Charles Dickens to write a new chapter in dazzling carpets of wildflowers

The anticipated run of Charles Dickens, South Africa’s highest-rated racehorse, in the Matchem Stakes at the end of the month will put a cherry on top of an extended spring programme at Durbanville.

The pastoral course’s annual season in the limelight – now named the Hollywoodbets Spring Country Series – started on Wednesday this week with a healthy 10-race programme. Trainer Candice Bass-Robinson landed a four-timer and set out a marker for the rest of the term.

Racing postponed to Monday

The Durbanville sojourn has now been extended to mid-November due to delays in renovation work at Kenilworth – Western Cape’s premier racetrack. That venue is, of course, undergoing major upgrades and adaption, with changes that promise to turn it into a popular entertainment mecca.

Unfortunately, the first big Saturday meeting of the series has been postponed until Monday because of rain. This has put a small dampener on Cape Racing’s florid marketing, in which it has spoken of “dazzling carpets of wildflowers flooding the landscape as far as the eye can see in a glorious celebration of colour”.

Such lame hype is regrettable, but the racing will make up for it – and, to be fair, old Durbanville is indeed a scenic and pleasant spot.

Crowd-pullers

The 2000m Settlers Trophy on 23 September and the 1400m Matchem and Diana Stakes on the 30th promise to be crowd-pullers. These races have traditionally been pipe-openers for top horses starting summer campaigns – such as subsequent Hollywoodbets Durban July victor Belgarion a few years back.

The Settlers meeting is linked to the Heritage Day public holiday and has been given a “Braai and Gallop” theme – with a potjiekos competition among many “vibrant” sideshow highlights.

Early entries for the Settlers include the useful Justin Snaith-trained pair Somerset Maugham and Triple Time and, interestingly, Otto Luyken from KwaZulu-Natal trainer Gareth van Zyl’s new satellite yard in Cape Town.

The delayed return to Kenilworth means dates of a number of feature events have been changed. The Cape’s seven-meeting Festival of Racing will commence on November 26 and end with the Grade 1 WSB Cape Derby on February 24.

The racing and social highlight of the festival will be the Grade 1 WSB Cape Town Met scheduled for day six, January 27, alongside the Grade 1 Cape Flying Championship, the Grade 1 Majorca Stakes and the Grade 3 Western Cape Stayers.