Will Lucky Lad bring the crowd to their feet with another exhilarating flying finish? (JC Photos)
Lucky Lad can become the only horse to win two Gr 1 sprints this season.
The Gr 1 World Pool Cape Flying Championship winner Dyce was scratched from the weight for age Mercury Sprint at declaration stage on Thursday.
Lucky Lad will likely have to win the Mercury to be named Equus Champion Sprinter, because his now retired stablemate Thunderstruck would otherwise oust him.
Thunderstruck won the Gr 1 weight for age Computaform Sprint, as opposed to Lucky Lad’s win in the Gr 1 Golden Horse Sprint, which is a handicap. Both horses have also won Gr 2 sprints, but Thunderstruck also had a close second in the Gr 1 weight for age Cape Flying Championship.
Lucky Lad will not have an easy task from the widest draw of all in the 13 horse field in the Mercury and will have to rely on his devastating finish again. He is sure to get the crowd buzzing though when he starts unwinding.
The only other Gr 1 winner in the field is the Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas winner Snow Pilot.
This horse has early pace over 1400m and 1600m.
It is a different ball game over 1200m but an eyecatching early bit of form to his name is a 0,40 length third to the talented sprinter Future Variety over this 1200m trip.
The full field is shown below:
MERCURY SPRINT (Grade 1)(Horses at Weight-For-Age) R1,000,000 1200m
1 – 1 GOLDEN SICKLE (A P Peter) C Habib 57.0 – 122
2 – 2 SURJAY (B Crawford) L Mxothwa 60.0 – 119
3 – 3 I AM GIANT (B Crawford) K Matsunyane 60.0 – 118
4 – 4 ROYAL AUSSIE (J S Snaith) K de Melo 60.0 – 124
5 – 5 AT MY COMMAND (B Crawford) C Zackey 60.0 – 119
6 – 6 SNOW PILOT (J S Snaith) G van Niekerk 59.5 – 120
7 – 7 SUN BLUSHED (M L Roberts) R A Venniker 60.0 – 116
8 – 8 JUST BE LEKKER (C Dawson) S Khumalo 57.0 – 103
9 – 9 QUASIFORSURE (P B Muscutt) T Godden 60.0 – 115
10 – 10 MRS BROWNING (S G Tarry) G Lerena 57.5 – 118
11 – 11 GLADATORIAN (S H Ferrie) S Veale 60.0 – 120
12 – 12 CRUISE CONTROL (D C Howells) M Yeni 60.0 – 118
13 – 13 LUCKY LAD (S G Tarry) R Fourie 59.5 – 125
Same Trainer: (2,3,5) (4,6) (10,13)
