Henk Steenkamp
THE time has arrived to speed things up at the Fairview Polytrack!
The R175 000 Glendore Sprint (NBT) is the feature race at Friday’s meeting and it is going to be fast and furious.
A small field of seven runners will face the starter to tackle 1000m in what should be a very interesting, and very fast, race.
The galloping weights of Roman Agent (Kelly Mitchley) and Golden Pavilion (Dean Smith) make them huge runners.
Roman Agent is in fine form and carries 54kgs with Wayne Agrella aboard. The son of Vercingetorix will have no problems with the distance, but tries the fastrunning poly surface for the first time.
If he takes to the poly, Roman Agent might be the one to beat.
Golden Pavilion won both his starts over track and trip. He is in top form and will be ready to fight for victory with a nice weight of 53kgs to carry. Yuzae Ramzan takes the ride.
There can definitely be an upset in the Glendore Sprint. This happened last year when Symbol Of Love was the winner and the favourite Three Rocks ended up in fourth place.
With that in mind, punters will consider including Cliff Top, Paris Lass and Sweet Darling in their bets. They weren’t at their best in their respective last starts, but have the ability to bounce back.
It is all set up for an exciting battle - race 5 at 14:55.
The meeting of eight races starts with a Maiden Plate at 12:35.
The Pick Six gets underway with the third race and Royal Kingdom looks like a banker in the first leg.
He will be aiming to complete a hat-trick of wins for the Alan Greeff stable when he lines up for the Guineas Plate. Royal Kingdom should love the step up in distance to the 1600m and is the one to beat here.
After this race it gets a lot more competitive, but the Novice Plate over 1200m (race 7) could be narrowed down to French Flame (Smith) and the visiting Tripping Thunder (Glen Kotzen).
It is great to welcome jockey Kyle Strydom back at Fairview where it all started for him. The former South African Champion Apprentice is based in the United Kingdom these days and is visiting his family in Gqeberha.
He has money chances throughout the day, riding mostly for the stable of his dad Jacques, and might well be in the winners’ box!