Get ready for a thrilling racing weekend with four R250,000 Jackpot ONE carryovers and loads of cash up for grabs! TAB’s three-day Jackpot bonanza starts at Fairview this Friday, continues at the Hollywoodbets Durbanville and Turffontein meetings on Saturday, and ends at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday. Each of the carryover Jackpot ONE pools should total some R1 million. Have a go - you can count on inflated payouts whatever the results. The Cape meeting sets the stage for the province’s summer season with two Grade 3s, the Kuda Matchem Stakes and Baker McVeigh Diana Stakes over 1400m.
Trainer Justin Snaith raids with Silver Falcon in the second leg of the Nelson Mandela Bay Poly Challenge over 1400m. This looks an ideal race for the smart eight-time winner, successful in his only previous start over the course and distance in the 2023 Fairview 1400m. Silver Falcon has the pace to beat a wide draw and good form, having finished second to major feature-race contender Questioning at Durbanville a fortnight ago. Another Cape raider, King Regent, won the first leg of the Poly Challenge on 23 August and trainer Glen Kotzen said this week the gelding was “in it to win it". Play a Trifecta Box by adding Alan Greeff’s high-class filly Luna Halo.
SUGGESTED R480 JACKPOT ONE PERM (Leg 1 - Race 5 at 13:50):
Leg 1: 4, 5
Leg 2: FIELD (1-8)
Leg 3: FIELD (1-10)
Leg 4: 1, 3, 9
Royal Swan Master is trainer Dean Kannemeyer’s only runner at this twilight meeting on the Polytrack. The four-year-old would have more than two wins to show from 12 career starts if it wasn’t for his unfortunate habit of blowing things at the start. He is well weighted for the topliner, Race 3 over 1800m, and jockey Sean Veale will already be thinking of how to get away on terms.
The Group 2 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Joel Stakes over 1600m (Race 4) is one of three Group events on an excellent card. The race has a 35-year history and has been won by classy 1600m runners like Creachadoir and Time Test. Top of the boards this year is John and Thady Gosden’s three-year-old Lead Artist, an impressive winner of the Group 3 Thoroughbred Stakes at Goodwood in August. He was outpaced by classy Kinross over 1400m at Doncaster in his only subsequent run, but is better suited to 1600m and can get back to winning ways.
Elliot Ness can land back-to-back wins in Race 3 over 1100m on the Polytrack. The Donna Logan-trained gelding posted a big win last time out when he sat just outside leader Surrey Hills and blew his rivals away in a few strides. He’s come back bigger and better this campaign and looks a cut above his rivals in a small field. The meeting starts at 06:30.
Douglas Whyte-trained Fortunate Son is on an upward trend and the New Zealand-bred gave notice of his well-being with a fast-finishing second to Sunlight Power in a warm-up run over 1400m last week. He can build on that in Race 9 over 1600m. Fortunate Son marks the first partnership of Whyte and champion jockey Zac Purton this season and they are strongly fancied to win from an inside draw,. The meeting starts at 07:00.
Gimme A Prince returns to the track for the Grade 3 Kuda Matchem Stakes over 1400m, almost a year after his close second to Charles Dickens in the 2023 race. Trainer Dean Kannemeyer noted in Computaform that the dual Grade 1 winner may need the run, although jockey Craig Zackey said in a TAB4Racing interview a few weeks ago that he is excited about the six-year-old, who is on the comeback trail. That indicates he is doing well in his work and his fans can expect a decent run. There is little to choose between four-year-olds Princess Izzy and Rainbow Lorikeet in the Grade 3 Baker McVeigh Diana Stakes, but the former looks better suited to Durbanville and has Richard Fourie aboard from a perfect draw.
SUGGESTED R360 JACKPOT ONE PERM (Leg 1 - Race 5 at 13:30):
Leg 1: 5, 7, 10
Leg 2: 1, 4, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
Leg 3: 4, 5, 7
Leg 4: 2, 4, 8, 10
This looks the trickiest of the Jackpot ONE carryovers this weekend and the best strategy will be to include the field in as many legs as possible. Three fields and a banker might do the trick and the one to gamble on is DJ Junior in the last leg, Race 8 over 1400m. He is a lightly raced gelding with a touch of class, having won two of nine starts including one in stronger company. He looks well weighted and caught the eye in third place when in need of his last run. If he doesn’t fall prey to the second-run-after-syndrome, he should go close.
SUGGESTED R374 (50%) JACKPOT ONE PERM (Leg 1 - Race 5 at 14:25):
Leg 1: FIELD (1-8)
Leg 2: FIELD (1-9)
Leg 3: FIELD (1-9)
Leg 4: 7
Whistlejacket will be looking for another Group 1 win when he lines for Race 4, the Group 1 Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes over 1200m. This is one of three Group races for two-year-olds on the wide and undulating 2000m straight Rowley Mile track. Whistlejacket has won three of six starts for trainer Aidan O’Brien and is bidding for back-to-back Group 1 wins following success in the Prix Morny at Deauville. His danger is Charlie Appleby’s progressive Shadow Of Light, second in a Group 2 sprint at York recently. O’Brien’s unbeaten Lake Victoria takes on fellow Irishman Ger Lyons’ raider Babouche in the fillies’ equivalent, the Group 1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes (Race 3). Babouche is also undefeated and this shapes as a thrilling contest.
Cats Pajamas confirmed his early juvenile promise by winning the Grade 2 Umkhomazi Stakes over 1200m on Gold Cup day at the end of July, and has been rested since. On his well-exposed ability and a merit rating of 110, he should be too good for his rivals in Race 5, a Graduation Plate over 1200m. Cats Pajamas looks a possible banker in the carryover Jackpot ONE.
SUGGESTED R96 JACKPOT ONE PERM (Leg 1 - Race 4 at 14:25):
Leg 1: 1
Leg 2: 3
Leg 3: FIELD (1-12)
Leg 4: FIELD (1-8)
4Racing’s exciting Spring-Summer Feature Race Season gets into full stride Saturday week with two Grade 2 blockbusters and a R1-million TAB Pick 6 carryover that could yield a huge pool of some R5 million and a mega payout! The Betway Joburg Spring Challenge and the fillies and mares’ equivalent, both over 1450m, top the programme and both races should provide key clues to the outcome of major features later in the year.