Delpech to make most of early visit to Turffontein

His decision not to travel lasted one week and the No 1 jockey for the eight-time champion trainer will be riding at Turffontein today. De Kock has a few runners on the card but the best appear to be Capricorn Ridge in Race 2 and first-timer Santa Carolina in Race 3.

Capricorn Ridge has raced only once and was a facile winner, beating Breeders Cup by 2.25 lengths over 1200m at Scottsville. He is a half-brother to this year’s Grade 1 J&B Met winner, Martial Eagle, so will be looking for further.

This time he will be contesting a Novice Plate over 1400m and looks the runner they all have to beat. The seven-horse field is not particularly strong and as the gelding has just turned three, there is a lot of room for improvement. He is drawn slightly wide at No 7 but this is a small field and that should not pose too many problems for Delpech.

Based on merit ratings Capricorn Ridge shares the best-weighted runner position with Magic’s Magic but as he has only raced once, the son of Tiger Ridge could be a lot better than his rating suggests.

Magic’s Magic looks the obvious danger, although he does appear to be a lot better over shorter distances.

Santa Carolina is an unknown but is a half-sister to SA Oaks winner Ilha Bela. They are both out of one of South Africa’s most successful racehorses, Ilha Da Vitoria, but while Ilha Bela is by Fort Wood, Tiger Ridge sired Santa Carolina.

She will have to be pretty decent to win this event because she is coming up against Australian-bred Wild Ash, trained by Geoff Woodruff. The daughter of Dylan Thomas has finished second in both her career starts. She showed her inexperience when going down 2.50 lengths to Enchanted Silk last time, so has lots of room for improvement.

It is also important to have a run or two under the belt and that could count in her favour if Santa Carolina shows any signs of inexperience.