Saturday’s Met day Pick 6 enjoys a R2 million kick-start and the pool is expected to get to R10 million.
The first leg is the fourth race, the New Turf Carriers Gr3 Western Cape Stayers, which is carded for a 13h35 start.
Poets Warrior (Gavin Lerena) has abundant stamina (Pic – JC Photos)
Poets Warrior (8) has abundant stamina, makes his own luck by racing upfront and can quicken when challenged. Those are powerful attributes which can help him the Azzie- trained, marathon runner take out the Gr3 Western Cape Stayers over 2800m.
The five-year-old chestnut son of Wylie Hall with a white blaze and white socks has won half of twelve career starts on the Highveld, including five of his last six since being put over ground.
He was laid off for 87 weeks since December 2022 and, after a blow-away-the-cobwebs sighter on return in August 2024, has been unstoppable since.
Confident jock, Gavin Lerena will again ride this top Highveld stayer who will be hard to reel in if physically settled after the long road trip down to the coast.
His main pursuers could be the grey Triple Time who ran second in this race last year and seems primed for another tilt at the gold gong; (7), Mucho Dinero (1) who is having his peak run, and King Pelles (4) also a good stayer, who won the Chairman’s at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth over 2500m three weeks ago.
Love is a Rose (2) is a fine staying mare that might just be at her very best on softer going than seems likely in mid-summer.
Otto Luyken (3), now with Brett/James Crawford is a solid performer over a touch shorter, but he tends to weaken over these extreme tests of endurance.
Holding Thumbs (10) is 2kg’s better off with King Pelles for a 1.75 length beating in the Chairman’s. That brings him into the fray too and Glen Kotzen’s yard is doing fine again after battling a virus for a few months.
Future Pearl (5) is a classy stayer at best. He was only two lengths off Oriental Charm in the Durban July and romped in the Tabgold Gr3 Derby prior to that but has not shown the same vitality since.
Sean Tarry is a wizard conditioner so it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Future Pearl returns to form.
Blackberry Malt (6) came a spirited second in the 2000m Algoa Cup behind Firealley and now tries further.
Woman’s World (9) who has been outrun repeatedly by Joy And Peace a few times at Fairview makes up the field and seems unlikely to feature though she could be a pace factor.
Joy And Peace competes in the preceding event and if she does especially well, then her fellow Eastern Cape raider can be upgraded.
Poets Warrior is the horse to beat on the pick of his Highveld staying form. Travelling horses from one side of the country to another is not easy logistically.
Any chink in the visitor’s armour might be exploited by the Cape based “lang-asems,” of which Triple Time, Mucho Dinero and King Pelles seem the toughest adversaries.
