Picture: Kommetdieding gets plenty of attention in his box at home. Here he does his folded tongue party trick at a braai earlier this year to celebrate his WSB Met win.    

 

Kommetdieding was originally due to go to the farm for a rest after returning to Cape Town.

However, trainer Michelle Rix said he had been so happy to be at home in his box at Milnerton that “we will let him down here and allow him to relax.”

Kommet’s box is next door to the stable office, so he gets plenty of attention and is made to feel important.

Michelle will try and find a Pinnacle Plate pipe-opener for him before he goes the normal route of a top older horse i.e. the Grade 2 WSB Green Point Stakes over 1600m, the Grade 1 wfa L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate over 1600m and the Grade 1 WSB Met over 2000m.

She said the yard was nice and busy at present as the “new babies” were coming in and they are up to about 40 in number.

Their chief supporters are Ashwin Reynolds and Braam van Huysteen.

Meanwhile, Michelle is enjoying her role as manager to the Cape Stingers in the Global Team Horse Racing series.
 
She said, “I am loving it, it has been so much fun.”
 
She said the many cheering, flag-waving fans of the teams had added a lot of atmosphere and as most of them were new to the sport the series had provided a good introduction for them and they might become permanent supporters of racing.
 
She said initially punters had not appeared to like the format, in which the races had just 18 minutes between them, except the 22 minute gap before the first leg of the Pick 6.
 
It had been too fast for them and it was then difficult to find one’s horse with the team colours.
 
However, she said there were more and more who had begun to enjoy it and the crowds within the buildings had been getting bigger and bigger.
 
The Cape Stingers meet the  Kwazulu Royals in the final on Friday night.
 
She said the difference between the two teams when they met last Friday night was the Royals had used their “double points” race to better effect.
 
Michelle and the captain of the Cape Stingers, Mark Khan, will be studying the form for Friday night meticulously to try and identify their best double points event.