Entries for Chestnut Stakes
Four Cape Town-based horses are among early entries for the Grade 1 Horse Chestnut Stakes to be run over 1 600m on Classic Day, 2 March, at Turffontein.
This will be cheered by the Joburg racing fraternity, who bemoan a lack of adventurous raiding spirit among their coastal cousins.
Champion trainer Justin Snaith has nominated Without Question, a surprise third in the Cape Town Met in late January, while Candice Bass Robinson has Sugar Mountain, fifth in the Met, on the list unveiled this week.
Bass-Robinson won the R1.5-million race last year with Trip Of Fortune, only the third Cape Town raider to pull it off in 25 years.
Brett Crawford has proffered At My Command, who raced creditably throughout the Cape summer season, and Durban July champ Winchester Mansion, who has long been based at his Highveld satellite yard.
Dean Kannemeyer has entered Cosmic Highway, despite the versatile fiveyear-old being in the final field for this weekend’s 1 200m Diadem Stakes in Cape Town – just a week before the Horse Chestnut.
Among local Horse Chestnut candidates, Sandringham Summit is the most intriguing name. Trainer David Nieuwenhuizen has also nominated the star three-year-old for the SA Classic, which is on the same card and is Leg 2 of the Triple Crown. It will be very interesting to see what Nieuwenhuizen decides.
Sandringham Summit is drawn 1 for the 1 600m Horse Chestnut and 11 for the 1 800m Classic.
Sandringham Summit’s age-group archrival Main Defender is also among the Horse Chestnut possibles – having emerged unscathed from a bizarre finishing stretch stumble in a 1 200m race last week.
Other Horse Chestnut entries of interest include mighty mare Princess Calla and Mike de Kock’s new import Mujbar, who showed little in a recent pipe-opener.
The SA Classic has drawn just 11 entrants, with connections of this year’s sophomore class probably scared off by the presence of Sandringham Summit.
One of the plucky ones is De Kock, who has entered smart filly Silver Sanctuary in both Classic heats.