Captain Fontane on track for win No 4

After being crowned KwaZulu-Natal champion trainer for 2019/20, Garth Puller declared his charge Captain Fontane to be best three-year-old racehorse in South Africa. A bold statement, but if there’s anything we know about the sometime ace jockey it’s that he is a masterful judge of a horse.

At that stage, Captain Fontane had won his only two outings, both sprints, and was earmarked for export to co-owner David Ferraris’s yard at Sha Tin in Hong Kong. The gelding idled away 11 months in balmy KZN waiting for that big move, but it didn’t happen thanks to the dreaded pandemic.

The long holiday didn’t seem to affect the gelding’s ability in any way, for he returned to action on 11 June and easily disposed of his opposition over 1200m at Scottsville.

Captain Fontane steps out again on Wednesday, when racing is staged on the Greyville turf course. The son of Captain Al tries 1400m for the first time and it would be a big surprise if he didn’t stretch his winning run to four.

Puller has had a bit of a slow start to the new racing season – by his high standards – with just three winners in the month of August, However, he could double that tally on the first day of the new month as he also saddles highly fancied Ride To Lightning in Race 1 and Bristolbeaufighter in Race 2.

SELECTIONS

Race 1:

8 Shield Maiden, 6 Ride The Lightning, 3 Winter Journey, 5 Pantea

Race 2:

1 Bristolbeaufighter, 3 Lord Varys, 12 Coin Spinner, 10 Son Of Zeus

Race 3:

5 Ramchandani Road, 2 Desolate Road, 4 Mashiri, 1 Tambora

Race 4:

3 Umkhomazi, 4 Maria Corolina, 2 Princess Anastasia, 6 Time To Roll

Race 5:

3 Silver Maria, 6 Crimea, 7 Electric Surge, 2 Integrity

Race 6:

4 Uplifted, 10 Space News, 2 Mystery Boy, 6 Jacob’s Ladder

Race 7:

1 Shavout, 8 Sir Michael, 7 African Sunrise, 3 Magical Moments

Race 8:

6 Captain Fontane, 10 Good Rhythm, 5 Hard To Play, 4 Mr Fitz

Pick 6:

1,2,4,5,7,8 x 1,2,3,4,6 x 3,6,7 x 2,4,6,7,10 x 1 x 6,10 (R900)

PA:

1 x 2,4,5 x 3,4 x 3 x 4,10 x 1 x 6 (R12)