Crawford hoping to add to tally of victories
FOOTBALL coaches are not the only people who get shown the door. It happens to racehorse trainers as well, as 41-year-old Cape-based Brett Crawford can confirm.
Four years ago, after Crawford lost his job as retained trainer to wealthy owner Sabine Plattner, some prophets of doom speculated his career was on the rocks. Happily, that did not happen, and the exploits of his talented threeyear-old, Jackson, favourite for last year’s Durban July, put him right back in the limelight.
Crawford, who won seven Grade 1 races for Plattner, will be hoping to chalk up another big race winner at Turffontein tonight when his filly, Thunder Dance, contests the Laurie Jaffee Empress Club Stakes over 1,600m. His charge already boasts five wins including a victory in last year’s Grade 1 Paddock Stakes at Kenilworth.
Thunder Dance will not be affected by the altitude as she has been stabled with Mike de Kock for the past six weeks. Just how the champion trainer will feel if the filly wins is open to question, as he has three runners himself in the Grade 1 race.
The trio doing duty for De Kock are Amur Affair, Ilha Bela and the only three-year-old in the race, Festival Of Fire.
As Anthony Delpech and Anton Marcus usually ride the plums for De Kock, it is a little surprising that Robbie Fradd has got the nod to partner Festival Of Fire, who has a higher merit rating than both her stablemates. However, Fradd has been in hot form recently and is in third place in the national jockeys’ log.
Marcus is probably happy to ride Amur Affair as he partnered the filly to victory in last month’s Grade 3 Jacaranda Handicap over tonight’s course and distance. On her next outing, the four-year-old was drawn wide and could only finish sixth behind Slumdog-millionaire in the HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes.
Anthony Delpech has ridden Ilha Bela on a number of occasions and will be hoping his mount can take a hand in a race run in memory of one of SA’s most successful owners, the late Laurie Jaffee. The filly will be fitted with blinkers for tonight’s race.
Piere Strydom has a lead of 20 over Anton Marcus in the jockeys’ title race and will be aboard Sean Tarry’s runner, Happy Archer.
On her day, she is a really smart performer and is the fourthhighest on merit ratings in tonight’s contest.
Whatever their fate in the main event, the De Kock stable will fancy their chances of winning the sixth race with Mary Slack’s talented mare, Welwitschia. The five-year-old possesses a good turn of foot and she will need to produce it this evening to beat two other speedsters, Sharp Design and Jackodore.
Another De Kock runner in this 1,000m sprint is the American-bred six-year-old, Eightfold Path. He has not raced since last September and is likely to find this trip too sharp.
Two juvenile races kick off the eight-race card this evening, and visiting jockey Anthony Delpech could inch out Piere Strydom in the opening event on his mount, Regents Agency.