On Saturday, 03 June at Greyville Racecourse, there was a total of 105 points up for grabs in the 3 feature races. In the Gr1 Daily News 2000, ruling favourite for this year’s Vodacom Durban July and unfortunately not entered in the 2013 list of horses as he only debuted on 28 March, Vercingetorix (Silvano) showed his class in no uncertain terms.
Unbeaten in 4 starts, trainer Mike De Kock now has a month to prepare him for the Vodacom Durban July, Africa’s premier horseracing event which will be on Saturday, 06 July at Greyville Racecourse. Second placed No Worries (Kahal) scored 14 points and third place, Capetown Noir (Western Winter) scored10 points.
In the Gr1 Woolalington 2000, trainer Ormand Ferraris saddled the odds on favourite Cherry On The Top (Tiger Ridge) and she did look like the filly to beat after winning the Triple Tiara impressively. However, it was Do You Remmeber (Silvano) who was placed second in all 3 legs of the Triple Tiara that was rewarded with an outstanding performance for trainer Geoff Woodruff.
In an exciting finish, she got the better of Blueridge Mountain (Giant’s Causeway) who was not in the competition and Jet Belle (Jet master) finished third. Points scored were 20 for first and 10 for third. The Gr3 Lonsdale Stirrup Cup attracted a competitive field of useful stayers. River Crossing (Ceasour), from the stable of Mike Bass won a good race and will now take his place in the Gr2 Gold Vase on July Day. Penhaligon (Daylami) finished second and S’il Vous Plait (Silvano) was third. Points scored were 9, 5 and 3 respectively.
The second bonus race in the competition, the Gr1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge run over the Clairwood mile will take place this Saturday, 8 June and will also feature the Gr2 Tibouchina Stakes and the Gr3 Cup Trail, the three features worth a total of 95 points. The entire Leader Board can now be viewed on the Charity Turf Challenge home page.
Click on Leader Board and at the bottom of the page open PDF file. After the first month of the competition, “Jeremy Chetty 2” leads with 118 points having selected the Gr1 South African Fillies Sprint winner, Via Africa, and Gr1 Golden Horse Sprint winner, Contador. This weekend, the current leader is well represented with Beach Beauty, Festival of Fire, Hill Fifty Four and Whiteline Fever all lining up in the Gr1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge. Sharing second on the leader board are “Winners Park 1”, “JOHNDO 3” and “Mark Aboud 9” on 116 points. “Winners park 1” and “JOHNDO 3” both selected Gr1 Woolavington winner Do You Remember whilst “JOHNDO 3” scored 25 points with Contador which saw him move up the leader board.
The leader board is tightly bunched and it’s still a long way to the finishing post in this year’s competition. Judging by the different permutations in the top 100 there could be dramatic changes after the Vodacom Durban July race meeting and racing fans are in for a thrilling finish to the competition. Worth noting that last year’s winner Terence Reddy aka ‘DSha” was 40 points adrift going into the last day of the competition, so all is not lost for those that are lagging behind at this stage of the competition, there is still plenty of racing and points to be earned!
The third spot prize draw took place on Saturday, 03 June (Greyville) on Tellytrack. This is a computer generated, random draw from all entrants and not dependent on points earned. The two winners of a R500 telephone betting deposits (each) kindly sponsored by TAB GOLD “The Intelligent Bet” are: Nev 04 Africanbettingclan.
Congratulations to the three winners! The next spot prize draw will be on Saturday, 08 June at Clairwood Racecourse. As and when Charity Turf Challenge horses earn points, we will update the Racing South Africa website and email data-base: www.racingsouthafrica.co.za
