Greyville selections
Horse racing is one of only four sports in Japan the public is permitted to bet on, the others being bicycles, motorbikes and powerboats.
The ponies are the most popular and the sport is growing. More than $22.5bn was wagered in Japan’s racing pools in 2017.
Star jockey Joao Moreira, a Hong Kong celebrity and threetime champion, last week surprised the Hong Kong Jockey Club with a surprise announcement. Moreira has found the lure of Japanese racing so strong he has decided to give it up in Hong Kong for a move to Tokyo, where French jockey Christophe Lemaire has ruled the roost for the past few years.
Australian jockeys Tommy Berry and Brett Prebble have decided to call it a day in the former British colony, but the Hong Kong Jockey Club has issued licences to South Africans Callan Murray and Grant van Niekerk to replace them.
This is a wonderful opportunity to make their mark on the world stage. Murray rode two feature winners during one short spell in Hong Kong in 2017. Van Niekerk won the 2018 Sun Met on Oh Susanna and has risen to prominence riding for the Justin Snaith stable.
Snaith’s Legislate, which won the Durban July in 2014 before retiring to stud, is back in action on the racetrack in Friday night’s grade 2 Post Merchants Sprint over 1,200m that tops the weekend’s features. Found to be infertile when sent to the broodmare paddocks, Legislate was put back in training at seven years of age. He made a sparkling return winning his barrier trial over 1,000m in May but, like a rested boxer stepping from the (8) Caliente, (1) Pot Luck, (2) Prince Ponti, (11) Saffinator (10) Got Your Back, (1) Colour Your Dreams, (3) Path To Glory, (7) Silver Cent (5) Moon Shadow, (3) Tsessebe, (2) Marshall That, (8) French Legend (4) Above Eleven, (10) Lunar Tide, (5) Rosie Bubbles, (3) Seatops (6) Shadow Catcher, (8) Flying Myth, (9) Eddie Sweat, (5) Noble Duke
(4) Summer Sky, (7) Trojan Harbour, (1) Bulleting Home, (6) Royal Armour
(7) Black Cat Back, (2) Legislate, (5) Sniper Shot, (11) Wynkelder
(4) Toltec, (9) Ataturk, (8) Top Classman, (5) Sheet Weaver
(3) Silvan Saint, (6) Regent Seven, (4) Sea Sponge, (7) Expresso Martini sparring ring into the fighting ring, the grand old guy may be a bit rusty.
Brett Crawford's Black Cat Back looks fair value in the 5-1 range since he is best off at the weights and while Crawford's stable jockey Corné Orffer has opted to ride Sunset Eyes, he is 2kg worse off on their last encounter.