Jack Milner
Desert Miracle could be back in business at Turffontein on Saturday 1 October in either the R400,000 Topbet Joburg Spring Challenge or the R300,000 Topbet Joburg Spring F&M Challenge, both Grade 2 races over 1450m on the Inside track.
The Mike de Kock-trained four-year-old filly has not been seen in action since finishing fourth behind Rain In Holland in the Grade 1 Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic over 1800m at Turffontein in March.
Prior to that the daughter of Dynasty had won four of her nine starts and has not finished out of the top four in all of her runs.
Interestingly, De Kock has nominated Desert Miracle, whose most emphatic victory has come over this course and distance, for both races. Last time she raced over 1450m on the Inside track she romped home by nine lengths.
While De Kock might have been looking for the race that will give his charge the best draw, Desert Miracle landed No 15 draw in both events.
There have been 18 entries for the Open race and 19 for the fillies' event and other than Desert Miracle, De Kock has nominated Forever Mine and Ultra Magnus in the Spring Challenge and Humdinger in the fillies’ event.
Sean Tarry has some interesting entries especially in the fillies’ race where he has last year’s first and second in Big Burn and Under Your Spell respectively. Big Burn was trained by Paul Peter and moved to Tarry when Peter decided to hand in his licence.
He also has entered another former Peter-trained filly in Bless My Stars who has only run twice, winning by 6.25 lengths on debut and then finishing a 0.35-length third behind Canadian Summer in The Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes at Hollywoodbets Greyville in July.
While the first two will carry 58.5kg, Bless My Stars will have just 50kg on her back should she run.
Stuart Pettigrew has also nominated some useful fillies, including two exciting prospects in unbeaten Captain Peg and Feather Boa, who beat Canadian Summer in the BSA Sales Cup (Non-Black Type) at Greyville in Durban July day.
His third entry is four-time winner Follow Me.
The two races are run at weight-for-age plus penalties.
Five-year-olds and older will have a base weight of 58kg, four-year-olds 57.5kg and three-year-olds 50kg
Winners of Grade 1 races will receive a 2kg penalty and Grade 2 race winners will receive a 1kg for each such win although penalties are not cumulative.
The winners of these two races will not incur a penalty of more than eight rating points while there will be no rating increase for placed horses.
Fillies and mares will get a sex allowance of 2.5kg
Supplementary entries close at 9am on Monday 26 September and declarations by 11am on Tuesday 27 September.
Topbet will sponsor the two Grade 2 features on the day, while two Bloodstock SA Yearling Sales Races will also be staged. The Non-Black Type races will carry a stake of R400,000 each.
It is also a great day to come to Turffontein and enjoy the Family Fun Day. Entrance is free so you can bring the family for a picnic at the races and take your pick from a variety of food stalls, craft beers and gin bars.
To make a booking in a trackside facility with khanyal@4racing.com.
Entries for the R400,000 Topbet Joburg Spring Challenge (Grade 2) over 1450m
5 BINGWA (J J van Vuuren) 59.0
7 HOEDSPRUIT (J S Snaith) 59.0
10 BACK TO BLACK (R R Magner) 58.0
6 FOREVER MINE (M F De Kock) 58.0
4 PUERTO MANZANO (J J van Vuuren) 58.0
3 SOVEREIGN SPIRIT (A B Fortune) 58.0
13 ULTRA MAGNUS (M F De Kock) 58.0
2 ZILLZAAL (S G Tarry) 58.0
18 BARD OF AVON (A B Fortune) 57.5
17 PRINCE OF FIRE (J J van Vuuren) 57.5
11 PYROMANIAC (S G Tarry) 57.5
9 TEAM GOLD (R R Magner) 57.5
1 WILLIAM ROBERTSON (C Spies) 57.5
15 DESERT MIRACLE (M F De Kock) 55.0
12 SUPREME QUEST (C Spies) 55.0
19 THUNDERSTRUCK (S G Tarry) 52.0
8 MERCANTOUR (S T Pettigrew) 50.0
16 QUANTUM THEORY (R R Sage) 50.0
Entries for the R300,000 Topbet Joburg Spring F&M Challenge (Grade 2) over 1450m.
5 BIG BURN (S G Tarry) 58.5
9 HOMELY GIRL (J J van Vuuren) 58.5
6 UNDER YOUR SPELL (S G Tarry) 58.5
16 KAYLA'S CHAMP (F Bronkhorst) 58.0
2 LUCY IN THE SKY (B Webber) 58.0
11 MAY QUEEN (H E Adamson) 58.0
17 MIDNIGHT GEM (P P Labuschagne) 58.0
1 BON VIVANT (J J van Vuuren) 57.5
15 DESERT MIRACLE (M F De Kock) 57.5
10 FOLLOW ME (S T Pettigrew) 57.5
19 HOLLYWOODBOUND (R R Magner) 57.5
14 HUMDINGER (M F De Kock) 57.5
3 MERCURY RISING (A G Laird) 57.5
8 QUEEN OF SHADOWS (A G Laird) 57.5
7 SUPREME QUEST (C Spies) 57.5
18 BLESS MY STARS (S G Tarry) 50.0
12 CAPTAIN PEG (S T Pettigrew) 50.0
13 FEATHER BOA (S T Pettigrew) 50.0
4 GIMME A SHOT (M/A Azzie) 50.0