Captain to relish extra distance

Captain Courteous was tried over 1400m for the first time last month and this son of Captain Al relished the extra ground.

He was dropped out early on by jockey Louis Mxothwa but when asked for an effort flew up late to beat Perovskia by 0.75 lengths in a MR 80 Handicap.

He has been bumped up in both weight and distance for this MR 84 Handicap at Kenilworth to­morrow and will come up against Perovskia once again. This race is over 1600m and Captain Courte­ous will be 0.5kg worse off with Harold Crawford’s charge but while that will bring them very close together, Justin Snaith’s charge could still have enough fuel in the tank to confirm the form.

On breeding the five-year-old should have no problem seeing out the additional 200m. He has a younger full brother, Captain Horn, who races in Mauritius and has won over 1500m and as their dam, Cornucopia, is by Fort Wood, there should be some stay­ing power in her progeny.

Captain Courteous is a five-time winner from 11 starts and what is even more relevant is he has a good record in the wet, hav­ing two wins and a third place from four starts in the soft. Rich­ard Fourie gets the ride for the second time.

Lightly raced and year-younger Perovskia must be the danger. The four-year-old gelding has won over 1600m but when beaten by Captain Courteous he went to the front early and was caught close home. Grant Behr has ridden him in all but his first start and is back in the irons.

They have the benefit of jump­ing from draw No 2.

Annigoni has not won since December but he rarely is beaten by far. He has run against some strong company but perhaps this time a change of jockey in Ray­mond Danielson, could make all the difference.

He should be a decent price and is worth including in all exotic bets.

Best bet on the card looks to be Red Ginger in Race 3. Thisdaugh­ter of Elusive Fort has been in con­sistent form and particularly runs well with a good jockey aboard.

Richard Fourie takes the ride for the first time.