TRIBE CAN FIND THE TROPHY

He can be a difficult ride but Gallic Tribe looks ready to strike in Friday’s feature on the Fairview Polytrack.

The sixth-year-old Vergingetorix gelding is priced up as the favourite to win the R175 000 Founders Trophy, a Non-Black Type event over 1600m (race sixth of eight at 15:25).

Gallic Tribe has the ability to exhilarate beautifully on the short Poly straight but sometimes takes his time to get going with that late run.

Robert Khathi takes the ride for the first-time on the Jacques Strydom-trained star and will have to time his run for the line to perfection.

Gallic Tribe won his penultimate start over track and trip and kept up his good form by finishing third in the Listed Johnsson Workwear Algoa Cup.

There are plenty of challengers with a winning chance if Gallic Tribe and Khathi aren’t on top of their game.

Port Louis (Alan Greeff) is one of them. He has been very consistent lately without winning and jockey Richard Fourie would love to get it right on the four-year-old gelding.

Bush Tracker loves the Poly and is drawn in pole position with Luyolo Mxothwa in the saddle. The Sharon Kotzen stable hasn’t been firing on all cylinders recently but Bush Tracker is always a runner on the Poly.

Perfection (Gavin Smith) is good enough to win this race and the lightweights Tarantino (Zietsman Oosthuizen) and Prince Vihaan (Lunga Gila) are worth considering in wider bests.

Outofthedarkness (Kelly Mitchley) is an interesting runner. It is his first run since June and the distance is right up his ally. If not in need of the run, Outofthedarkness should be in the mix.

The stables of Smith and Kotzen look very strong in the first half of the card. Things get much more competitive from the fifth race onwards.

The meeting starts at 12:30.

Get our tips on race day at Henk Se Wenk.