Best of the best for Summer Cup

The cream of South Africa’s classic distance racehorses will assemble at Turffontein next weekend for Africa’s richest horse race, the Grade 1 Betway Summer Cup over 2000m.

The three top-rated horses in the country – See It Again, Main Defender and Winchester Mansion – top the weights, while defending Cup champion Royal Victory is next in line.

See It Again and Main Defender got lucky at the official draw, landing gates 6 and 3; Winchester Mansion and Royal Victory less so with 13 and 15 respectively.

Some big fish swimming around Cape Town might not have been tempted by the tasty R6-million prizemoney bait tossed into the Summer Cup current, but a band of KwaZulu-Natal raiders have taken up the challenge and Highveld racing operator 4Racing will be delighted by the quality of Joburg’s major horse race.

Indeed, this is arguably the strongest Summer Cup field for decades.

Credible contenders

There might be a few runners in the field under sufferance at the weights, but every one of the 20 starters is a credible contender.

The final line-up unveiled on Wednesday evening includes four brilliant females, one of whom, second favourite Frances Ethel, will be the mount of visiting British champion jockey Oisin Murphy – out to register his first Grade 1 title in Africa. The 6-1 about this filly is unlikely to last long in the wake of her drawing the No 7 starting stall.

Master jockey Piere Strydom will be happy with his starting position on ruling 3-1 favourite See It Again as he always prefers a position slightly away from the inside rail.

Other jockeys

A surprise among the jockey bookings at the final field announcement was Cape Town veteran Aldo Domeyer, who will make a rare visit upcountry to partner the enigmatic Main Defender, who is well-fancied at 8-1 in the market despite being untested over the tough Tuffontein 2000m.

Doubt about this four-year-old’s stamina was probably a factor in Gavin Lerena hopping off him and onto Royal Victory, who won with Muzi Yeni aboard in 2023. With Yeni sidelined by injury, Lerena on his home track is a coup for the champion’s connections.

In-form jockey Marco van Rensburg swooped to a 40-1 Charity Mile upset on Winchester Mansion a few weeks ago and will hope to repeat the feat on the same turf, albeit over 400m extra.

A surprise omission from the final 20 was Safe Passage, runner-up in last year’s Summer Cup, but a horse who has been off the boil ever since.

Two who did crack the nod after being left off the handicappers’ final “probables” log are Rule By Force and Cape Eagle – with space being opened up by the earlier scratching of Equus Horse of the Year Dave The King.

The field

[number, (draw), name, MR, age & sex, kgs, trainer, (jockey)]

1. See It Again (6) 131 5G Michael Roberts (Piere Strydom) 60
2. Main Defender (3) 130 4G Tony Peter (Aldo Domeyer) 59
3. Winchester Mansion (130 129 6G Brett Crawford (Marco van Rensburg) 59
4. Royal Victory (15) 125 5G Nathan Kotzen (Gavin Lerena) 57
5. Purple Pitcher (8) 123 4C Robyn Klaasen (Kabelo Matsunyane) 55.5kg
6. Babaresco (12) 122 4G Johan Janse van Vuuren (Ray Danielson) 55
7. Puerto Manzano (14) 120 7G Johan Janse van Vuuren (…) 54.5
8. Pure Predator (16) 119 4G Fanie Bronkhorst (Chase Maujean) 54
9. Frances Ethel (7) 118 4F Brett Crawford (Oisin Murphy) 54
10. Future Pearl (4) 118 5G Sean Tarry (Richard Fourie) 54
11. Zeus (20) 117 6G Fabian Habib (Rachel Venniker) 54
12. Beating Wings (5) 116 4F Stuart Pettigrew (Diego de Gouveia) 54
13. Silver Sanctuary (9) 116 4F Mike de Kock (JP van der Merwe) 54
14. Hotarubi (18) 115 4G Sean Tarry (Craig Zackey) 54
15. Litigation (1) 114 6G Sean Tarry (Dennis Schwarz) 54
16. Atticus Finch (2) 112 5G Alec Laird (Calvin Habib)
17. Rule By Force (10) 112 5G Joe Soma (Tristan Goddin) 54
18. Cape Eagle (17) 110 7G Andre Nel (Serino Moodley) 54
19. Madison Valley (19) 110 4C Frank Robinson (Seah Veale) 54
20. My Soul Mate (11) 4F Candice Dawson (Philasande Mxoli)