Jack Milner
Justin Snaith is the lone trainer raiding Fairview on Friday when two Listed races will be staged.
Topping the bill is the World Sports Betting East Cape Derby over 2400m where Snaith has brought two runners to challenge the might of dominant home trainers Gavin Smith and Alan Greeff.
The other Listed feature is the Dahlia Plate for two-year-olds over 1200m where Snaith has a particularly strong entry in filly Golden Sickle who has placed in two features in the Western Cape.
The East Cape Derby is one of the highlights of the season and while only nine horses have been carded to go to post, this is quite a competitive race. The most interesting fact is that only one of the runners has contested a race over the distance and that is Lord Nelson, who won a Maiden Plate last time over 2400m and is trained by Kelly Mitchley.
This son of Canford Cliffs has only run five times and that victory was his first outing in the Eastern Cape so he is in for any amount improvement.
Only four trainers are represented in the line-up chasing the R350,000 stake as Smith has three runners while Snaith, Greeff and Mitchley have two each.
Although all the runners are three-year-olds, there are weight penalties based on the number of wins and topping the weights with 60kg is Smith-trained Perfection who has won four of his nine starts. This son of Ideal World looks way above average but he did fail last time out in his first attempt at 2000m.
After a facile previous victory over 1600m in the East Cape Guineas, he opened at 4-10 to win the Derby Trial but drifted to 1-1 by the off. While he hit the front 400m from home, Perfection tired late to finish a 2.50-length third behind Heathcliff but he was reported to be “nervous”.
Heathcliff, trained by Greeff, and second-placed Zatara Magic, trained by Smith, will be reopposing on Friday.
Smith’s third runner is talented Cherry Ano who has won four of his five starts, but over 1400m and 1600m. It will be interesting to see how he will perform over 800m further. Smith has engaged S’manga Khumalo to ride the Capetown Noir colt.
Snaith runs Cosmic Event and Machete Man, both winners of their last races in the Western Cape.
There are some very talented two-year-olds lining up for the Dahlia Plate including Vision Of Wonder from the Smith yard, a facile winner of his last two races, including the East Cape Nursery which he won by 3.25 lengths.
There are seven runners carded for this race with Smith and Greeff sending out three apiece and Snaith with lone runner Golden Sickle.
The beautifully bred daughter of Vercingetorix finished fourth in the Listed Summer Juvenile Stakes on Cape Met day and then third behind The Charleston in the Bloodstock SA Sales Cup Fillies (Non-Black Type) over 1200m in February.
With her 2.5kg sex allowance Golden Sickle has to be a strong contender.
Final field for the R350,000 World Sports Betting East Cape Derby (Listed) over 2400m.
1 - 1 PERFECTION (G D Smith) J P v'd Merwe 60.0 - 103
2 - 6 HEATHCLIFF (A C Greeff) R Fourie 59.0 - 92
3 - 8 COSMIC EVENT (J S Snaith) G van Niekerk 59.0 - 91
4 - 3 ZATARA MAGIC (G D Smith) C Maujean 59.0 - 91
5 - 7 CHERRY ANO (G D Smith) S Khumalo 59.0 - 88
6 - 5 MACHETE MAN (J S Snaith) L Mxothwa 59.0 - 86
7 - 9 QUASIMODO (K Mitchley) M Yeni 59.0 - 80
8 - 4 DAMMI (A C Greeff) X Ndlovu 59.0 - 76
9 - 2 LORD NELSON (K Mitchley) S Khathi 59.0 - 70
Same Trainer: (1,4,5) (2,8) (3,6) (7,9)
Final field for the R175,000 Dahlia Plate (Listed) over 1200m.
1 - 7 VISION OF WONDER (G D Smith) J P v'd Merwe 60.0 - 91
2 - 6 GLOBAL FORCE (G D Smith) S Khumalo 59.0 - 84
3 - 5 THE WINTER LAKE (G D Smith) M Yeni 59.0 - 90
4 - 4 LUNA HALO (A C Greeff) R Fourie 57.5 - 92
5 - 3 GOLDEN SICKLE (J S Snaith) D Schwarz 56.5 - 90
6 - 2 JOY AND PEACE (A C Greeff) G van Niekerk 56.5 - 81
7 - 1 SUMMER ODYSSEY (A C Greeff) X Ndlovu 56.5 - 85
Same Trainer: (1,2,3) (4,6,7)