PRESSURE ON MERCANTOUR

Henk Steenkamp

The pressure will be on Mercantour and jockey Richard Fourie at Friday’s Fairview Polytrack meeting.

The big question that must be answered is can the sixth-year-old gelding become only the second horse in history, the first locally trained, to win all three legs of the Nelson Mandela Bay Racing East Cape Poly Challenge in one season.

After the Polytrack was installed in 2013 (upgraded in 2022), the Challenge was introduced three years later.

The Cape Town horse King Regent became the first to win the Triple Crown last year, but Mercantour will be the first from the local stables to do it if he can win the third and final leg.

It is going to be a huge challenge for Mercantour, trained by the East Cape champion Alan Greeff and owned by Peter Moor.

Mercantour won the first leg of the Challenge over 1200m in August. Last month he had no problems winning the second leg over 1400m and now he tackles the R175 000 Non-Blk Type third and final leg over 1600m.

If Mercantour gets it right, he will secure a bonus of R250 000 for his connections. If he doesn’t win, he will pick up the consolation bonus of R50 000 for the best performing horse in the Challenge.

It is not easy to keep a horse performing at his best over three different distances in just three months, even for the masterful Greeff.

Then Fourie will have to produce the goods from the saddle. Mercantour has won 9 of his 37 races but has never won beyond 1400m. Fourie will have to be at the top of his game with his riding tactics to secure victory.

Last season the Greeff stable was in brilliant form, ticking a lot of boxes at national and provincial level. Becoming the first East Cape trainer to win the Triple Crown on the poly surface will be another significant career milestone.

No doubt there will be tremendous support for Mercantour and Fourie, but others in the race will be trying just as hard to win.

Greeff will saddle five runners in the small field of seven runners and it is (probably) safe to say Mercantour has nothing to fear from his stablemates.

So who are the dangers that might spoil the party?

Brenden James won his last two starts when the blinkers got the best out of him.

He is in great form and course and distance is perfect for the son of Coup Da Grace. Brenden James is drawn widest of all but in the small field it is no problem for jockey Chad Little.

Bingwa is weighted to win this race, but hasn’t been at his best lately. He likes the poly and is drawn in pole position with Craig Zackey aboard. This looks like the perfect race for Bingwa to strike again. 

A thrilling contest awaits us - race 5 at 14:50.

The meeting starts with a wide open Open Maiden where punters must go wide to survive the first leg of the Bipot at 12:30.

Guy Gibson looks like the Pick Six banker. He will line up in a Graduation Plate, race 7 at 16:00.

He was the runner-up in his two local races, and although drawn wide, Fourie should bring him home for the Greeff stable this time.