whipping boy
The scintillating triumphs of three-year-olds Hoeberg and Badger’s Drift last weekend has consolidated their positions at the top of the betting boards for the Durban July, but another of their generation could stake a claim in the R500 000 Grade 1 Gold Challenge over a mile at Clairwood Park on Saturday.
Victory for David Ferraris’s imposing Fort Wood gelding Celtic Grove won’t remove doubts over his ability to stay the 2 200m of the big race, but it will prove he has what it takes to beat a few older July entrants. And neither Badger’s Drift nor Hoeberg has yet shown that.
Lined up against Celtic in the eight-horse field are top-class miler Big Brass, 2000 Met winner Badger’s Coast as well as dual July hero and reigning Horse of the Year El Picha.
Except for one worrying failure at his penultimate start over 1 800m the furthest he’s been asked to go Celtic has barely put a foot wrong. He avenged his surprising short-head defeat in the Cape Guineas with a resounding victory in the South African Guineas at Greyville a month ago. Over this distance Celtic’s biggest test could come from the game St John Gray-trained Big Brass, who boasts three wins and two good places from his past five starts.
Badger’s Coast will probably be looking for a good “prep” run, but writing him off too hastily could be a big mistake.
El Picha finished behind both of these on Champions Day, but that was a decidedly below-par effort. Expect a much better run from the Argentinian import, although he probably wants more ground than this. At his best there’ll be daylight between him and the rest.
The Sheik, also a July runner, doesn’t have great form, but the Dennis Drier stable has hit a purple patch. Drier also saddles Sugar Daddy, who was a 1,75-length third in the Drill Hall Stakes after losing 10 lengths(!) at the break.
In the R90 000 Grade 3 Tibouchina Stakes for fillies and mares over 1 400m, top-class Thatch Attack returns to the track after a seven-month break. If she is not in need of a run she will be hard to beat.
In view of Thatch Attack’s long absence, though, it may be more prudent to side with Glen Kotzen’s Forest Ivory, a facile winner of her last start. She will again be ridden by the ambitious Mark Khan, who will have a good idea of the threat posed by another Cape-trained three-year-old, Trojan Belle, having partnered her in three of her past four runs. Trojan Belle, trained by Justin Snaith, was supported last time in a failed bid to beat the smart Laisserfaire of daddy Chris Snaith.
La Deportista will be having her 71st run, but her first for trainer Cyril Naidoo. Ideally distance suited, she is bound to start at a long price but could still make sudden improvement. Don’t be caught.
In The Debutante, a Grade 3 event over 1 400m, Imperial Triumph should be too good for Salapi and Gia’s Secret. Beach Patrol in the first and Best To Go West in the second look like other good bets.
Turffontein best bets: First Draw (race 1); Tidal Wave (race 3); Double Deception (race 4); Climbing Rose (race 9).
Kenilworth: Little Dixie (race 4); Century City (race 5); Origami (race 6).