Jack Milner: Gelded Rascallion looks ready to find the No 1 box again
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. That could be the description of Rascallion’s performances over the summer in Cape Town.
He did not have one bad race, though. He finished third in four graded three-year-old features, including the Grade 1 Cape Guineas, and then placed second behind Linebacker in the Grade 1 Cape Derby over 2000m.
A decision was then taken to geld the son of Vercingetorix and Vaughan Marshall’s charge makes his seasonal debut in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday when he lines up in The Sledgehammer, a Listed race over 1750m at Scottsville.
What is important for Rascallion is that he won his maiden over 1400m at this course last year so this track should not hold any fears for him.
As a result, he should be tough to beat, even if he is only the third best-weighted competitor behind Crown Towers and Blackball.
His third place in the Cape Guineas behind Russian Rock over 1600m stands out as he had subsequent Queen’s Plate winner Jet Dark behind him. He does not appear to be meeting anything of that calibre in this event.
Anton Marcus has ridden him in his last two starts and he will be back aboard. The jockey, who rode his 100th winner of the season at Greyville yesterday, will be delighted to jump from barrier No 4.
Crown Towers has run some very good races and in fact, beat Trip To Africa with consummate ease. That horse has gone on to win a Listed feature. But Crown Towers seems to run best races at Greyville, and Scottsville is not easy to navigate first time out, even with Richard Fourie up.
Marshall and Marcus also team up in Race 2 where the best bet on the card comes up. Darjeeling, who made a sparkling debut in the Western Cape, looks head and shoulders above his field.
His stallion, Rafeef, won the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint but Darjeeling will be going over 1400m in this Maiden Juvenile Plate.
The big plus with this colt is that he ran second in one of the strongest juvenile form races in the Cape and his female line is anchored by Dynasty so he should get the trip with ease.
On debut Darjeeling ran a 0.75-length second behind Masked Vigilante, who went on to win a Non-Black Type event with ease from a wide draw at Durbanville.
Casimiro has blinkers on and he could get the job done in Race 3, a Maiden Plate over 1200m. He has been getting going too late in his races and the headgear should see him focus from the off and keep his mind on the job to the end.
Jack Milner’s selections
Race 1: 10 Poppy Of Bayeux, 3 Twice The Trip, 2 Sea Of Tranquility, 5 Tracy’s Princess