A Big Pleasure to welcome Marcus

When jockey Anton Marcus makes a rare visit to Fairview today for just one ride one has to take note.

He is off to Port Elizabeth to ride Big Pleasure in the Listed Champion Juvenile Cup over 1400m on the turf track and a repeat of his last run should see the Joey Ramsden-trained runner have the beating of this field.

Big Pleasure has only raced three times, all at Kenilworth in Cape Town. He ran fifth on debut of 1200m behind Captain’s Charm and then next time out ran out a facile winner of a Maiden Plate over 1400m in which he beat Klopp by 1.25 lengths.

The runner-up franked the form with a victory next time and then both lined up in the Listed The Langerman over 1500m.

The race was won by Tap O’ Noth who raced away from the opposition to beat Big Pleasure by four lengths. The winner looks to be one of the better two-year-olds seen out in the Western Cape this season so the form does look good. One also has to consider that Big Pleasure was returning from a three-month break and can only improve on that form.

While the juveniles do not yet have official merit ratings there are some unofficial ratings kept by the handicappers. Tap O’ Noth was rated 96 after that run while Big Pleasure was given a rating of 85.

However, there are two Port Elizabeth runners who are rated higher than Big Pleasure. Sacred Oration’s merit rating is 91 while Seattle Flame is regarded as a 90.

However, the level of runner in the Western Cape is usually stronger than those in Port Elizabeth and the local runners could be marginally overrated.