Worthy field honours late Horse Chestnut

WITH the recent death of the great Horse Chestnut, there will be an element of sadness to this year’s R1-million HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes over 1 600m at Turffontein on Saturday, March 28.

However, this year the event has been well supported by Cape trainers in particular and if all the top runners accept to race, it will be a fitting tribute to arguably the best horses ever to race in South Africa.

Champion trainer Justin Snaith, Mike Bass, Brett Crawford, Joey Ramsden and Vaughan Marshall have all entered runners while Geoff Woodruff has nominated the only other horse who was able to emulate Horse Chestnut’s SA Triple Crown feat, Louis The King.

The HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes is one of three Grade 1 races to be run on the day. The others are the SA Classic and the Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic, both over 1 800m.

Snaith has entered Readytogorightnow, Bass has put in Ashton Park, Crawford has nominated Captain America, Ramsden has King Of Pain and Exelero is the entrant from the Marshall yard.

It is also interesting to note that Mike de Kock has entered three-year-old filly Majmu.

The Australian-bred daughter of Redoute’s Choice has also been nominated for the R1-million SA Fillies Classic and a win in that event would see her in line to claim the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara bonus of R1-million – if she can also win the SA Oaks (Grade 1).

If De Kock opts to race her in the Horse Chestnut Stakes, with a merit rating of 114 and a weight advantage of 5,5kg, Majmu will be one of the best-weighted runners. Louis The King has a merit rating of 116 and is the highest rated runner in the race.

Sean Tarry has entered 2013 President’s Champion Challenge and Vodacom Durban July winner Heavy Metal who ran well when finishing a1, 75length fourth in a Pinnacle Stakes over 1 160m on March 7 in his first run since returning from overseas. Tarry has also entered Halve The deficit and Whiteline Fever.

A number of these runners – Louis The King, King Of Pain and Heavy Metal in particular – will be using this event as a preparation race for the upcoming R2-milllion President’s Champions Challenge over 2 000m on Saturday, April 25.

Entries for the R1 million HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes (Grade 1)(WFA) over 1 600m 4 ASHTON PARK (M W Bass) 60.0 13 BEZANOVA (A G Laird) 60.0 16 BOUCLETTE TOP (A G Laird) 60.0 3 CAPTAIN AMERICA (B Crawford) 60.0 9 DELIVER THE POWER (D Zaki) 60.0 10 EXELERO (V H Marshall) 60.0 8 HALVE THE DEFICIT (S G Tarry) 60.0 6 HEAVY METAL (S G Tarry) 60.0 11 KILLUA CASTLE (G V Woodruff) 60.0 12 KING OF PAIN (J Ramsden) 60.0 2 LOUIS THE KING (G V Woodruff) 60.0 1 NO WORRIES (G H Van Zyl) 60.0 15 READYTOGORIGHTNOW (S J Snaith) 60.0 7 SOVEREIGN MINT (R R Sage) 60.0 17 TELLINA (G V Woodruff) 60.0 14 WHITELINE FEVER (S G Tarry) 60.0 5 MAJMU (M F De Kock) 54.5