Candice and her girls take aim at the Winter Series

Captain’s Ransom was a shining star of the Western Cape summer season, winning both the Cape Fillies Guineas and the Majorca Stakes and emerging with a merit rating of 126. The horse that finished third and fourth in those races – and was also a commendable fourth to Queen Supreme in the Paddock Stakes – must be a smart filly herself, right?

Right. And that filly steps out against far lesser opposition at Kenilworth on Saturday in the Listed Sweet Chestnut Stakes, the 1600m first leg of Cape Town’s Winter Series for three-year-old females.

Trainer Candice Bass-Robinson gave the chestnut daughter of Duke Of Marmalade a well-deserved break after her feature race efforts, so she’ll be fresh for this assignment. At level weights, from the No 5 draw and with mercurial Grant van Niekerk in the irons, Chat Ching looks good for some “ching ching”.

Justin Snaith and Richard Fourie are the trainer-jockey combo who’ll be all out to prove the pundits wrong with the promising Rain In Newmarket, who has not been out of the first three in her five runs – which have included two visits to the winners’ box.

Bass-Robinson and Snaith are also the main protagonists in the following race on the card, the Variety Club Mile, which is nominally the male first leg of the Winter Series.

However, Cape Town’s first lady of training has thrown a wildcat among the guinea fowl here by fielding another of her promising fillies against the colts and geldings.

Marina, a daughter of Silvano, has won four of her seven starts, though she has not tackled a feature race yet. She gets a 3.5kg weight pull over the males, which is significant among three-year-olds. The small negative is an outside draw in the eight-strong field, but Keagan de Melo is a jockey who has overcome such problems many times.

Snaith challenges with three up-and-comers: Hoedspruit, Hyde Park and Warrior. The latter looks the stable elect with Richard Fourie aboard, though the first-named gets the service of the mighty Anton Marcus, who can get horses to do remarkable things.

Not to be outdone, Bass Robinson has two back-ups in the field: Firealley and Adios Amigos, either of whom could both spring a surprise.

Two races to savour.

Kenilworth Saturday

Race 1:

8 Long White Cloud, 11 Quick Breeze, 2 Hot Marmalade

Race 2:

4 Winter Furi, 2 Granny’s Moon, 3 Boldly Go, 1 Aye Aye

Race 3:

1 Phil’s Dancer, 4 Walk Of Fame, 6 On Captain’s Side, 3 Queen Of Quiet

Race 4:

5 Flying Grace, 6 Anecdote, 7 Divergent, 2 Path Of Choice

Race 5:

6 The Second Wave, 3 Spectra Force, 7 All Lit Up, 4 Rockin’ Ringo

Race 6:

1 Chat Ching, 5 Rain In Newmarket, 2 Maledimo, 6 Pink Tourmaline

Race 7:

8 Marina, 6 Warrior, 7 Adios Amigos, 4 Northern Song

Race 8:

3 Benjamin, 2 Wolf Man, 8 Dollar Brand, 7 Ticket To Ride

Pick 6:

1,3,4,6 x 5,6,7 x 3,4,6,7 x 1,5 x 1,4,6,7,8 x 2,3 (R960)

PA:

2,4 x 1,4 x 5 x 3,6,7 x 1 x 6,7,8 x 3 (R36)

Best bet: Race 8 No 5 Full Velocity

Value bet: Race 9 No 11 The Makwakkers

Greyville Sunday

Best bet: Race 7 No 2 Silver Maria

Value bet: Race 4 No 7 Baby Shooz