The Hangman wins the Gr3 Kings Cup with ease recently
The Sean Tarry fan club will be out in force at Turffontein today. The yard have three of the nine runners that line up for the R400 000 Gr2 Colorado King Stakes and hold the upper hand in numbers– but there is some class lurking in the shadows.
Tarry’s 50% strike rate from the Classic Day features will mean that the team will be full of confidence.
Heartbreak
Wylie Hall is back after a long break
Vodacom Durban July heartbreak horse Wylie Hall tops the ratings in a race with plenty of depth and now races as an entire in his first run this season.
After his 36 week break following an unplaced effort 8,25 lengths behind Futura in the Champions Cup, the unorthordox strategy by Weiho Marwing to throw him straight into a distance race may indicate that he has had plenty of work.
On best form, this classy son of Redoute’s Choice will have a winning chance.
Fitness will favour Sean Tarry’s duo of Tiger’s Retreat and The Hangman.
Tiger’s Retreat ran a great second to ened-to-end winner Bouclette Top in the Listed Drum Star and after two consecutive seconds looks overdue to win again.
Gallows Hill
Piere Strydom rides Cagiva
The Hangman came out firing at his last run in KZN when an easy winner of the Gr3 Kings Cup.
The son of Jallad is edging back to his best after an extended break and looks to build on his solid fourth in this race last year behind his stablemate Halve The Deficit.
Piere Strydom rides the lightly raced and very promising Silvano gelding Cagiva.
He has had only one race since his good second in this race last year – a quiet effort behind Aurum Pot in a pipe opener sprint a month ago.
A classy winner of 4 of his 11 starts, he has the ability to win a race of this nature, if standing up to the upgrade to 2000m.
No Fire
Geoff Woodruff with Killua Castle
Geoff Woodruff’s yard failed to spark on Classic Day and after Louis The King’s dismal showing in the Gr1 Horse Chestnut Stakes, there were unconfirmed fears that the yard were under fire from a virus.
This will place a question mark against topweight Killua Castle, who ordinarily must come into the reckoning off his best rating.
The son of Churchill Downs ran a disappointing 7 lengths behind in the J&B Met and could need this after a nine week break. He has run well off a rest previously on his better 2014 form would come into the reckoning.
Superman
Anton Marcus rides Earl Of Derby for Alec Laird.
The son of National Assembly comes off a nine week break following a good win over the Turrfontein Mile in a Conditions Plate when disposing of the classy The Captain’s Tune by 3,25 lengths.
This 4yo was not far off the best of his year (including a Gr1 placing) and if not in need of the outing could shock them.
Vaughan Marshall’s Tribal Dance has not won in two years
The Vaughan Marshall yard have not been firing in Gauteng as they would probably have expected and the 6yo Tribal Dance comes in off one dull run in the Listed Drum Star following a ten week break.
This son of Tiger Dance is bound to strip fitter for the benefit of that outing but he has not won a race in two years and has failed to recapture his very decent 3yo staying form. He also looks a bit too close in the weights against the likes of the classier Killua Castle and The Hangman.
Honest
Paul Peter’s impeccably consistent Henry Higgins does not look too well in here on the weight terms of this race. That said, he is an honest galloper and was an unlucky loser of the Listed Aquanaut Handicap last time when failing to get to Cool Chardonnay.
Eurakilon could battle against the real class
He enjoys the services of Anthony Delpech, which is a strategic jockey booking and he warrants an opportunity to stretch himself out of the middle order handicaps.
Ormond Ferraris’ Eurakilon is another consistent galloper who takes a step up in class.
Carrying 58kgs off his 92 MR, it is difficult seeing him troubling the established stars but going back to the Gr3 London News Stakes, he was only 3,75 lengths off Killua Castle from whom he received a kilo – and now comes in with another kilo to spare.
Close
This will be a close call.
A fit and in-form The Hangman appeals and he is the selction to win at the expense of Cagiva and Killua Castle.
