Sean Tarry’s World Pool Gold Cup favourite Future Pearl comes in with a capped merit rating, so is ahead of the handicappers and is thus a worthy favourite (Picture: Candiese Lenferna).
Sean Tarry can cap a remarkable season by landing the third World Pool Gold Cup of his career, twelve years after he won his first with Aslan in 2011.
His big three-year-old stayer Future Pearl has the weights in his favour and it is hard to think of a detracting factor to his chances.
He has the top class Richard Fourie up.
Fourie will be out to break a long drought in this race, his only victory in it coming when giving the Stephen Page-trained Mokaro a brilliant ride way back in 2009.
However, Fourie is one of just four jockeys in the race who have won the Gold Cup, the others being S’Manga Khumalo (Enaad in 2016 and Paths Of Victory in 2020), Gavin Lerena (Aslan in 2011) and Lyle Hewitson (Nebraas in 2021).
Future Pearl is a worthy favourite for the Gr 3 3200m event, especially considering he comes in off a merit rating which can be said to be heavily capped.
A condition of the Gr 3 Dstv Gold Vase over 3000m is that winners can’t be raised more than six points. Richard Fourie reined Future Pearl in a long way out in that race and he would otherwise have won by a lot further than 2,80 lengths. The handicappers would have given him a lot more than six points for that win if they were able to.
Future Pearl not only comes in well weighted but his draw of three is similar to the four draw he had in the Gold Vase. That allowed Fourie to sit one off the rail with cover in midfield. The big three-year-old gelding was swinging off the bridle turning for home and came home resembling a big English stayer.
Being by Futura he should be improving too.
It is little wonder Future Pearl keeps on shortening in the betting and he is currently 14/10 with Hollywoodbets.
The only concern could be the sunshine this week leading into the race, because he has relished soft going in both of his Gr 3 staying race wins, the other one being an easy victory in the Gr 3 WSB Gold Vase over 3200m at Turffontein Standside.
Sunny days are forecast from now until the big day, although on the day itself the forecast is partly cloudy early on with slight rain later.
One other concern could be be he beat a horse called Fight Song in the Gold Vase and the latter, who was rated just 87, was out at the weights.
Nevertheless, Future Pearl looks to have a fine chance of emulating the 2017 feat of Hermoso Mundo and becoming the second horse to land the unofficial “Gold” stayers Triple Crown.
Black Thorn has always struck as a classy stayer and made a good comeback in the Gr 3 Splashout 2200. HIs new trainer Mike de Kock is going for a fifth Gold Cup. Black Thorn still managed fourth place last year despite it not panning out well. If it pans out better he has fine chance. There is the second run after a layoff syndrome to worry about though. He has national champion elect Keagen de Melo aboard from draw 11. Black Thorn is officially 3kg under sufferance with the officially best weighted Shangani.
Aragosta has had a fine prep and this year does not come out of the energy sapping HWB July, so he should be right there too if finding cover from draw 13, which was the draw Nebraas won from two years ago. He is officially only 1kg under sufferance with Shangani and will be ridden by twice Gold Cup winner S’Manga Khumalo.
Crimson King is on the up, so could overcome his weight disadvantage and possibly give Brett Crawford and Kabelo Matsunyane a July/Gold Cup double. Crimson King is officially 3.5kg under sufferance with Shangani and jumps from a tricky draw of 14.
Shangani is last year’s winner. The compressed merit rating structure of the weights favour him as the topweight. The recent changing of the bottom weight to 54kg, meaning just a 6kg spread, is also in his favour. Tony Peter has the highest winning strike rate in the country, but the question is can he get this classy stayer back to his best after a somewhat lacklustre run in the Gr 3 Track And Ball Oaks over 2400m, which followed a 20 length defeat by Future Pearl in the mud of the Gold Bowl? He carried 59kg last year for Paul Peter, so is a big runner carrying 60kg as a five-year-old if able to produce his best. He will be ridden by Craig Zackey and jumps from draw six.
The Tarry-trained Nebraas hasn’t had much luck this season and is reunited with Lyle Hewitson who won the Gold Cup on him two years ago. Last year he was ridden by Richard Fourie and ended up too far back. Hewitson won on him from a handy position, although he was carrying only 52.5kg compared to 59kg this year. They jump from draw seven and Hewitson will likely want to have him handy. Hong Kong based riders usually improve considerably while they are riding on the ultra competitive island and their judge of pace usually becomes honed, so Hewitson will be a valuable asset here. Nebraas is officially only half-a-kilogram under sufferance with Shangani.
Senso Unico should plug on from where-ever he is in the running. If he is able to get handy and the pace turns out to be good then this long-strider, who has always given the impression of being an out and out stayer, will be a big runner. Trainer Vaughan Marshall won this race 31 years ago with Floating Casino. Senso Unico is officially 2kg under sufferance with Shangani and is drawn two under Sean Veale.
One Way Traffic probably ran on down the wrong side of the track in the Splashout 2200 under Fourie and if this horse pitches up on the day his class could be telling. Grant van Niekerk has brought the best out of this horse before (they were facile winners of the July consolation race last year). Trainer Justin Snaith has yet to win a Gold Cup and will be keen to end a below par Champions Season on a high. One Way Traffic is officially 2kg under sufferance with Shangani and jumps from ten.
The Snaith-trained Salvator Mundi is a capable stayer, but will need it to pan out well at a track where he does not have a good record. He is officially 2kg under sufferance with Shangani and will jump from draw 15 out of 15 under Gavin Lerena.
Fight Song ran on fluently in the Gold Vase in his first try at this trip. Gareth van Zyl won the Gold Cup with Paths Of Victory in 2021 and Fight Song is by the same sire as that one, Noble Tune. However, Gareth admitted it was difficult to get two good successive runs out of Fight Song. He is now 7kg under sufferance with Shangani and is drawn five under Siphesihle Hlengwa.
Van Zyl admitted he preferred the chances of Lonsdale Stirrup Cup winner Sea Master, an honest type who will give his all. The son of Master Of My Fate has run over 2200m and beyond three times in his career and has won all three of them. He is one of the dark horses and jumps from draw 12 under Kabelo Matsunyane, who has become a sought after jockey. Sea Master is 4,5kg under sufferance with Shangani.
Arumugam is 7.5kg under sufferance with Shangani, but a Weiho Marwing-trained horse can never be ignored in a staying race as he is a master of training stayers. He jumps from draw four under Kaidan Brewer.
Raiseahallelujah has done well in every 2400m race he has run in and might prove suited to two miles being by middle distance horse Querari out of a Black Minnaloushe mare who was a half-sister to the SA Derby and Gold Vase winner Seal. He runs on well from off the pace so will enjoy a good pace and is one of the dark horses. he is drawn in pole and will be ridden by JP van der Merwe.
Rockie Reef has a hard task at the weights officially but ran well in the weight for age plus penalties G2 Track & Ball Oaks. She is officially 8,5kg under sufferance with Shangani, but the Peter Muscutt yard is in good form. She is drawn eight and Tristan Godden rides.
Flying First Class stays well, but is also 8,5kg under sufferance with Shangani. She ran a fair 6,30 length sixth in the Gold Vase but is now 1kg worse off with Future Pearl. She is drawn nine and Calvin Habib rides.
It will be as intriguing a race as ever.
