whipping boy
As Durban prepares for the biggest day on the South African racing calendar, with bitter disputes and possible legal challenges again hanging over the July, racing goes ahead with a truly horrendous eight-race programme at Greyville on Saturday night.
While the blaze fanned by trainer Mike de Kock’s protest against the weight allocated to Celtic Grove rages on, the scratching of dual winner El Picha has robbed the race of a shot at history. A win for the reigning Horse of the Year would have given Geoff Woodruff’s Argentinian import a unique treble in this most glamorous of equine events. Sadly, it is not to be, and jockey Anton Marcus’s return from Hong Kong to complete last year’s heroic team has been in vain.
This weekend the R150 000 Grade 2 Post Merchants over 1 200m is complicated by the recent antics of Dennis Drier’s four-year-old colt Sugar Daddy. The son of Kefaah is a talented campaigner but has suddenly picked up the habit of being very slow out of the gates. At his penultimate start he lost 10 lengths before making up ground to finish just 1,75 lengths back in third behind Sovereign Seas in the Drill Hall Stakes.
One aberration could have been forgiven, but Sugar Daddy left a bitter taste in the mouths of supporters when again losing lots of ground in the Gold Circle Challenge a month later. In the event he ran a creditable race, just four lengths behind Celtic Grove and not far off the likes of El Picha and Badger’s Coast at level weights.
Drier has fitted pacifiers to his charge, obviously hoping to settle him in the stalls. If it works, Sugar Daddy has shown he has what it takes to run off with the winner’s cheque. Significantly, the ride on Drier’s other runner, Ace The Break, a model of consistency and also a possible winner on form, has been waved aside by stable jockey Glyn Schofield in favour of Sugar Daddy. Mr Steadfast, Norinco and Gold Merchant are other challengers. And don’t leave David Ferraris’s Cartel out of calculations either.
In the fourth race, a maiden plate over a mile, in-form Mike Airey sends out Fort Wood filly Bay Bonny. This one fetched R430 000 at the national sales and was backed to odds-on when making her debut over 1 200m four weeks ago. She finished a close fourth and on breeding should much prefer this distance.
At Turffontein on Saturday England Swings runs over a mile in an allowance plate. He signalled his well-being at his last start with a good sprint after a layoff. Look for a big run. There could be nice odds about R360 000 purchase Pine Ridge in the seventh, a progress plate over 2 000m. He has recorded two easy wins at Turffontein and ran inexplicably poorly at Gosforth Park last time. Love of the Game, Streaking, Hitmaker and Leicester Fosse could challenge.
Carmel Dance in the eighth will start at short odds but should bound in. She’s met much stronger opposition and should get home ahead of Zamalak.
In the ninth, a novice plate, Spoil Sport has her third start. She was well backed to win her last and was untroubled in beating subsequent winner Cupid’s Arrow. She could make it a double.