Future bright for Fourie

The association between a trainer and a jockey can often depend on past history, the volume of work that jockey will come to do in the mornings, and obviously, availability.

There are cases where a jockey and his agent will see a winning opportunity when studying the card and will then call for that ride.

Looking at Richard Fourie and Kom Naidoo, they have only teamed up with just five runners over the last 12 months and that relationship has yielded two places.That could all change in Race 4 at Hollywoodbets Greyville today when they team up with Future Saint in this Maiden Plate over 1900m on the Polytrack.

This three-year-old son of Futura has had an interesting start to his career, having his first three runs for trainer Dean Kannemeyer. After finishing unplaced over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville on debut, the Futura gelding was then tried on the Polytrack.

He immediately responded positively to the surface, finishing a 0.40-length second behind Lashlaroo over 1200m. Last month he was tried over 1400m but landed a wide No 10 draw and ended up at the back of the 12-horse field.

He ran on well, producing the fastest final 400m but unfortunately by the time he got going the bird had flown and Future Saint, while finishing second yet again, was still 4.30 lengths behind Kumemori at the post.

It is worth noting that two winners came from that form line.

After that Future Saint moved to Naidoo’s yard and had his first run, again over 1400m on the Polytrack. He once more produced the fastest 400m to finish but ended up in third place this time, beaten 3.55 lengths by Sweeper Keeper.

He now goes 1900m and Fourie will be aboard for the first time. The gelding should love this distance and looks very hard to beat.