Henk Steenkamp
Firealley will be aiming to make it three feature race wins in a row when he tackles the Fairview 1900 (Non-Black Type) at the Polytrack on Friday.
The seven-year-old gelding, trained by Jacques Strydom, is in tremendous form. He produced a sparkling performance to win the Founders Trophy (NBT) over 1600m earlier this month.
In October Firealley became the first locally trained horse since Surfin’ USA in 2009 to win the Listed Algoa Cup over 2000m.
Strydom trained Surfin’ USA and he is again showing he is a master when it comes to giving an older horse a new lease on life.
Firealley, originally bought for R275 000, started his career in 2020 in the Western Cape.
He relocated to Fairview last year and has now earned almost R1 million in prize money after 45 runs with seven wins.
Firealley is the top earner this season in the Eastern Cape. It might be way too early to talk about Horse of the Season for the province but Firealley’s name is already in the hat.
He will love Friday’s distance of 1900m, is clearly in a good space and jumps from pole position with Marco van Rensburg in the saddle.
There is strong opposition in the Fairview 1900. Huge challenges can be expected from East Coast (Alan Greeff) and Bingwa (Gavin Smith).
Bingwa is a classy sort and made a good-looking local debut in the November Stakes. He has been entered for the Grade 1 L’ormarins King’s Plate, which might indicate this is a prep run but his chances can’t be ignored.
East Coast made his local debut when he finished 0.5 lengths behind Firealley in the Founders Trophy. He will again be a huge runner.
Cherry Ano (Smith) prefers 1600 but is always one to keep an eye on. Blackberry Malt (Glen Kotzen) disappointed last time but can bounce back in what should be an exciting race.
The feature is race seven at 16:00 and the first race gets the meeting started at 12:30.
Alado’s Habit (Cliffie Miller, race 1) can be considered as a banker in the first leg of the Bipot.
The filly Oh Mandy (Tara Laing) also looks like a banker in race two, the first leg of the Place Accumulator, at 13:05.
Race three at 13:40 gets the Pick Six underway – as always, let’s give it a go!