The progressive Gr 3 Betway Victory Moon Stakes winner Greeting My Master has not yet been supplemented for the R6million Betway Summer Cup, but the connections have not ruled it out yet.
Trainer Alec Laird is well aware the horse would be considerably under sufferance if taking his place but said there was “a small chance” of him being supplemented.
The Master Of My Fate gelding would be 5kg under sufferance carrying bottom weight of 54kg as things stand as he is merit rated 110 compared to See It Again’s 131 and four-year-olds receive half-a-kilogram over the 2000m trip at this time of the year.
However, the Summer Cup is a race that has been won two out of three times by under sufferance runners since the bottom weight was raised to 54kg.
The topweight always carries 60kg, so there is only a handicap spread these days of 6kg.
In 2021 the Sean Tarry-trained winner Flying Carpet (Judpot) was officially 4kg under sufferance off a 107 merit rating. The first four past the post that year were all under sufferance with runner up Majestic Mozart 2kg under sufferance, third-placed Golden Pheasant 1kg under sufferance and fourth-placed Johnny Hero 4kg under sufferance.
Last year the winner Royal Victory was officially 1,5kg under sufferance, whilst the fourth and fifth placed horses, Zeus and Shoemaker were both 1kg under sufferance.
In 2022 the fourth, fifth and sixth-placed horses were all under sufferance.
If the trend shows that the Summer Cup can be won by an under sufferance horse, then a progressive sort like Greeting My Master should be competitive even if asked to run when 5kg under sufferance.
However, in his case he will have a hard task confirming form with two horses he has just beaten in the Betway Victory Moon Stakes, i.e. Main Defender and Purple Pitcher. He will be 6kg worse off with Main Defender for a half-a-length beating and will be 9.5kg worse off with Purple Pitcher for a four length beating.
The connections have until November 18 to supplement Greeting My Master.
