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ABILITY: ARAPAHO AND GARDEN PARTY BOTH SET FOR POSITIVE PERFORMANCES
ʂ Isphan a danger in Race 8 but is up in class.
Two sprinters from the Paul Peter-yard look set to claim the last two races at the Vaal tomorrow. Peter saddles Arapaho in Race 8 and Garden Party in Race 9 and both have the necessary credentials to come out best in these events over 1000m.
Arapaho contests Race 8, a MR 100 Handicap, and this Elusive Fort gelding has improved since Peter put on a set of blinkers three runs back. In that event he finished a 1.25-length second behind Vaseem after leading for most of the 1100m journey.
He received a 1.5kg penalty for that run, which was his last before the lockdown. He returned in June to contest a Graduation Plate over 1200m and again Arapaho showed lots of pace before being run out of it late to finish fifth, 3.25 lengths behind Battleoftrafalgar.
His next start was again in a Graduation Plate, this time over 1000m. He was in the mix the whole race and eventually ran third, beaten just 0.75 lengths by useful Captain Hindsight, who is now a three-time winner from nine starts.
Interestingly, the 1.5kg penalty handed to Arapaho has since come off so he comes into this handicap on a lower merit rating than his last two starts. Sherman Brown had the ride last time and Peter has engaged him again.
His biggest danger could come from evergreen Isphan, who is now nine years old but is still winning races. He is a ten-time winner, with eight victories over 1000m, and has another 20 places to his credit over this distance.
Roy Magner’s charge also runs his best races in the winter, when the going is hard and fast. Apprentice Cole Dicken rode him to victory in his last start and is back again, taking 2.5kg off Isphan’s back. However, he is up in class.
Garden Party has only raced four times for a win and two places, but this son of Soft Falling Rain has just turned three and looks to have a bright future.
He won on debut in November last year, beating Accomplished by 2.75 lengths, and then finished a well-beaten fourth in a Juvenile Plate in February.
In both of those starts he had the habit of shifting about severely, and after his second run the connections chose to have him gelded. His first run back was in June when he contested the Grade 2 SA Nursery over 1160m but his sharp drift in the betting indicated the stable was not expecting much and that proved to be the case. Garden Party showed some pace but then faded out late to finish one from last.
But in his latest run, he demonstrated his talent. Despite receiving a bump at the start, he went down a neck to highly experienced Pillaroftheearth. This is his third race after a layoff and Garden Party should be perfectly primed for this race.
Chase Maujean takes the ride.