Revenge Sought. The champion Capetown Noir is out to atone for his KRA Guineas defeat and strips a fitter horse on Saturday
The R1,5 million Gr1 Daily News 2000 is the springboard to fame and fortune for our future champions. Whatever the future holds for the class of 2013, Saturday’s race at Greyville hosts all of our top 3yo’s with the various sub plots promising a thriller.
Predictable and narrow boat type races tend to be rather tedious affairs. But this titanic clash of the best is no such event. It goes way beyond the pale, with reputations at stake and many questions to be answered in the multitude of side shows.There are plenty with serious claims to glory.
It is to be expected that the 3yo picture, muddied after a few hiccoughs early on, will begin to clear as the serious features are run. The Gauteng form will also come under the spotlight and be subjected to the acid test by the best.
Poser
The KRA Guineas is at the core of our first poser. Run on 4 May at Greyville, the race produced a minor shock when the Mike De Kock trained Vercingetorix got the better of a protracted duel with Capetown Noir in the final 300m to gain a narrow victory.
Capetown Noir had come into that race on a high off three straight wins in the Cape Guineas, the Investec Cape Derby and the Byerley Turk at his opening Champions Season run three weeks earlier. Dean Kannemeyer’s champion was expected to take the Guineas in his stride, but in his defence things did not go entirely according to plan.
Talking to the Racegoer publication earlier this week, Kannemeyer said: “He is very tight and this will be another test over 2000m. In the KRA Guineas the jockey lost the stirrup iron and he is then chased. Then he’s okay, but then he runs away from the paint in the straight in his first start at Greyville. But, the winner came past him and he then takes off and just fails. I can’t fault the winner.”
Stretching
So assuming things go well, will Capetown Noir be at his brilliant best in a hard run 2000m? There is a school of thought that fears for Capetown Noir’s brilliance at 2000m. The son of Western Winter won the Gr1 Investec Cape Derby over the trip when beating Dynamic by just under a half length, with Sanshaawes in third. Capetown Noir was flat to the boards there, and the runners up have not exactly set the world alight yet.
Lucky
Undefeated. Mike De Kock’s smart Silvano colt Vercingetorix will be looking to confirm his recent narrow KRA Guineas win
Then, did Vercingetorix get lucky when beating Capetown Noir in the KRA Guineas? Unbeaten in two runs on going into the KRA Guineas, Vercingetorix had no pressure and little to prove in that particular event. We have already touched on Capetown Noir’s troubles in that race, and there is little doubt that the Cape champion was gaining again at the line and Vercingetorix got lucky on the bob of the head.
Good Ball
Another question: How good is Yorker? Geoff Woodruff may have the joker up his sleeve in the exciting Jet Master colt Yorker. He is the talking horse and his style of racing has ignited a buzz all over the country.
This lightly raced colt has only had five runs but has won three of them by a collective of over 13 lengths. The draw gods have been unkind by starting him from the 18 stall gate and we wonder whether he is forward and mature enough yet to handle the Greyville track against some seasoned contemporaries.
Fluke?
Keener. Gauteng Guineas winner Tellina gets the blinkers to sharpen him up and is a contender at best
Was Love Struck’s SA Classic win a fluke as a result of a great ride? The Kahal gelding Love Struck was labelled as a fellow who doesn’t quite go the distance of a hard run 1800m after Anton Marcus rode a pearler on him in the Breeders Cup Politician Stakes on Queen’s Plate day.
After an unplaced effort in the Gauteng Guineas, Love Struck confounded the experts under a brilliant ride by Sean Cormack in the SA Guineas, where he hung on to beat a flying Tellina. Greyville should be more up Love Struck’s alley, but he now needs to prove that he is up to Gr1 level at 2000m.
Test
How good is the big Gauteng hope Wylie Hall? Weiho Marwing’s Australian bred Wylie Hall has done little wrong by winning three of his six starts.
He came into serious prominence with a terrific victory in the SA Derby last time out, and is also effective over the 2000m as evidenced by his smooth Derby Trial win at his penultimate start. It is probably fair to say that he carries the major burden of the Gauteng form credibility factor on his handsome shoulders.
Trojan
Enigmatic. War Horse is well drawn but has yet to confirm his 2yo form
Why has War Horse been so disappointing? The Corne Spies trained son of Victory Moon won the Gr1 Golden Horseshoe as a 2yo and was then touted as a future July horse by his trainer.
Life has sadly not been a bed of roses for War Horse. His seven subsequent runs have only rendered two seconds at best and while he is well drawn here, he will have to raise his current game a few notches to feature. He may have not stayed the trip in the SA Derby when a one paced fifth behind Wylie Hall, and the fact that he made respiratory noises does not engender any further confidence.
Keen Machine
Will the blinkers get Tellina keener when it counts? Geoff Woodruff’s Tellina is one of three progeny of Silvano in this race. The Gauteng Guineas winner has had little luck with the draws and ran on strongly late in both the SA Classic (second) and the SA Derby (fourth) most recently. He is a fellow who takes forever to get going and it won’t aid his cause that he has pulled the 14 draw for Saturday.
Explosive
Will Rock Cocktail assert himself as a genuine July hope? In typical De Kock style Rock Cocktail has burst onto the July hopeful stage at just the right moment. The son of Rock Gibraltar was a non entity in the Gauteng season, but has emerged as something serious in the past two months.
He won a strong MR 86 Handicap at Clairwood over 1800m at his penultimate start to register his third win from 9 starts and then ran a cracker in the Gr2 Betting World 1900. Rock Cocktail ran prominently there and got within 2,25 lengths of the year older Jet Explorer, who goes straight into the July.
He is well drawn and obviously Delpech has opted to ride Vercingetorix. But Rock Cocktail looks a perfect dark horse as he attempts to qualify for the July.
Shadows
It may be presumptious of us to assume that the race ends there. There are four other contenders worth considering. The likes of Garth Puller’s Corredor, Alec Laird’s Gitiano and Joey Ramsden’s Silvano’s Jet warrant a mention.
Corredor ran on well for third in the KRA Guineas and is well drawn here. Gitiano was fourth in the KRA Guineas and has always been on the fringes of the action and threatening to pop up at any time. Silvano’s Jet lost the plot in the early parts of the Cape’s Sizzling Summer Season and is not far off Love Struck at his best. His prep run when just over five lengths off Variety Club last week, pleased his trainer.
Jeff Freedman’s Wild One is awfully drawn but ran on well enough in the SA Derby behind Wylie Hall. He has shown good promise and it would not be a shock if he were to run a place.
Answers
The intrigue of this smashing race lies in the imponderables and the unknowns. Champions, pretenders and wannabees. The race has them all and the questions will be answered on Saturday. Capetown Noir looks set the join the illustrious honour role of past winners and he is selected ahead of Yorker and Vercingetorix. But it is potentially a lot more complex, with the likes of Rock Cocktail, Tellina and War Horse all very capable.
