Gold Onyxyx top weightht for Gold Cup
WEIGHT: GARY ALEXANDER’S CHARGE CARRIES 64.5KG BUT LOOKS TOO GOOD FOR OPPOSITION
Mr Mulliner, Fah Fee look to be the only dangers.
There is an old expression that “weight stops trains” but that locomotive may not be able to block the path of Meissa in Race 6 at Turffontein tomorrow.
Now six-years-old, the son of Jallad must have given trainer Alexander a few sleepless nights as he is highly talented but has been plagued with problems over the years. Meissa has some decent form, despite all his “issues”, and is a winner of six races and has placed five times in 19 starts.
What is most significant as far as this MR 87 Handicap is concerned is that it is over 1450m on the inside track, a distance over which Meissa remains unbeaten in three starts.
The main concern is that he comes into the race carrying a load of 64.5kg, quite a liability for any horse. However, he has raced against better and comes off a run in the Grade 3 Jubilee Handicap over 1800m on the Turffontein standside track. He was up with pace for much of the race but probably finds this distance too far these days. In the end he faded out late to end up running sixth of the eight runners, nine lengths behind Legal Eagle, the country’s highest rated three-year-old.
Looking over his past form, Meissa has finished just 2.30 lengths behind Killua Castle and 1.25 lengths behind subsequent Durban July winner Heavy Metal.
None of his rivals can boast form close to that, and given the fact he will be ridden by Andrew Fortune and jumps from No 1 draw, those positives could help negate the heavy weight. Fortune, who is a heavyweight jockey in any case, has been in peak form since arriving on the Highveld and has already had some winners for the Alexander stable. His deft touch could be just what Meissa needs.
The best of the rest look to be stable companion Mr Mulliner and the Ormond Ferraris-trained Fah Fee. There was a lot of talk about Mr Mulliner at his last start, but he was coming off a short layoff and might have been in need of the run. In the end he was only 1.60 lengths behind winner Light The Way.
He should be a lot fitter now and with Piere Strydom in the irons on this occasion, should be the main threat to his stablemate.