Jack Milner
The R1-million Computaform Sprint is a race that has attracted the imagination of Paul Peter since he was a young racing fan.
“I remember going to Germiston in those days and being fascinated by the race. I always thought if I became a trainer, that is the race I really want to win,” said Peter.
“In fact, my first runner in that race was Magico, and he finished second.”
So, it comes a no surprise that Peter has 40% of the runners in Saturday’s Grade 1 race over 1000m at Turffontein. Among his six runners in the 15-horse field are the top two in the betting – Master Archie and Big Burn.
Peter admits it is often difficult to assess the collateral form as he never works them together. “They are all very strong and if you put them together they would do too much.
“But I am very happy with all six of my runners.”
This dash up the Turffontein straight makes this the fastest of the Grade 1 sprints and you need everything to go well for you.
“There is no margin for error,” added Peter. “If things don’t go your way from the start, you are in trouble.”
Hopefully Peter, who is leading the national trainer’s log right now, will be able to cross one item off his bucket list after the running of this race, and the runner he could well do it with is three-year-old filly Big Burn.
With her age and sex allowance this Elusive Fort filly will carry just 55.5kg. She is the best weighted runner, is perfectly drawn at No 11 and has Warren Kennedy in the irons. She has run nine times for five wins and four places and has the pace to win a race like this.
“Gavin Lerena gets on particularly well with Master Archie, so he was always going to get that ride,” said Peter. “We then offered Warren first choice of the others and he selected Big Burn.
“This will be her first run over 1000m but Warren believes it won’t be a problem. He says she will settle and run at them.
“She is really blossoming and is working well.”
Master Archie is ideally distance suited and has won five of seven races since joining the Peter yard. Remarkably, his two unplaced runs came at Turrfontein where he is based.
“We actually started to believe he couldn’t win at Turffontein but then Gavin rode him in Man O’ War Sprint last time and finally broke the hoodoo and set the record straight.
“He’s in a very good space right now and has come on with his last run.”
Possible next best is Val D’Orcia. “We brought him down to 1160m last time, added the blinkers and he showed any amount of speed.
“Warren said ‘don’t be shy to go 1000m, I battled to hold him over 1160m’.
“He is the unknown quantity in the race – he could be anything over 1000m. Physically though, he is the real deal.”
Heavens Girl, added Peter, shows a lot of gas and despite her big price, he is expecting her to be in the money.
“Winter Stories has been prepped towards this race. He has such a high merit rating so this has been his long-term goal. He worked very well on Wednesday.”
He does admit Bold Ransom is more of an optimistic entry, but is hoping for a place.
There are two main threats to his runners – Cape Town raider Real Gone Kid and Grade 1 Cape Flying Championship winner Bohica.
James Crawford, who runs the yard in Joburg for his father, Brett, was still waiting for Real Gone Kid to arrive from the Cape on Tuesday but said: “I don’t know much about him but from what I’ve heard, he is doing well. Obviously, we have to beat Master Archie, that’s the main competition I would say.”
Bohica’s win in Cape Town was superb as he beat the best sprinters in the land, including Real Gone Kid. S’manga Khumalo rode him at Kenilworth and he will be aboard again. This Mike and Adam Azzie trained runner cannot be ignored.