race several times earlier in his career and who has really developed his talents since becoming Crawford’s stable jockey. His big race triumphs this season include the Tsogo Sun Sprint.

Orffer confirms that gelding White River has transformed the horse: “When he was a colt you had to get him out quickly and then really get him going but now you can do what you want with him and he will do it for you. You can ride him handy or put him away, switch him off and switch him on again whenever you want him.”

And draw 13, is that a problem?  “I would have been happy with seven or eight but you don’t want to be drawn on the inside – say one to four – because if you get a slow start you can find yourself boxed in.

“In fact I’m not too phased by 13 and, with it looking as if there is not a lot of pace in the race, it seems as if I may be able to get handy straightaway. He has good gate speed so I don’t see a problem in getting there without having to force the horse. He can then be switched off and relaxed until I’m ready to ask him a question.”

By Michael Clower