CHAMPION STAKES ENTRIES. Purple Diamond (right) beat Ancestry in the Grade 2 Golden Horseshoe over 1400m at Greyville on Vodacom Durban July day but the two could meet again in the Grade 1 Premiers Champion Stakes over 1600m at the same venue on Sunday 30 July.
On a Sun Met day packed with drama, one of the exciting sights will be 20 three-year-olds charging down the 1200m straight course at Kenilworth in pursuit of a slice of R5 million in prize money for The CTS 1200 (Non-Black Type).
Cirillo, from the Sean Tarry yard, was made the 18-10 early favourite – with the field at 8-1 bar.
That hints at a banker bet – a view bolstered by the booking of master jockey Anton Marcus.
Cirillo is highly regarded and was plunged into feature races from the get-go of his career – and has never looked outclassed.
He has won three of 11 starts and might have had more victories if not campaigned at the top end.
This Pomodoro colt drops down to a sprint for the first time in many months. And there might not be the gulf in ability to his rivals that the betting suggests.
Some of them are relatively unexposed and have been carefully groomed for this opportunity.One such is Mastagambit, in the hands of Dennis Drier and Sean Veale.
This fellow gets his peak run a er gelding and a rest, having won his Cape season pipe-opener impressively and then shown uncommon finishing speed to grab fourth in a 1000m feature race prep a month ago.
This son of Master Of My Fate might be special and could be good value for punters looking be-yond the favourite.
Also a bit of a mystery is Pal-ace Chapel, raiding from Paul Peter’s in-form Highveld stable with Gavin Lerena in the irons.
Temple Grafi n is the pick of the seven fillies lining up and must be given respect with a 2.5kg weight advantage over the males – not to mention the assistance of Piere Strydom in the saddle.
Glen Kotzen’s charge reverts to the sprint a er a moderate performance in the Cape Fillies Guineas over 1600m.
Others who must be included in wider bets are Seventh Sea, Frank Lloyd Wright, Arabian Air and Sacred Arrow.
SELECTION: 9 Mastagambit, 1 Cirillo, 5 Palace Chapel, 14 Temple Grafin, 3 Arabian Air, 8 Frank Lloyd Wright.
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