Henk Steenkamp
The two top stables of trainers Alan Greeff and Gavin Smith should fight it out for victory in the last feature race of the East Cape season at the Fairview Turf track on Friday.
Champion trainer Greeff, it will be his 17th title this season, will saddle three and Smith four of the nine runners in the R200 000 Listed Champion Juvenile Cup for the two-year-olds over 1400m.
The feature is race six on the card of eight races. The race is off at 15:30.
King Prawn looks the pick of the Greeff runners but Smith is ready to challenge with Ready.
In the Listed WSB Dahlia Plate, King Prawn finished second behind the top Greeff filly Anotherdanceforme.
He should enjoy the step up in trip and the son of Master Of My Fate looks the horse to beat with Richard Fourie in the saddle.
“King Prawn improved with each run and he is working pretty well. He will enjoy the distance,” were the positive comments from Greeff.
Ready finished 1.75 lengths behind King Prawn in the Dahlia Plate but won a very good race a month later.
There might be more improvement to come from Ready with Calvin Habib in the saddle.
“It was a good win last time and (the step up to) the 1400 shouldn’t be a problem.
“He is doing well at home and should be a runner,” assistant-trainer Dean Smith commented.
Although King Prawn and Ready should fight it out at the finish, there is always the chance of drastic improvement from the other runners which makes for an exciting race.
The winner will most probably be crowned as the East Cape Champion Two-year-old colt/gelding for the season.
This is truly a race of champions. Previous winners include some of the biggest equine names in the Eastern Cape like Bold Silvano, Global Drummer and In A Rush.
Two important East Cape titles, Champion Owner and Champion Local Jockey, will also only be decided at Friday’s meeting, the last of the East Cape season.
Hollywood Racing can become the Champion Owner in the province for the first time. Hollywood will be R139 774 ahead in prize money of Peter Moor at the start of the meeting.
Although he couldn’t ride in the last two months of the season due to a broken leg, Eldin Webber could be crowned as the Champion Local Jockey.
He thought the injury put paid to his title hopes, but Webber is still two wins ahead of Charles Ndlovu and three ahead of Sandile Khathi.
The meeting starts at 12:35 with an Open Maiden over 2400m. It is the first leg of the Bipot.
It is the last throw of the dice for the season at Fairview – as always, let’s give it a go!
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