Jo’s Bond gets the vote
JO’S Bond and Anthony Delpech can take the Laisserfaire Stakes at Kenilworth tomorrow when so many of the top weight’s 13 rivals have question marks against them.
Four of them have not raced for three months or more and another four will effectively be carrying overweight. Although this is a handicap it is also a Listed race and therefore apprentices can’t claim.
Mind you, Jo’s Bond is not proven off her new mark (up from 93 to 99) because she had the benefit of a useful 4kg claimer when she won last time and her task here is considerably stiffer. But she is provenly race fit and that is a huge plus.
Some horses – but not that many – can give of their best after a lengthy break but few Cape Town trainers really have the facilities to get the others fully racing fit first time and that could make things difficult for the likes of forecast favourite Chevauchee. Glen Kotzen may be able to do it with Our Destiny and Trip To India and Andre Nel is similarly in a position to overcome things with Hoist The Mast.
The three-year-olds have scope for improvement in them and it could well be significant that after Live Life won at Durbanville Candice Bass-Robinson said: “We are very excited about her – and she has a lot of speed.”
Grant van Niekerk can get within half a kilo of the allotted 52kg.
Miranda Frost is 2.5kg wrong with most of the field but she is almost certainly better much better –than her 88 handicap mark because she was found to be suffering a significant naval discharge after the Perfect Promise when she gave Live Life 2kg and finished two lengths behind her.
But Akshay Balloo can’t claim here and nor can Brandon May on Primrose Lane who is, by my calculations, already 4kg under sufferance with most of the others.
Beach Goddess has a big chance – she didn’t feel right last time according to her rider – but she has repeatedly lost ground at the start. She is quite close with Come Fly With Me on Champagne form but that could be unreliable here as the race was run in the soft. Varumba should not be far away but her last two runs have suggested that the handicappers have her measure.
Recent form puts Dixie Express quite close with her.
Sean Veale has to get down to 52kg for Twinkle Toes who has won three of her last four but he is going to have to sit tight. This is the horse who nearly decapitated Shadley Fortune at Durbanville.
Sail South appeals in the NRC Charity Plate Pinnacle and old reliable Tevez can do it again in the Haak Fourie & Snyman Pinnacle.