Candice set to catch fire

Trainer Candice Bass-Robinson begins her assault on the KwaZulu-Natal Champion Season on Sunday and looks set to make it a winning start.

The Western Cape-based trainer only has one runner contesting the racemeeting at Hollywoodbets Scottsville and that is Firealley who lines up in Race 6, a Pinnacle Stakes over 1600m.

This is the first time the fouryear-old son of Flower Alley has ventured to race outside the Western Cape where both tracks have left-handed turns. So Firealley is going to be tested in this event because he will race on a righthanded track for the first time and it will be on the tricky Scottsville course which has a few idiosyncrasies that have caught out a number of first-time users.

In Firealley’s favour is that he has run well at Durbanville which is also undulating so that augurs well for his chances. He also comes into this race in good form as he won his last race over 1200m at Kenilworth just a fortnight ago.

He is also the joint best-weighted runner and has an excellent record over 1600m. As far as the distance is concerned he has raced eight times over the distance for two wins and four seconds.

He is well drawn at No 3 and has Richard Fourie in the irons.

Cat Daddy is another who runs well over 1600m with three wins and seven places from 13 runs. In addition, the Glen Kotzen-trained gelding has raced at Scottsville four times for one victory, one third and one fourth place.

The six-year-old still enjoys his racing and should give a good account of himself with Donovan Dillon in the irons. They teamed up once before and finished second on that occasion.

Justin Snaith sends out Hoedspruit who also will be making his debut in KwaZulu-Natal, but unlike Firealley he has won on a right-handed track. That was in Port Elizabeth last year when he won the Listed Algo Cup over 2000m.

Against him, though, is that 1600m could be a touch short for him these days but it might not be wise to leave him out of any exotic bet.

Craig Zackey is carded to take the ride.