Jack Milner: Speed is on the line at Turffontein on Sunday with the running of the Grade 3 Lebelo Sprint over 1000m.
There certainly won’t be a lack of pace in this dash for the line with strong frontrunners like Singforafa, Bold Ransom and Miracle Flight in the field.
This race could be done and dusted in the blink of an eye but there could be some value in sticking with Ashley Fortune-trained Before The Dawn.
This filly is a 1000m specialist and she has some good wins under her belt, including a victory over talented Anna Capri in her penultimate run.
She is also very well handicapped as she has a 5kg turnaround for a three-length beating with Singforafa on their run in the Listed Gardenia Stakes over 1000m last month.
Calvin Habib takes the ride again.
Of course, this race has a number of contenders for top honours. Singforara is a 1000m specialist. In eight runs over the trip she has notched up four wins and three places, so is definitely one for the Place Accumulator.
Bold Ransom, Singforafa and Prince Of Kahal finished on top of one another in the Grade 3 Merchants on WSB Gauteng Summer Cup day, running third, fourth and fifth respectively. Just 0.65 lengths separated Bold Ransom and Singforafa, who meet at the same weight differential, with a neck further back to Prince Of Kahal who is 1kg better off.
But that was over 1160m and the drop to 1000m will better suit Bold Ransom and Singforafa.
There are other speedy runners in the line-up and if they cut their throats up front there are strong finishers who could run them down, especially Prince Of Kahal.
What’s nice about Before The Dawn is that while she shows pace, she tends to sit just off the leaders so if they do come back to the field, she will be ready to pounce.
After running him in two feature races, Sean Tarry has brought Flying Carpet back to a Maiden Plate. He runs in Race 3 over 1400m and with a merit rating of 103 he is rated at least 11kg better handicapped than his opposition.
He ran a 0.50-length third behind MK’s Pride and War Of Athena in the Non-Black Type Ready To Run Cup over this course and distance and followed that up with a sixth place in the Grade 2 Dingaans over 1600m where he was up with the pace and only faded out late.
He will go off deep in the red, but he is a banker in all bets.
There could be better value in Race 2 where the Paul Peter stable sends out Love Posy. She drifted in the betting on debut, but despite that put in the best finish to go down 0.50 lengths to Timeforthat. That race was over 1000m and there is little doubt the extra 160m will suit the daughter of Flower Alley.
Craig Zackey rode her on debut, and he is back on board for this race.
Jack Milner
Race 1: 2 Stormy Seas, 1 Sonny Quinn, 6 Global Town, 3 Eyes On Tiger
Race 2: 11 Love Posy, 13 Say When, 2 Princess Sabrina, 14 Transfixed