Marwing to return to Kenilworth

Weichong Marwing (pictured) aims to be in action again at Kenilworth on Saturday as he battles to get his season back on track.

Marwing, champion in 1996/97 and the man who famously rode Horse Chestnut, has only had 15 winners and less than 170 rides in the past ten months and his uncharacteristic lack of activity is driving him on like a horse under the whip.

“I hurt my back and, once I got that right, I strained a tendon in my elbow,” he said as he rubbed the damaged area after winning last Saturday’s Soccer 13 Handicap on Second Nature in the Mauritzfontein colours that he wore to some of his triumphs.

“I’m doing a lot of physio and rehab but I’m still riding with the elbow bandaged. I mustn’t complain – I’ve been lucky with injuries throughout my career.”

Second Nature has had problems of her own.

“She had a lot of sinus issues but we managed to work our way through them,” explained Mike Robinson.

Queen Of Alamo earned her own place in the record books – for this season at any rate – by becoming the first two-year-old to beat the older horses in Cape Town this term when making all in the Tabonline.co.za Maiden although Grant van Niekerk seemed surprised that he had “a bit of a battle to get the ride.”

Apparently Glen Kotzen had decided to put up an apprentice and only relented when he heard from his assistant how keen Van Niekerk was to get the mount.

Blind Spot, who drifted from 6-1 to a remarkable 20-1 for the Racing Association Maiden, was winner number 11 for the Riaan van Reenen-Carl Burger partnership and was bought for a mere R10 000.

“I bought four at the two-yearold sale in Jo’burg when nobody was there,” Burger said. “I got Flying Gitano for ten grand, Soaring Past for twenty and On The Right Path for thirty.”

Joey Ramsden is more associated with horses costing millions but Blow In The Box, who got up on the line in the first, was bought for a mere R20 000.

Ramsden and Donovan Dillon doubled up with Newlands in the mile handicap.

Miss D’Aray proved another R10 000 winner when coming away under Ossie Noach in the last two furlongs of the 1 800m maiden. This filly has been Noach’s ride in recent outings but Piet Botha has been doing a lot of work on her. He was under suspension on Saturday but was interested to go to the races and confessed he is relishing his decision to come out of retirement.

Glen Puller said: “Miss D’Aray had already earned a lot more than she cost and blinkers made the difference this time – she got on with the job and concentrated a bit more.”

Big Mistake, bought for R425 000 at last year’s Lanzerac Ready To Run but absent since running in the Kuda Sprint on Met day, came away in the final furlong of the juvenile maiden to win comfortably under Greg Cheyne.

“He came back sore from his last run so we sent him to the farm,” explained Candice BassRobinson. “He shows a lot of speed but runs on adrenaline. He is a quite a nervous horse and needs to settle down.”

Maybe stable companion Fool Proof, who drifted from 10-1 to 301 but kept on well to dead-heat for second, is more one for the notebook. “He has done little and I wasn’t sure what to expect but he is quite a nice horse,” commented his trainer.

Craig Bantam, who rode Blind Spot, recorded his second double when making all on 16-1 shot Secretariat’s Girl for Vaughan Marshall in fast time while Brett Crawford made it 90 for the season when Corne Orffer and Nasty Harry came again to get up close home in the last.