Field Of Eleven Will Line Up In Cape Guineas

There is only one out of province horse in the field, the Sean Tarry-trained Gimmthegreenlight colt Tail Of The Comet.

The four highest rated three-year-olds males in the country, Sandringham Summit (121), Main Defender (121), Purple Pitcher (114) and Gimmeanotherchance (112) have not made the journey and the country’s three highest rated three-year-old females, Beach Bomb (117), Silver Sanctuary and Mrs Geriatrix (112) have not been entered.

Therefore it has to be considered a below par strength Cape Guineas field.

The Justin Snaith-trained Gr 2 Cape Punters Cup winner Hluhluwe is the highest rated horse in the field on 111. This Drakenstein Stud-bred Trippi colt will be attempting to give the Justin Snaith/Nick Jonsson combination a second Cape Guineas win in the space of three renewals, having won it with Twice Over colt Double Superlative in 2021. This will be his peak run and he is drawn well in four. This is as opposed to the draw of ten he had in the Punters Cup, which forced him to be dropped out. He will take a power of beating under Grant van Niekerk.

Stablemate Snow Pilot (Lancaster Bomber) was just touched off in the Punters Cup, beaten 0,40 lengths, and has a better draw this time. As a handy type he will be a threat if finding cover, a luxury he did not have in the Punters Cup.

Tail Of The Comet looks held on Punters Cup form, having only managed fifth place. However, that was a disappointing effort and perhaps it was a flat run. He has a tricky draw of eight under Richard Fourie.

Vaughan Marshall is bidding for a sixth Cape Guineas and has a good chance with the smart Querari gelding Questioning, who is drawn well in barrier two. He will have to reverse form with both of the Snaith runners Hluhluwe and Snow Pilot from the Punters Cup, as well as with the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Green With Envy. However, he did beat both Snow Pilot and Green With Envy in the Gr 3 Cape Classic over 1400m. Furthermore, his Cape Classic pilot Bernard Fayd’Herbe is back aboard. Questioning raced a bit too strongly in the early stages of the Punters Cup and never settled perfectly after that. He is capable of bouncing back if running more within himself  from draw three.

Dean Kannemeyer has won the Cape Guineas no fewer than six times and his father Peter won it three times. The yard have a fine chance of landing a tenth Guineas with the Khaya Stables homebred Gimmethegreenlight colt Green With Envy. He ran on strongly from the back in the Punters Cup to be beaten just 0,45 lengths. However, he has a tricky draw of eleven, so is likely going to have to be dropped out again.

An interesting entry is the Candice Bass-Robinson-trained Potala Palace filly Red Palace. She is highly regarded and was fancied for the Gr 1 WSB Cape Fillies Guineas before refusing to load and having to be scratched at the start for the second time in succession.

Her stablemate Captain Arrow (Captain Of All) is an interesting entry having never raced beyond sprints, but he would need to improve.

Another stablemate Jersusalema Rain (Captain Of All) also needs to prove he stays this trip and needs improvement on his Cape form to date.

The Brett Crawford-trained Zil Morris (Fire Away) was beaten 4,75 lengths in the Cape Classic but was only 0,75 lengths behind Green With Envy. In the WSB Langerman over 1500m he was only 1,75 lengths behind Hluhluwe. However, he failed to win a handicap over 1400m off a 99 merit rating last time. He will need to improve on that, although he does now have pole position. Kabelo Matsunyane rides.

Crawford’s first call rider in Cape Town, Luyolo Mxothwa, rides  Zoomie (Querari), who was beaten 4,50 lengths by Hluhluwe in the Punters Cup.

The Glen Kotzen-trained Hat’s Pride (Hat Puntano) has 1,75 lengths to make up on Zoomie from the RA Stakes over 1600m at Fairview and he has the widest draw of all.

The field for the R2 million Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas is shown below.