Talktothestars on a winning note
ANOTHER South African Champions Season may be a thing of the past with the curtain coming down on Gold Cup day at Greyville on Sunday, but it’s still business as usual at Scottsville tomorrow where Racing. It’s a Rush Pinnacle Stakes heads a competitive card.
Once the country’s highest rated horse, Talktothestars has not won since scraping home in a Pinnacle Stakes event at Flamingo Park.
Be that as it may, the former Gr1 Tsogo Sun Sprint winner was matching it with the best towards the tail end of the season, finishing second to Rafeef in the Gr1 Computaform Sprint, beating Carry On Alice, and then second in the Gr2 Post Merchants to Search Party with a host of the country’s best sprinters behind him.
Coennie de Beer’s champion ran no sort of race in the recent Gr1 Mercury Sprint last month but was reported as coughing post-race.
He was decidedly unlucky not to have finished closer than three and a bit lengths behind Bull Valley when defending his title in the Tsogo Sun Sprint, and although he may not have won, he ran into serious traffic just as he was making his final bid and lost all momentum.
With rising star in the apprentice ranks in Ashton Arries taking 2.5kg off his back, Talktothestars has a lot in his favour and he can kick his season off on a winning note.
Brutal Force
Brutal Force has not found the form that saw him win two races on the Highveld when sent up for the Computaform Sprint as his target but he did show signs when three lengths back to Bull Valley in the Mercury Sprint.
Joey Ramsden is likely to hold off heading back to a wet and wintery Cape Town for a while and Brutal Force will need to pay his way.
Dennis Drier was touched off in the last two weeks of the KZN Trainer’s Championship, losing his crown to Duncan Howells, but he signed off his season in style with Lady In Black winning the Gr1 Thekwini Stakes.
In Sommerlied he has another smart filly but the daughter of Var has been lightly raced in spite of winning three of her four starts.
She has it all to do at these weights with the likes of Talktothestars and Brutal Force but she should have come on from her come-back win when touching off Sergeant Hardy and should be a big threat to her older male rivals.
Formerly Vaal-based Louis Goosen has his first runners as an official Ashburtonbased trainer, saddling three runners in Doing It For Dan, Hashtag Strat and Bonnie Dawn. The last mentioned was touched off last Saturday by Gee Wizz in a five-furlong dash at Greyville under 61.5kg and with apprentice Craig Bantam, back from a successful spell in Cape Town, taking 2.5kg off her back, she will feel as if she is running ‘loose’. Aforaway met winners when some lengths behind Bear Hug in the KZN Breeders Juvenile Plate and newly crowned champion trainer Sean Tarry can get his KZN season underway. The step up in trip and Anton Marcus aboard points to a much improved run although there are a number of well bred debutante’s in the line-up and the betting could prove a better guide.
African Honey is lightly raced with modest form to back her but a step up in trip and a tongue-tie could see Robbie Hill’s filly show major improvement and open the Pick 6.
Eina! Was probably what many punters where feeling after most took a drubbing at Sunday’s Gold Cup meeting but the horse of the same name can ease some of that pain in the fourth although the likes of Sitia and Black Cashmere will make it difficult.