Gr 1 Allan Robertson Championship winner Direct Hit makes her reappearance on Friday at Fairview (Candiese Lenferna Photography)
Alan Greeff is used to being a champion as the many-times top trainer in the East Cape, but he enters new territory this season and it starts on Friday when Direct Hit and My Best Shot make reappearances.
Halfway through last season Greeff had the belief that he had three two-year-old fillies, Golden Palm (Master Of My Fate), Direct Hit (Canford Cliffs) and Anotherdanceforme (Master Of My Fate), who could compete at the highest level and they turned out to be the three best two-year-old fillies in the country.
He also had the East Cape’s first Hollywoodbets Durban July runner for 21 years, My Best Shot (Fire Away).
So this season competing at the top level is not a hope for Greeff, but instead it is an expectation.
He will no doubt relish the extra pressure, for when there was the weight of expectation on his shoulders last season he delivered every single time.
However, the new territory is that he will now have strong classic contenders, which is a different ball game to two-year-old features.
The country will now be backing the Equus Champion two-year-old filly, the highly impressive Golden Palm, to deliver in classics like the Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas and in Breeders Cup “win and you’re in” races like the Gr 1 Cartier Paddock Stakes.
Golden Palm, whose four victories victories included the Gr 2 SA Nursery over 1160m, a ten length win in a Listed race over 1400m at Fairview and the Gr 1 Douglas Whyte Stakes over 1600m, was defeated only once and that was on debut by stablemate Anotherdanceforme.
The latter went on to be unbeaten in five starts, which included two facile Listed victories over 1200m and a Gr 2 win over 1400m at Hollywoodbets Greyville. She looks to be one of those horses who is at her best over 1400m, the no man’s land of horseracing. So her route will be difficult for Greeff to plan and there will no doubt be the uncertainty of whether to try her over a mile or stick to sprints.
Direct Hit’s route will likely be easier to plan as she is out of a Great Britain mare whose three wins were all over 1000m.
Direct Hit’s unbeaten run of four starts included a 7,25 length victory in a Maiden Juvenile Plate on debut over 1000m at Fairview, a 2,75 length win in the Gr 3 Splashout Cape Of Good Hope Nursery over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth, a 4,75 length win in the Listed East Cape Nursey over 1200m at Fairview and a 1,10 length triumph in the Gr 1 Allan Robertson Championship over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville.
On Friday she runs in a Pinnacle Stakes event for fillies and mares over 1200m at Fairview and has a tough task, because she has to carry level weights of 61kg with two 100 rated older females.
In a weight for age race she would be getting 6,5kg from them and in fact she is only the fourth best weighted runner in the race. Off her 109 rating she is officially 2kg under sufferance with Ellorix and Sweetie Darling and 1kg under sufferance with Montelana.
Therefore her 1/6 odds at time of writing are absolutely absurd.
Ellorix, Sweetie Darling and Montelana are consequently attractively priced at odds of 7/1, 25/2 and 25/2 respectively.
Later, the East Cape Horse Of The Year My Best Shot runs in the Non-Black Type Friendly City Stakes and he also has a tough task because off his 116 rating he has to carry level weights of 60kg with the 120-rated Royal Aussie and with the 116-rated Bingwa.
The four-year-old is thus officially 3kg under sufferance with Royal Aussie and 1kg under sufferance with Bingwa in the 1800m event.
However, his 11/10 price is realistic because Royal Aussie will be stretched by the trip and Bingwa is eight years old and probably past his best.
