The stable of trainer Terry Lowe has shown fair form since his return to regular racing some months ago and a nice prize could go his way on Saturday in the R200000 grade 2 Elevation Stakes over 2000m at Gosforth Park.
Lowe sends out five-year-old Polo Classic, who was runner-up in both the South African Derby and the Daily News in his classic season, before finishing just 3,5 lengths behind El Picha in the July last year.
After that effort Polo Classic ran just once (a “nowhere” in the Summer Handicap) before reappearing in July. He twice performed creditably over sprint distances before showing steady improvement over a mile.
If his last effort a dead-heat for fourth with Celtic Grove in the weight-for-age Skeaping is anything to go by, Lowe’s patience with the Freedom Land gelding seems to have paid off.
Polo Classic will relish the extra 400m he gets here, and any improvement on that excellent last effort will make him hard to beat. He is clearly being aimed at next month’s prestigious Summer Cup and seems to be coming on at the right time.
In the Skeaping he was just a head behind joint winner Ingleside and a 4kg swing in his favour should see him reverse the order with that one.
A top contender must be the consistent Young Rake, but a line through Ingleside leaves David Ferraris’s charge with a vital bit to find. He has a real chance if Polo Classic fluffs his lines. Piere Strydom’s ride, Double Reef, shares top weight with Young Rake and Ingleside but he has a place chance.
The sparingly raced Carpetbagger from the Mike de Kock yard is highly regarded but failed at restrictive odds of 4-10 against much weaker opposition last time. He will have to improve, but has plenty of scope for just that.
Buddy Maroun’s Lion Gate has not won over further than 1400m and has never raced against this class of opposition, or over this distance. Maroun normally knows what he’s doing, though.
Carolina Cherry and Addictive are others who could sneak a place.
In the first race Western Roll from the Geoff Woodruff yard looks impossible to oppose.
An interesting runner in the fourth, an advance plate, is Hide Out. He is the Zimbabwean champion three-year-old of last season and how he fares against Woodruff’s top-class filly Pacific Blue at level weights will be keenly observed. But both will have to be at their best to down smart three-year-old Rip Curl.
My Quest, also from the Lowe yard, is very consistent and will take some beating in the seventh.
At Clairwood on Sunday David Payne’s Oratory stands out in the seventh race as an exotic-bet banker. In the eighth Cyril Naidoo’s Child Model could go one better on her excellent second to Shang Dynasty after a 10-month lay-off.
At the Vaal Woodruff’s National Assembly colt Siswe looks too hot for the opposition in the third.
Strydom could steer La Couer De La Mer home for brother-in-law Louis Goosen in the fourth.
Ferraris’s True Match has met far stronger than the D division company he encounters in the seventh race and stands out as a good bet if he handles the sand track.
In the ninth Lucky Houdalakis teams up with Global Leader, the subject of much betting support on his debut win in May. They could keep their unbeaten record intact.