Turf Talk Newsletter – 03 October, 2024

Frances Ethel And Winchester Mansion Head Crawfords' Summer Cup Team

Frances Ethel is in fine shape ahead of her Betway Summer Cup campaign (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

James Crawford confirmed that the Hollywoodbets Durban July winner Oriental Charm is in Cape Town and would be having a Cape Racing Summer Season campaign, but the Brett Crawford yard will still have a strong hand in the Gr 1 R6million Betway Summer with Frances Ethel and Winchester Mansion and they hope to also get the talented Pomodoro’s Jet into the big race.

Frances Ethel’s three-year-old season, in which she won the Listed Ormond Ferraris Oaks Trial over 2000m and the Gr 2 SA Oaks over 2450m, was curtailed when she had a bad bout of colic after finishing a close up fourth in the Gr 1 Tabgold Woolavington 2000.

However, the beautifully bred Rafeef filly came out of the bout of colic fine and James said about her current well-being, “She is looking like a beast. She is a different animal this season and is twice the horse she was last season.”

Frances Ethel’s intended route into the Summer Cup, which is to be run on November 30, is a Pinnacle Stakes race over 1600m at Turffontein Inside on October 12 and she will then run in the Gr 2 Allied-Steelrode Onamission Charity Mile at Turffontein Standside on November 2.

James said former July winner Winchester Mansion would take that same route into the Summer Cup.

He said about the Trippi gelding, “He has just got one niggle I have got to get on top of, but when I get on top of it he should be spot on for the Summer Cup.”

Pomodoro’s Jet is entered in a Middle Stakes event over 1400m at the Vaal next Thursday and will then take in the Charity Mile. In his case the Charity Mile will be of upmost importance as he is only officially merit rated 96, so will need a big run to get into the Summer Cup.

James believes Pomodoro’s Jet’s best trip is probably 1800m, but he added, “If he can run a really good race in the Charity Mile, and even win it, then I’m sure he will have a ticket into the Summer Cup. Over 2000m with 54kg on his back he will have to be respected.”

King Regent Has Poly And Turf Ambitions

King Regent easily won the first leg of the Nelson Mandela Bay Poly Challenge over 1200m and followed up in the second leg over 1400m (Pauline Herman Photography)

Glen Kotzen believes his five-year-old Dynasty gelding King Regent will stay the 1600m of the final leg of the Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge at Faiview on October 18 and thus secure a R250,000 bonus.

Kotzen is also eyeing a Cape Summer Season program for this stalwart, whose career does contain some irony because an incident involving a Kotzen-trained horse a few years ago led to a rule change which has hampered King Regent’s career to some extent.

No horse has been able to win all three legs of the poly challenge since the popular event was introduced in 2016.

King Regent won the first leg over 1 200m by 3,25 lengths on August 23 and then produceed a devastating finish from last place in the 1400m leg on September 27 to get up by half-a-length.

The five-year-old has not run over a further trip than 1400m this season and has won three times from 1200m to 1250m. King Regent has been tried up to 1800m but before this season his two wins were both over 1200m.

However, Kotzen said about his stamina capacity, “I believe he is a sprint-miler. He is actually a full-brother to Crimson King, who I initially bought. (Crimson King, who is now trained by Brett Crawford, won the Listed TAB Gold Bowl over 3200m last season).”

Glen added, “When King Regent ran over 1800m as a three-year-old (in the Gr 3 WSB Legal Eagle Stakes) he was actually running on and was beaten only 1,10 lengths).”

His owners are Giselle Burg and Martin Wickens.

Kotzen is also eyeing the Gr 2 Cape Merchants over 1200m on December 22 for King Regent.

He said, “His problem is that he does sometimes miss the break, but he runs on any surface. He beat Princess Calla over 1200m in November last year at level weights. I fancied him for last year’s Merchants, but he missed the break and it never happened. He did go wrong last season too and we gave him a nice long break. I think he has a big one in him.”

King Regent came back from his layoff better than ever.

The irony about his starting woes is that he is effected by a rule which was put in place due to an incident involving a Glen Kotzen-trained horse a few years ago.

Runners used to be allowed to jump out of the hood. That was until somebody forgot to remove the hood from the Kotzen-trained Paddy O’Reilly one day and he ran with it on for 200 metres.

A rule was put in place, because of that incident, stating that the hood had to be removed before the jump.

The removal of the hood is all a matter of timing in King Regent’s case, but he tends to “bunny hop” out of the stalls and would have benefited from being able to jump out of the hood.

Nevertheless, he has an exciting season ahead of him starting with his bid to be the first to to win all three legs of the poly challenge.

Options For Flag Man Being Left Open

Flag Man (Candiese Lenferna Photography)

Flag Man is prominent in the betting for both the Gr 1 Betway Summer Cup and the Gr 1 WSB Met but trainer Gareth van Zyl has left his options open and is not sure at this stage where the four-year-old gelding’s campaign will start and which route he will take.

