Bull Valley aimed at Grade 1 double
BACK-TO-BACK: BULL VALLEY LOOKING TO COMPLETE A QUICK GRADE 1 DOUBLE
Bull Valley, winner of the Tsogo Sun Sprint at Scottsville in May, will be looking for his second successive Grade 1 victory when he lines up in the Mercury Sprint over 1200m at Greyville on Saturday 15 July.
The four-year-old son of Toreador has drawn beautifully at barrier No 4 for this R800,000 race and is one of three runners entered from the mighty Sean Tarry yard. Bull Valley was well supported to win the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint where he was backed in from 10-1 to go off at 6-1 and was joint second favourite behind Attenborough who finished unplaced.
However, Tarry has also entered talented Trip To Heaven, probably the best sprinter in this country not to have won a Grade 1 race. In fact, he was first past the post in last year's Gold Challenge over 1600m but was relegated to second place after the stipes believed he caused interference to Mac De Lago.
Trip To Heaven would surely have won a couple of Grade 1 events but for his untidy starting habits where he usually gives the field a couple of lengths as they jump. He could get it right in this event although he has drawn at No 10 but could come in substantially.
Tarry's third entry is Captain's Causeway who ran a decent fourlength fourth behind Search Party in the Grade 2 Post Merchants over this course and distance last time out.
Talktothestars ran fifth in this race last year and for a while lost his form. However, he showed a return to best form when second to Rafeef in the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint and then also put up a great effort when beaten a neck by Search Party in the Post Merchants.
Unfortunately Coenie de Beer's runner has drawn wide at No 18.
Riverine represents the Mike Azzie yard and he bounced back with a win in a Pinnacle Stakes at Turffontein last month. He has drawn well at No 8.
There are two fillies among the entries – Candice Bass-Robinson's Live Life and Grant Marountrained Wrecking Ball. Unfortunately both have them have landed wide draws at No 19 and No 17 respectively.
Supplementary entries closes at 11am on Friday with declarations closing at 11am on Monday, 10 July.
Entries for the R800,000 Mercury Sprint (Grade 1) over 1200m at Greyville on Saturday 15 June 2 ANGEL'S POWER (M G Azzie) 60.0 15 BRUTAL FORCE (J Ramsden) 60.0 4 BULL VALLEY (S G Tarry) 60.0 3 CAPTAIN'S CAUSEWAY (S G Tarry) 60.0 21 CHAMPAGNE HAZE (G M Alexander) 60.0 1 DOING IT FOR DAN (L W Goosen) 60.0
12 GULF STORM (B Crawford) 60.0 16 ISCA (G H Van Zyl) 60.0 14 KANGAROO JACK (G M Alexander) 60.0 7 LONDON CALL (M Dixon) 60.0 9 NEW PREDATOR (J J van Vuuren) 60.0 22 REDCARPET CAPTAIN (G van Zyl) 60.0 20 SEARCH PARTY (B Crawford) 60.0 5 SEVENTH PLAIN (D R Drier) 60.0
18 TALKTOTHESTARS (F C De Beer) 60.0 10 TRIP TO HEAVEN (S G Tarry) 60.0 11 VICTORIOUS JAY (V H Marshall) 60.0 13 ATTENBOROUGH (J Ramsden) 59.5 8 RIVARINE (M G Azzie) 59.5 6 SERGEANT HARDY (S J Snaith) 59.5 19 LIVE LIFE (C Bass-Robinson) 57.0
17 WRECKING BALL (G J Maroun) 57.0