High Accolade is back to best and looks the one to beat
If the close finish of last month’s KZN Breeder’s Stakes over a mile at Clairwood is anything to go by, then Dance With Mikey ran the race of his life. Fourth behind The Mousketeer, he was beaten just over a length. The official handicapper agreed, upping Mikey’s merit rating from 87 to 92. For running fourth! In the same race was Shield The Sheik, who finished seventh, beaten just on two lengths. Did that one merit rating go up? Not a chance. It was 72 and still is 72. Shield The Sheik also ran the race of his life in terms of ratings, and looks a good thing in race 6 on this card with his 72 rating. So if the Sheik arrives, robes flowing, then Mikey may be worth a bet of bob or two, even with his 2.5kg ‘ penalty’.
That said, Dance With Mikey’s MR 92 handicap (race 7) looks more complicated than Shield The Sheik’s MR 78 (race 6). For one thing, there’s Charles Laird’s trio of High Accolade, Good On You and Chindit. High Accolade showed good promise at this very time last year, earning an 84 merit rating. Tried in feature company in Gauteng earlier this year, he didn’t quite shape, certainly not running to his earlier promise. The handicapper took the cue and dropped him to as low as 76. So when High Accolade found his form again last time out, on his second KZN outing, the low rating made things easy. He won well. Rightly, the handicapper pushed him right back up, but only to 82. We rate him higher, and with 54.5kg and Felix in the saddle he looks a sound bet – Dancy With Mikey in the line-up or not.
Laird’s second runner Good On You has consistent recent form. He finished seventh last time out, not far off his normal rating, but the handicapper dropped him 2 points. That should make him competitive here. On a line through The Mousketeer his chance should be about the same as Dance With Mikey at today’s weights. Chindit is Laird’s third runner, and he, too, has put up consistent ratings at his starts this year. Assuming he runs to his best form, then with Kevin Shea up he should be thereabouts.
Anton Marcus isn’t riding at this meeting, so all eyes with be on champion challenger Delpech tonight. He rides Dunraven for the De Kock stable. Lightly raced, Dunraven hasn’t been out since January. He has mainly raced over further than tonite’s 1600m, and it would come as a surprise if he could run up to his very best rating. A more likely challenger for top honours is Drum Score, who has a win and a second from his last two starts, both over a mile. His last run may have been a lifetime best rating. This full brother to Drumbold doesn’t need to improve much further to have a good winning chance.
Kings Call scored a good win over this course and distance in February. He was off the track subsequently until the end of May. He two runs since then were below best, and he finished lame last time out, in the KZN Breeders. He’ll have to be sound and well to feature here, which is possible, but seems less likely.
Lightly raced Silent Partner has one win from four starts. He was seen to be running on nicely last time out in a 1400m Allowance Plate, for a career best rating. The son of Silvano tries a mile for the first time here, and has a claiming apprentice. His dam was a highclass sprinter, so he’s not certain to really stay this far. On the other hand, if he takes after his sire improvement is more than likely. Don’t rule him out!
Of the rest, Fastnetrock and Askari have fair form and could make the frame with a bit of luck in the running. Choisir isn’t overly consistent and woul;d be an optimistic choice.
With eleven runners, and a good position right after the start important, the pace is bound to be on from the jump. Laird’s Good On You looks a probably front runner. We pick his stable companion High Accolade as the one to beat. If he doesn’t win, the race for first looks wide open. Silent Partner looks a value runner and should be included in exotics.
