All 17 horses stood their ground for the R2-million SA Classic over 1 800m at Turffontein on Saturday March 28, but Majmu was a surprise withdrawal from the R1-million Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic.
Harry’s Son, winner of the Betting World Gauteng Guineas, will take his place in the Classic despite his No 17 draw, and is the only runner capable of claiming the R2-million bonus for winning the SA Triple Crown.
Piere Strydom has retained the ride, but there are stamina doubts about the Paul Lafferty-trained Australian-bred runner. Even if he does win the SA Classic, it is questionable whether the connections will be tempted to try him over 2 450m in the SA Derby on Saturday April 25.
Ertijaal, the impressive winner of the Grade 1 Investec Cape Derby in January, will take his place in the final SA Classic field. He is another with a wide raw, but over 1 800m on the standside track jockey Gavin Lerena will have the opportunity to position his charge as they have around 400m of back straight before they hit the turn. In addition, based on the manner in which he won the Cape Derby, it would come as no surprise to see the Mike de Kock-trained runner go off to the front.
French Navy, a flying second in the Guineas, is well drawn at No 2 and will have many supporters over this extra 200m. Raymond Danielson retains the ride.
Only 16 runners can go to post for the race, which means one runner has to be a reserve runner. Racegoers might find it strange that Unparalleled, the second highest rated runner in the race, has landed up in that position.
Unfortunately, trainer Johan Janse van Vuuren did not declare his horse before the stipulated deadline. In terms of the rules his horse remains a declared runner, but goes to the bottom of the pack. As more than 16 runners accepted, Unparalleled becomes the reserve and will only race if there is a withdrawal.
Majmu is apparently not yet at her best, and the decision has been taken by De Kock not to run her in the SA Fillies Classic. That opens the way for Sean Tarry’s charge, Siren’s Call, to stake her claim for the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara and the R1-million bonus that goes with it.
Siren’s Call won the Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas and will prefer the extra 200m, but she could face a tougher challenge from Same Jurisdiction. In the Fillies Guineas she had to overcome a wide draw and also suffered interference. This time Duncan Howells’ charge has a very decent No 2 draw and Anton Marcus in the irons.
De Kock saddles Estidraaj, who scored an impressive win last time out but takes a jump in class.
