– Written by Mark van Deventer
Cape Racing hosts a competitive nine racecard at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Saturday. The first race starts at 12h20, and a challenging Class 4 sprint for fillies and mares will close out the meeting at 17h10. THE ABDICATOR is an up-and-coming speedball that has benefited from gelding. He can go fast upfront or be constrained for a late dash, and Brett Crawford’s talented three-year-old by No Nay Never should at least make the top two in the opening leg of the Bipot (Race 2). Richard Fourie rides.
SA’s log leading jockey, Fourie also has a shake on MR BELVEDERE in Race 5, a Maiden over 1600m, though the Ideal World colt let the side down when unplaced behind Fly Futura last time. Prior form was solid – second and third place finishes to Lightning Glow and Join the Dots over the c/d. However, a more probable winner is DAIMYA who recorded a good last out figure to Blue Bay. The Justin Snaith trained son of Vercingetorix is poised to exit the Maidens on that level of performance, and should work out a smoother trip from draw 3 than MR BELVEDERE who is hung out at gate 9.
NOCTURNAL FLIGHT has camouflaged form; he was not disgraced against winners in the Gold Rush, so might be added to wider perms if trainer Crawford has him wound up after two months freshening. Earlier Maidens may go to more obvious picks, ELLORIX (Race 3) and PLUM PUDDING (Race 4). Both are well bred fillies (by Vercingetorix and Silvano respectively) that have finished second at their two most recent starts in similar class contests.
Races 6 – 9 are handicaps that are trickier to decipher. Crawford could have the right one in Race 6 with ALLEZ MORIS after twice going close off a similar official mark of 80 recently. He may be slightly vulnerable going an extra panel though, which brings lightly weighted and proven-over-the-trip, TIME FOR LOVE into play, together with last start winner, KATSU. Others to be feared are a PAS DE NOM, who hinted at a possible resurgence a month ago, GIMME MORE TIME, and steady medium level handicapper, KITCHAKAL.
OLIVER is the confident selection in Race 7. He has far stronger form than his rivals and has twice gone mighty close at this Class 4 level over the 1400m journey despite suffering troubled trips. The only knocks against his chances are a one in ten winning strike rate, and the fact that he last raced nearly two months ago.
Assuming patient conditioner, Adam Marcus (three wins, six seconds and four thirds from the last 30 horses saddled) has him ready to go, then OLIVER appeals. Principal danger is the game MICHAEL FARADAY, with KEBONALESEDI (neat penultimate victory versus weaker), HEART STEALER (capable at best, but terribly erratic) and DANCINGTOTHELIGHT (exits key Riverstone form line) worthy of consideration for wider spreads.
ENDS
