Come on Kommetdieding!

Come with that thing. That’s what the Cape township patois term “kommetdieding” means. More colloquially: “Bring it on.”

The confrontation South Africa’s champion racehorse Kommetdieding seeks this weekend is with racing on the Highveld, with all its daunting challenges: altitude and low oxygen levels, a truly testing racecourse, top horses prepared by world-class trainers, among other things.

If ever there was a visiting nag up to the task of winning the Grade 1 Premier’s Champions Challenge it’s Kommetdieding. He’s already taken out the Durban July and the Cape Town Met and shown the type of grit and feistiness commonly associated with folk from the Cape Flats – like his owner Ashwin Reynolds.

Trainer Michelle Rix might not be from that neck of the woods, but she’s not flinched from an unspoken challenge to prove her charge the best of the best by doing in Joburg what he’s done at the coast.

Rix might not have the track record of the likes of Mike de Kock and Sean Tarry, who plot her downfall on Saturday at Turffontein, but she has shown she can work uncommon magic with good horseflesh – even if it hasn’t cost a fortune.

Cutting to the chase: The locals will struggle to beat Kommetdieding.

Under weight-for-age conditions, the four-year-old colt looks a nap bet. There nothing in the opposition that has done anything like he has, yet they must compete on level terms.

Kommet’s “prep” run in the Horse Chestnut Stakes at Turffontein was over a mile, which is too sharp for him these days, while the Champs Challenge 2000m suits him down to the ground. He has been on the Highveld for a couple of months now, so should be acclimatised, and has the redoubtable Gavin Lerena in the saddle – a man acquainted with most blades of grass at the Big T.

If there is to be an upset, it might be Second Base, a very good horse who lost his way a bit but is recovering his best form.

The Champions Day Pick 6 pool is likely to hit R5-million, while the Quartet pool in the main supporting feature, the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint, could total R1-million.

The latter will be hard to catch as the 1000m dash is a wide-open contest, but the Pick 6 looks enticing with two very viable bankers.

SELECTIONS

1: 1 Shoemaker, 3 Oathkeeper, 4 Prime Example, 5 Stella Et Clavis

2: 4 Bard Of Avon, 5 Prince Of Fire, 2 Super Silvano, 6 Willow Express

3: 2 Maharanee, 4 Queen Of Gaul, 6 Simple Simple, 3 None Other

4: 2 Karangetang, 7 Union Square, 3 Laguna Verde, 5 Set To Go

5: 9 Kissing Point, 2 Sweet Future, 7 Freed From Desire, 1 Gallic Princess

6: 4 Real Gone Kid, 14 Big Burn, 6 Master Archie, 8 African Rain

7: 1 Kommetdieding, 4 Second Base, 12 Sparkling Water, 3 Puerto Manzano

8: 4 Rain In Holland, 6 Perfect Witness, 5 Sprinkles, 2 Didingwe

9: 4 Black Thorn, 1 Nebraas, 2 Imperial Ruby, 6 Afraad

10: 12 Argo Alley, 11 Mini Coop, 6 Victory Of Dubai, 7 Lemme Go

Pick 6: 2,3,5,7,9 x 1,2,3,7,8,9 x 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,14 x 1 x 4 x 1,2,4,5,6 (R1800)

PA: 2,4 x 2,3,7 x 2,7,9 x 4,6,8,11,14 x 1 x 4 x 1,4 (R180)