Henk Steenkamp
All eyes will be on one of the Eastern Cape’s stars of last season, My Best Shot, when he takes his place in the R175 000 Listed Memorial Mile at the Fairview Turf Track on Friday (race 7 at 16:10).
He is back at Fairview after running in the Grade 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July and is expected to return to winning ways for the Alan Greeff stable.
Prior to the Durban attempt he won six in a row at Fairview and made history by becoming the first horse to win all three legs of the local Sophomore Challenge.
My Best Shot has won twice and finished third once from as many starts over this distance. He might prefer further these days but is the odds-on favourite to win a Listed race for the fourth time in his career.
It is a small field of seven runners but there are some solid older horses which will be ready to pounce if the son of Fire Away is not at his best with Richard Fourie in the saddle.
The Justin Snaith-trained Royal Aussie makes the trip from Cape Town and could be the biggest danger to the favourite. Muzi Yeni takes the ride.
Royal Aussie will run without the blinkers this time and should love the Fairview track. He is well weighted to challenge strongly.
Firealley (Jacques Strydom) has a tough task at the weights but ran three good races in a row. Another solid run is expected.
Zinovi is another Greeff runner which can be in the mix. He beat Firealley when they met over this distance in June.
The highest-rated horse in the Eastern Cape is Bingwa (Gavin Smith) which should run much better than his last effort in July. He was way too keen early on in that race and could be involved if at his best here.
The other feature on Friday’s card is the R150 000 Listed Jockey Club Stakes for fillies and mares over 2000m - race 6 at 15:35.
The Snaith visitor Knockout looks like the one to beat with Yeni aboard. She ran a decent fifth in the Grade 2 Gold Bracelet and loves the Fairview straight as she showed when winning here last year.
The other seven runners all have a money chance but Lady Silvano (Greeff) is the best weighted horse in the race and probably the biggest danger to the favourite.
Small fields, but two quality features to look forward to at the meeting which starts with the first of eight races at 12:40.
This Maiden Plate is the first leg of the Bipot and The Roaring Rock (Greeff) looks like a solid banker.
The Greeff-Fourie combination will also be hard to oppose in the second race where Olive Oyl is ready to strike in the first leg of the Place Accumulator at 13:15.
The Pick Six starts with a competitive third race at 13:50. Greenlight Legend (Greeff) will be attempting to make it four wins in a row in the first leg of Jackpot One, race four at 14:25.
The Gimmethegreenlight mare will be a popular banker on the day, along with My Best Shot and Knockout.
It should be really exciting racing, so let’s give it a go!