Today’s Listed Southeaster Sprint feature at Kenilworth brings the curtain down on Cape racing for 2017 and is named after that strong, often irritatingly persistent and dry south-easterly wind that blows on the Peninsula from spring to late summer.
Pioneer – The real Cape Doctor – Chris Barnard
While the Cape’s most famous doctor is undoubtedly the late Chris Barnard, who pioneered heart transplant surgery in the Mother City a half century ago – on 3 December 1967 to be precise – the south-easterly wind is called the Cape Doctor because of a local belief that it clears Cape Town of pollution and ‘pestilence’.
The wind can create tactical posers for the jockeys at Kenilworth as it buffets the runners from the inside of the sprint track, and thus can particularly affect horses drawn down the inside. Thinking riders may thus be looking to gain some cover between horses or on the outside strip.
For races around the turn, the south-easter produces a head wind up the straight. Johannesburg based jockey Gavin Lerena showed no fear and rode a cracking front-running race on Milton in Saturday’s Gr2 Premier Trophy- straight into the teeth of the doctor.
The first race is off at 13h15. The field sizes are not particularly inspiring, sadly, but break a leg and grab your share of a late Christmas bonus.
Did you read our latest SP Digest? Click on the image below
