A horse race with no whips
KENILWORTH: ACE JOCKEY AND THE SNAITH STABLE LINE UP A BIG DAY
Crown Towers and Silvano’s Pride are banker possibilities.
Richard Fourie is a keen fisherman and appears to have brought the skills of his hobby to his job as a jockey. He has chosen a promising angling spot at Kenilworth tomorrow and has cast the maximum eight lines into the water.
The talented young rider should come away from the race meeting with yet another good catch of winners and punters are advised to follow him closely.
Most of Fourie’s bookings are for the Justin Snaith yard – also no strangers to landing a big fish or two. One of these rides is on Captain Courteous in the top-rated event on the card, Race 5, a MR 99 Handicap.
This six-time winner has been very consistent up to 1600m, though he hasn’t yet cracked a victory over the mile itself. He has, however, got two seconds and a third in his three tries at the trip and was running on well when a runner up at Scottsville over the distance during the KwaZulu-Natal winter season.
Fourie was in the irons for that charge up a notoriously tough finishing stretch and the pair will find things a little easier back in Cape Town. From pole position, they should be able to find some cover in running, while the allotted 54.5kg is a little less than Captain Courteous has been lugging of late.
The main challenge is likely to come from top-weight Head Honcho who has Aldo Domeyer aboard. Andre Nel’s charger has relocated from Durban after posting four wins in five starts, but he hasn’t raced for four months, must carry 61.5kg and might prefer further.
Snaith’s other runner, Love Happens, is a lurker in this contest, while Adam Marcus-trained Gyre could surprise when racing fresh.
In Race 7, Fourie rides Snaithtrained filly Silvano’s Pride, a banker consideration for exotic bets. It is a Maiden Plate for females, not usually the kind of race in which one likes to stick out one’s neck, but this nicely bred three-year-old looks ripe for improvement after two fourth places over shorter trips – the last after being hampered at a crucial stage.
Another Fourie-Snaith collaboration is in Race 6, a MR 80 Handicap over 1600m, with Crown Towers, an Australian import who won well on debut but found one better in his next outing when a 1-3 favourite. The three-yearold Camelot colt will have learnt something from that defeat and should recoup losses.
Facing Crown Towers will be Capoeira from the Nel stable. This colt was a surprise winner of his second outing. He could be anything, so should be included in calculations.