whipping boy
Murphy’s law if something can go wrong, it will applies to horseracing more than any other sport. So when an animal named All Will Be Well heads what seems to be a reasonable list of “good things” this weekend, one naturally gets suspicious. All Will Be Well takes on nine rivals in the R200?000 Hawaii Stakes over 1 400m at Turffontein on Saturday and at level weights should take some beating. The odds should be fair, too, with David Ferraris’s front-running four-year-old Glamour Boy a likely hot favourite after a second place in the Queen’s Plate during the Cape summer season. He and his stablemate Lavery will challenge for honours, as should the versatile Big Brass, but the classy All Will Be Well is really well in at these weight terms. The Kenilworth card on Saturday offers a number of appealing bets and/or bankers for exotic bets. In the R100 000 Chairman’s Handicap over 3 200m Ginkgo, a runner-up in the supporting feature on Met day, should pay off another little portion of his whopping R600 000 price tag. The Fort Wood gelding still has a good way to go towards recouping expenses and has already had a dozen runs. The in-form Chris Snaith stable won’t want to waste much more time in going for the break-even mark. Trainer Mike Stewart could manage only fourth with Mutaahab in last week’s feature but should have a big say in the Kenilworth pick six. In the third race (first leg of the pick six) his Dominion Royale gelding Royal Blaze should do well, if jockey Freddie Macaskill manages to resist the inevitable late charge by Garth Puller on the improving Camp Clever. Sporting Great should also make his presence felt in the finish. Stewart’s Ad Sum has been placed behind smart types Rich Royal and Lizard Island in his last couple of runs. He could turn out to be the best bet of the day in the last race, a novice plate over 1 000m. Ad Sum should start at a shorter price than Stewart’s runner in the seventh, African Extreme, who has blossomed since transferring from Gauteng. I made a note of this four-year-old after he put in an eye-catching run over 1 400m last time. He started slowly but was travelling far faster than anything else over the last half of the race and finished a clear second behind the useful Fine Fox. The winner that day set a class record but comes into this event conceding a 2,5kg turnaround to African Extreme for one length. That should reverse the placings. Smart three-year-olds Railroad Red and Puppet King complicate the issue, however.
On Sunday a couple of listed juvenile features should spice up the card at Scottsville in Pietermaritzburg. Gauteng trainer Dominic Zaki is raiding the fillies’ race with the improving Jamaican Treasure, an impressive six-length winner of her last race, and the colts’ event with Royale Scandal, which has possible winning form. The trouble, as always with juveniles, is their unpredictability and lack of exposed form. Even these smallish fields (seven and eight runners respectively) are loaded with heartbreak potential.
Tread carefully if you’re brave enough to bet here.