Val D’Orcia looks best
CONDITIONS: PETER’S CHARGE DROPS SIGNIFICANTLY IN CLASS AT THE VAAL
Tuscan Winter stands out as the main threat.
Trainer Paul Peter has always rated Val D’Orcia very highly so he will have been disappointed by the fact the three-year-old gelding ended up at the tail of the field in the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint last month.
Peter had six runners in that race and they top, tailed and middled the race, finishing first and second with Master Archie and Big Burn, seventh and eighth with Bold Ransom and Winter Stories and 14th and 15th with Heaven’s Girl and Val D’Orcia.
It was the first time Val D’Orcia had raced over 1000m and it is quite possible that at weight for age against the country’s best speedsters he was just run off his feet. The son of Vercingetorix was reasonably close to the pace and maybe he could just not keep it up.
He takes a mighty drop in class when he lines up in Race 6 at Turffontein tomorrow in a MR 96 Handicap over 1160m on the Standside track.
Indicative of that is the average merit rating, which is 91 for this race as opposed to 113 for the Computaform Sprint.
In addition, he will have a 4kg claimer up in the form of Siyanda Sosibo so he comes into this race with 59kg on his back as opposed to the carded 63kg.
Also in his favour is that he is unbeaten in two starts of this course and distance so that will help him get back on a winning track.
The runner expected to make Val D’Orcia work for victory is Tuscan Winter, trained by Johan Janse van Vuuren and ridden by Gavin Lerena.
This four-year-old gelding came back from a just over three-month break to win a Graduation Plate most impressively over 1160m.
Based on times, Tuscan Winter should cruise home but one needs to take into account that by the time Val D’Orcia ran in the final event of the day, the going had changed significantly.
The stipes report has a note that following the running of Race 8, an electrical storm moved in over Turffontein resulting in a significant delay to the start of Race 9.
The rain would have made the track a lot slower which would account for the difference in times. In any case, Val D’Orcia won by 3.25 lengths so jockey Warren Kennedy would not have been pushing out in the closing stages.
The other interesting runner is Xavion who will be having his first run for the Brett Crawford yard.
This three-year-old son of Futura has raced against some of the best three-year-olds in the Western Cape, including Pomp And Power and Double Superlative, and was a close-up third in the Grade 3 Cape Classic over 1400m where he had Double Superlative behind him. He could be a threat if racing fresh after an almost four-month rest.