With less than 24 hours to go until the Cape’s premier race day, we have stable comments from all the trainers with runners in the 2016 Gr1 Cape Flying Championship.
Louis Goosen – Trip Tease (1)
Trip Tease: SA’s highest rated sprinter
Trip Tease is currently the highest rated sprinter in SA at 114. Captain Of All has retired to stud and Alboran Sea has retired to stud, so the two main protagonists are not racing anymore. The only horse rated higher than him that is currently still racing is Carry on Alice and she was recently dropped to 113, so right now Trip Tease is the highest rated sprinter in the country. His worst run to date is 5th – he’s never not earned a cheque.
As far as his prep is concerned, he couldn’t have his planned prep run two weeks ago (in the BMW Pinnacle Stakes on Queen’s Plate day). Belong To Me broke through the starting gate and Trip Tease reared in the pens and cut his lip, so he got withdrawn at the start. Mine was the only horse to lose his start stall certificate – the other two that caused problems didn’t. Last year he’d had a change of ownership and there was very little time to get him down here and prepared and he ended up spending 19 hours on a float to get here. This year, we were scared of the drought and a possible AHS outbreak, so we travelled early. I’ve been down every week. We’ve brought him on slowly and we were going to give him a run, but with what happened on Queen’s Plate day we’ve had to go to Plan B, but as a trainer one learns to improvise. The field is wide open, but he’s exceptionally well, we’ve got a good jockey and I think he’ll be a huge runner.
Mike Bass – Tevez (2), Line Break (11), Fly By Night (14)
Tevez: “Will be a big runner”
Tevez is very well. He needs a strong pace to be effective over a 1000m but if things work out for him, he will be a big runner.
Line Break has been off for some time after an injury, so it’s difficult to assess his chances. He will also need a strong pace over the 1000m to be effective as it’s a touch on the sharp side for him, but he is moving well and his work is very good.
Fly By Night seems to be just about back to her best lately, although she too could find this a little on the short side, but must have a fair chance as it’s not the strongest Cape Flying line-up this year.
Joey Ramsden – Brutal Force (3)
Brutal Force has been a consistent sort and if he carries on, then he must have a good chance.
Brett Crawford – Gulf Storm (4)
Gulf Storm tries blinkers for the first time
Gulf Storm is well and he’s been working very well. He has got blinkers for the first time, which I think will suit. He had a good prep and I’m very happy with him.
Dennis Drier – Guiness (5), Triptique (9)
Tsogo Sun Medallion winner Guiness
I do believe I’ve got Guiness back to his best. He needed his last run (BMW Pinnacle Stakes over 1000m on Queen’s Plate day). He’d just come out of a graduation and from a graduation to finish 5 lengths off possibly a couple of the best sprinters in the country – I was very happy. He was just in need of that run and he’s come on unbelievably. I’ve had time to take him to Kenilworth and give him a good gallop and I believe Guiness is back. Saturday will give us the answer, but I do believe he is back.
I think Triptique will find the 1000m a bit sharp, but he will be finishing. I think he’ll be a little bit outpaced, when they’re stopping he’ll be running on.
Johan Janse van Vuuren – Belong To Me (6)
Belong To Me: “A cheque would be nice”
Belong To Me has been prepping with Brett Crawford. Actually the main reason for taking him down was to be Brazuca’s stabling companion – the two are big buddies in the stable. There was nothing on the programme for him in Joburg for 3 months, so it suited me to send him down. On his last run in Joburg, he earned a stake cheque and we gelded him after that and sent him to Cape Town. He probably needs 2 runs to be back to his best. The Cape Flying is a bit short for him and he’ll probably need it a bit. He ran three weeks ago, he’ll run tomorrow and his next run will be in Joburg in about 5 weeks’ time, so he’ll be back on a float on Monday as he’ll need about a month to acclimatise. As I said, the main aim was for him to accompany Brazuca, so we’re not expecting him to win, but a cheque would be nice.
Justin Snaith – Daring Dave (5), Harry Lime (12)
Daring Dave and Tevez fight it out in the 2014 Gr2 Cape Merchants in November
Daring Dave got left badly at his last start and this is 3rd run since getting back from KZN. I’ve prepped his specifically for this run. This is the moment in his career for him to do something special. He’s got every opportunity – it’s not the strongest Cape Flying field I’ve seen and everybody’s a runner.
Harry Lime had a very good win last time. He’s not on the best terms on Saturday, but I hope he’ll have come on from his last run.
Yvette Bremner – Copper Parade (8)
The evergreen Copper Parade
Copper Parade is very well. There’s not too much to say about him except that he loves travelling. Most of his bad runs were when he’s had to stay in Cape Town, and his good ones were from when he’s travelled up and down, so we decided to travel him for Saturday’s race. He left PE on Wednesday and arrived in Cape Town on Thursday morning. He’s well, he’s eating up and he’s a happy boy.
Coenie de Beer – Talktothestars (10)
It’s been more than a decade since we’ve last seen Coenie de Beer, but he’s back and saddles Talktothestars. He told us, “He’s just a normal horse, but I’m going to try and see what I can do with him. He is very well and I hope he’s in the same class as the horses in that race, but at least I’ve got a good jock on him (Gavin Lerena). He’s doing well here. He’s had a few ups and downs, but otherwise he’s very well.”
Sean Tarry – Carry On Alice (13)
Carry On Alice
Obviously I think they have to excuse her for her last run – there wasn’t a lot that she did wrong. Things went wrong at the start and S’manga felt his hand was forced. She was overracing and I think she’s better than that run. Everything has gone smoothly since and she’s doing well and moving well and I make her a big runner.
Eric Sands – Champery (15)
Champery
My hands are hands tied by the programme. This will be her third run after a long layoff, but there are no other races for her before she goes to Natal. By Saturday I will have her 100%, so we will see how good she is and from an ability point of view, we will see what’s got on Saturday.