However, he said the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 runner up and Hollywoodbets Durban July fourth-placed horse was in good shape.

He said about the Clifton Stud-bred Flying The Flag gelding, “He had a rest after the season and is coming back into the swing of things. We are leaving our options open. We haven’t got a race planned for him and are still trying to figure it out.”

Hughes' Progressive Filly Now Goes For The Prix de l'Abbaye

No Half Measures (Picture: racing365.com)

Richard Hughes: ‘Ryan Moore felt we should run her in the Abbaye – if you get that advice you have to take it’

Jack Haynes (Racing Post)

Richard Hughes admits to being astounded by the improvement shown by progressive sprinter No Half Measures and is excited about stepping her up to the top level in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp on Sunday.

The filly finished second on her debut at Wolverhampton in March and gained her first win at Lingfield on her second start. Six months later, she boasts a 6-10 record with her official rating climbing from 73 to 108 and Racing Post Rating from 69 to 112.

No Half Measures gained Longchamp course experience when a close sixth from a double-figure draw in the Prix du Petit Couvert last month before gaining a first Group 3 win in the World Trophy at Newbury six days later under Ryan Moore.

Punters have been putting their faith in No Half Measures, who has been cut to 9-2 second-favourite (from 16) in the past week with Paddy Power. Aesterius, who had been as short as 4-1 favourite, is set to be taken out of the Abbaye on Wednesday in favour of a tilt at the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Hughes, who is expecting Oisin Murphy to take the ride, said: “She’s come out of her Newbury win really well and hopefully she gets a good draw for the weekend. There’s nothing to lose in having a go, she’s won enough prize-money to pay for her trip over and Ryan [Moore] felt we should run her – if you get that advice you have to take it.

“We’re all astounded by the improvement she has shown. She’s just grown and got stronger with time and has turned into a lovely, big filly. I thought she was in and around a 75-rated filly in the spring but she just keeps amazing us.”

No Half Measures was the only horse from a single-figure draw to finish in the first ten when third in the Palace of Holyroodhouse at Royal Ascot in June and Hughes feels her defeats can be marked up.

“She has been a little bit unlucky, be it in-running in the Scurry Stakes, the low draw at Royal Ascot and the high draw at Longchamp, so she really has done very little wrong,” said Hughes, who intends to run recent 13-length maiden winner Sayidah Dariyan in the Listed Legacy Stakes at Dundalk on Friday.

“The plan was to win the Group 3 at Longchamp then go for the Abbaye, but the rain came at Newbury and we took our chance. She backs up her races very well, does very little at home and is so easy to train. Anyone can ride her and she’s a little darling to have around the place.”

Richard Hughes enjoyed the biggest win of his training career when Calling The Wind landed the Northumberland Plate

No Half Measures provided Hughes with a first Group success and the three-time champion jockey will be bidding for a breakthrough top-level win as a trainer.

Paddy Power spokesperson Paul Binfield said on Monday: “The Abbaye has been a fairly quiet ante-post race but No Half Measures is now a 9-2 chance from 16-1 in the last week and she is an intriguing contender.

“No Half Measures’s price change has been more down to some interesting bets suggesting she’ll be a runner at Longchamp and our own opinion of her chance more than weight of money and the latest price cut from 6-1 reflects Aesterius’s likely non-participation.”

Prix de l’Abbaye (Longchamp, Sunday)

Paddy Power: 7-2 Believing, Bradsell, 9-2 No Half Measures, 8 Aesterius, 10 Relief Rally, 12 Electric Storm, Rogue Lightning, 14 Makarova, 16 Arizona Blaze, Bucanero Fuerte, Englemere, Grand Grey, Kerdos, Leovanni, Purosangue, Starlust, 20 bar

O'Brien Expects Los Angeles To Shine In Arc Test

Los Angeles (left) and Wayne Lordan on their way to victory at Leopardstown. Photograph: Lorraine O’Sullivan/PA

Continuous set to be the other Ballydoyle challenger at ParisLongchamp

At The Races

Aidan O’Brien believes the best is still to come from Los Angeles as the Irish Derby winner is set to spearhead a two-pronged attack on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for Ballydoyle.

He is likely to be joined by last year’s fifth Continuous, but Luxembourg, Opera Singer and Auguste Rodin are all set to sidestep the race.

Opera Singer could run in the 10-furlong Prix de l’Opera instead, while Auguste Rodin is likely to head straight to the Japan Cup.

Los Angeles caught many an eye when running on into fourth in the Irish Champion Stakes over an inadequate 10 furlongs behind Economics.

“We think the most likely two are Los Angeles and Continuous. We think the ground probably isn’t going to be lively enough for the other two, Auguste Rodin and Luxembourg, and the filly (Opera Singer) might go to the l’Opera instead,” said O’Brien.

“We don’t think we’ve seen the best of Los Angeles yet. He’s a very big horse, he’s improving physically and there’s no doubt a mile and a half is right up his alley.

