Having bagged a 1-2 in the Summer Cup, the richest race on the continent with Ingleside and Badger’s Coast, and the Dingaans with stardom-bound Flight Alert, Mike de Kock has shot into a R2-million lead over reigning champion David Ferraris in the drive for this season’s trainers’ title.
There’s a long way to go before the season closes at the end of July, but the talented De Kock might prove very hard to catch.
The stakes at Turffontein on Saturday seem like small change, but judging by his entries Ferraris does seem to have some chance of closing the gap. It may pay to follow him.
In the first, a maiden juvenile plate over 1 000m, Ferraris sends out no fewer than four first-timers in a 10-horse field. He has a good record with juveniles and there do not seem to be any champions among those that have raced previously. The question, obviously, is which Ferraris runner to be with: Mark Khan on Gold Smuggler, a Zimbabwean-bred son of top sire Goldkeeper, seems to be the stable elect, but Brian Jacobson’s mount, Surveyor, by Western Winter out of smart mare Crescent Fields, cost R250 000 and should be watched.
The second, a maiden plate for fillies over 1 200m, seems wide open, with half the 20 runners racing for the first time and the rest having little form to recommend, including the Ferraris-Khan team on Damascus Star. De Kock sends out Chilean-bred debutante Vecchia Maremma for owner Mary Slack, and it would be just as well to remember that this team found top filly Velvet Green and useful Australlis in the previously ignored Brazil!
Alec Laird’s Gateway Of Fire stands out among those who have raced before, but there is also bound to be support for Geoff Woodruff’s R320 000 Badger Land filly Savannah Breeze. A race in which to tread carefully.
The third is a work riders’ novice plate and Ferraris looks set to pick up the winning trail with Queen Of Dance. His National Assembly filly West Wing has had two runs since a lay-off and could start improving again.
Consistent Attar represents the stable in the fourth, but here Gary Alexander’s Cocktail must be considered on the strength of her second in her penultimate run before racing poorly on sand.
Coup de Grace ran well after a 10-month rest and with a light weight could improve to win the fifth, an advance plate over 1 600m, for the champion trainer.
In the feature, the Lebelo Handicap (race 7), Ferraris sends out three-year-old Appeal Process who has won four of his past six starts. He could win again but so could just about anything in this field. The consistent My Quest looks well in, and Pillar to Post ran a cracking second for Guillermo Figueroa last time.
Sherman Brown won by almost 10 lengths on Shinealight in Zimbabwe last month and probably for that reason has been retained by Ferraris for the Green Lightning colt’s Joburg debut in the eighth, a C-division handicap. Watch this one.
Ferraris also has a strong hand with Good Wood and Karpov in the last of the day. The pair take on a moderate-looking graduation field.
Scottsville best bets: Inevitable (race 5); Mystical Dancer (race 6) Kenilworth best bets: Steiger (race 4); Tastevin (race 7); Du Portier (race 9)