Night of the Oscars has arrived

AND the horse of the year is . . . The big announcement will be made tomorrow night at Fairview when the outstanding East Cape horse of the past horse racing season will be crowned.

This is the annual Night of the Oscars for the local racing fraternity and the big prize is no doubt that of the horse of the year.

It is not an easy choice for the judges because there were many fine performances throughout the season.

The two-year-olds O Tamara and Oomph did very well for the Alan Greeff stable.

Traditionally the young ones are overlooked for the big award as their careers are only starting and they have only competed against their own age group.

Looking at the older brigade, names like Gogetthesheriff, Crown of Gold and the sprinters Copper Parade and Villa Del Largo pop up.

Most of the awards should go to the Greeff stable which had a brilliant season.

The good news is Greeff knows that the people want to party at a function like this, so expect a short speech from the champion trainer when he steps up to the microphone.

This was not the case at the Equus Awards recently when national champion Sean Tarry’s talk put half of the audience to sleep, with the trainer even thanking the dogs and the pot plants for their contribution.

The first month of the new season is nearly behind us and it is good to see some PE stables hard at work to win the Algoa Cup this year.

It was way back in 2009 that a PE stable last won this race that has since been dominated by the Cape Town trainers.

Already some PE trainers have stated which horses they are prepping for this big one on October 30. The out-of-town trainers had better bring some good sorts this time.

It is eight races at Fairview today, with the Jockey Club Stakes and the Speedster Stakes topping the bill.

The satellite yard of Justin Snaith looks very hard to oppose in the Jockey Club Stakes, with the Speedster more open.

Punters’ Pal tips:

Fairview:

PA R 432

2-7/2/4-7-12/2-3-5/2-3-5-7/1-2/1-2-5

PICK 6 R 2 304

1-2-4/3-4-7-12/2-3-5-7/2-3-5-7/1-2-3/1-2-5-10