“He won the Irish Derby which is right-handed like Longchamp and we’ve been very happy. He’s had two preps really, he won the race at York (Great Voltigeur) and then when he went back to a mile and a quarter at Leopardstown. Hopefully we’ve done as much as we can for him to run as good a race as he can.”

Continuous won last year’s St Leger before running in the Arc and was third of five in the Prix Foy last time out.

“We were very happy with his run in the trial, he finished third, it didn’t suit him to make the running but obviously it was going to be a slow pace. We think he’ll be much better in a strongly-run race and we’ve been very happy with him since,” he said.

“We think both horses will handle an ease in the ground.

“Christophe (Soumillon) rode him the last day so it’s very possible he could ride him again.”

As for those that are likely to miss Sunday’s race, he added: “Auguste Rodin is still in at the moment but unless the ground is very nice he won’t run. He’ll probably go straight to the Japan Cup.

“Opera Singer will do a bit of work in the morning and we’ll see how she is.

“The intention of running her in the trial (fifth in the Prix Vermeille) was to go back for the Arc, but we weren’t sure really what happened.

“We could go back for the Opera as that is the easier option. We also think she wouldn’t want bad ground, so we’re debating whether to run in the Arc or the Opera.”

Knockout To Dispatch The Lightweights

Knockout has been selected to win the 7th (Picture: Wayne Marks)

Fairview Turf Friday Formguides And Selections

Gold Circle

R1 (4) Coral Creek has been holding solid form and will be a huge contender. (12) Ice Cap has been consistent in the province and must be factored into all bets. She drops back in trip which should be no problem at all. (2) Dynamite Jet made good improvement and will get closer if building on that. (11) String Of Lights ran a cracker in the last start and won’t be far. ( Devonne Govender 4-12-2-11)

R2 (6) Kohana ran extremely well in the last start and looks hard to beat. (7) Oliver Twist is improving nicely and will have a huge winning chance with a top rider up. (1) Storm Boulevard is never far back in recent provincial runs so will get much closer. (4) Come On You Spurs is holding form and can place. ( Devonne Govender 6-7-1-4)

R3 (4) Anchor Mansteps is up in trip which could prove to be a winning move. He is well bred and has scope do well. (1) Oranjemund has never been far back and is another with scope to go well so deserves respect. (2) Global Reef gets an eye catching jockey booking in the form of Richard Fourie and will have to be taken seriously here. (9) Kamaria can fill in the placings. ( Devonne Govender 4-1-2-9)

R4 (1) Makhachev ran extremely well in his last start and another big performance is expected. (6) Montelena has been running consistently and will be a huge danger to the top selection. (5) Captain Of Grit has the ability to win this contest on best form, if he brings his ‘A’ game it will be no race. (3) Holocene is capable of running into the money and can place. ( Devonne Govender 1-6-5-3)

R5 (1) Cruise Control packs plenty of class and will be a tough horse to beat here. (2) Cliff Top has run close to the top selection in the past and will be right there in the mix. (3) Speed Machine hasn’t been far in recent starts and is capable running a big race here. (4) Evies First is a very honest type and can get into the placings. (Devonne Govender 1-2-3-4)

R6 (1) Destiny’s Angel was very gutsy in the last start and a bold showing is expected. He is versatile as he has performed well on both surfaces. (7) Meetatthewindsor ran a cracker in the last start and will be right there. (8) Mr Molony was a gutsy winner in the last start and has a light weight so can feature and must be respected. (4) Empire Blue is never far back and can get involved into the placings. ( Devonne Govender 1-7-8-4)

R7 (1) Knockout is a quality horse and will be the firm first selection in this line up. She represents strong Cape form and will be a big runner. (4) As Fate Has It is holding solid form and another decent run can expected. (2) Gideon’s Daughter is capable of a big finish and has to be respected. (5) Back For More is never far back and make it into the placings. ( Devonne Govender 1-4-2-5)

R8 Open race. (2) Spin Doctor is holding solid form and has the best draw so must be respected. His last run was very good and if he can repeat that he will have a huge winning chance. (3) No Place Like Home ran an absolute cracker in the last start and another bold showing can be expected. (6) Painite is another who is in good form and will have a winning chance. (11) Electric Storm is holding soling form but does take on stronger here however cannot be overlooked. ( Devonne Govender 2-3-6-11)

Mxoli/Tyrone Zackey Double, Craig Zackey, Matchett Doubles

Lava Fire (Erupt) secures a double for Philasande Mxoli and Tyrone Zackey (JC Photos)

Philasande Mxoli rode a double for Tyrone Zackey at the Vaal Classic track today (Thursday) and there were individual doubles for Craig Zackey and Paul Matchett.

Mxoli goes to 19 wins for the season achieved at a strike rate of 13.77%.

Craig Zackey is now on 34 wins at 16.50% and is level with Gavin Lerena on the national log, 15 wins behind log leader Muzi Yeni.

Tyrone Zackey is on seven wins at 26.92%.

Matchett is on 14 wins at 13.46%.