Expect and Arctic Blast in PE

There is obviously something about Cape Town – maybe it is the strong south-easterly wind – that did not agree with Arctic Blast, but since he has travelled down the coast to Port Elizabeth, he is a different horse.

This five-year-old son of Var has run three times at Fairview for three wins. It has not made any difference to him whether it is on the turf or the Polytrack, he just seems to love the Port Elizabeth air.

In fairness, he did run the first time off a merit rating of 59 which was put up to 61 after his first win, it went to 68 after win No 2 and after scoring a 2.25-length victory over Trouble Maker over 1200m on the Polytrack, it has now gone up to 74.

As a result the Tara Laing-trained five-year-old gelding will face a stern test at Fairview today when he lines up in race 6, a MR 85 Handicap over 1200m on the Polytrack. He is nicely drawn at No 4 and will have Callan Murray, who has ridden him in two of his last three starts, back aboard.

This is quite a jump in class for him and he could find himself under pressure from the likes of Lord Windermere. Lord Windermere made a winning comeback following a four-month break in which he was gelded.

He was easy to back at 5-1 but produced the goods to beat Baahir by 1.25 lengths. He is nicely drawn at No 1 and has Greg Cheyne in the irons. As long as he does not have any side-affects in his second run after a layoff, Alan Greeff’s charge will be right there.