On Saturday, 08 June at Clairwood Racecourse, there was a total of 95 points up for grabs in the 3 feature races. In the Gr1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge, odds on favourite Variety Club (Var) put in another sterling performance over 1600m.
In a field of 10 runners, he was simply too classy for the opposition and WELL DONE to the winning connections, trainer Joey Ramsden, jockey Anton Marcus, breeder Beaumont Stud and proud owners Mrs I Jooste & Mr M Jooste. Unfortunately, Variety Club was not in the competition and no points were scored in the second bonus race on offer. Second placed Beach Beauty (Dynasty) scored 14 points and third placed Pomodoro (Jet Master) scored 10 points.
The Gr2 Tibouchina Stakes attracted a competitive field of fillies and mares over 1450m. Trainer Glen Kotzen saddled last season’s winner, Princess Victoria (Victory Moon), who went off as the SAFTote favourite. She would have been a popular winner in the competition but sadly put in a disappointing performance. Louvre (Doowaley) who has only recently joined the stable of Duncan Howells won a gutsy race and paying over R15 on SAFTote (R27.60) she scored a further 5 bonus points, earning her followers 19 points in total.
Second placed Espumanti (Dansili) scored 9 points and third placed Earth’s Orbit (Captain Al) scored 6 points.
In the Gr3 Cup Trail, the field was made up of many Vodacom Durban July hopefuls and for the majority it was a case of, “win it and you’re in”! The race turned out to be a fantastic result for trainer Charles Laird and owner Mr A L A Crabbia with the 4 year old son of Silvano, Astro News, who is now almost certain of a place in the 2013 Vodacom Durban July. Paying R15.90 for a win on SAFTote, 5 long shot bonus points were added giving him a total of 14 points scored for first place. Second placed Bulsara (Silvano) scored 5 points and third placed Territorial Waters (Fastnet Rocks) scored 3 points.
On Sunday at Turffontein Racecourse, the Gr3 Jubilee Handicap was won by trainer Gavin Van Zyl with Seal, the five year old son of Silvano who paid R26.50 on SAFTote, making him the third long shot bonus winner of the weekend. Seal earned his followers an unexpected 14 points for his efforts. Heavy Metal (Silvano) finished second and Main Dane (Fastnet Rock) was third, scoring 5 and 3 points respectively.
The next big point scoring opportunity is the Gr2 Post Merchants, which will be run over 1200m at Greyville Racecourse on Friday night, 14 June.
The entire Leader Board can now be viewed on the Charity Turf Challenge home page, Click on Leader Board and at the bottom of the page open PDF file.
After the second bonus race of the competition, the Gr1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge, only 29 points separate the top 100 in the competition. Compared with previous years at the same stage of the competition, this year’s renewal looks to go down to the wire!
Due to time constraints, there was no spot prize draw on Saturday, 08 June (Clairwood) on Tellytrack. However, competition entrants can now look forward to 4 winners that will be drawn on Friday, 14 June at Greyville Racecourse (night racing) featuring the Gr2 Post Merchants.
This is a computer generated, random draw from all entrants and not dependent on points earned and each spot prize winner will win a R500 telephone betting deposit kindly sponsored by TAB GOLD “The Intelligent Bet”. As and when Charity Turf Challenge horses earn points, we will update the Racing South Africa website and email data-base: www.racingsouthafrica.co.za
