There will be plenty of action at Turffontein on Saturday, even without Princess Charlene. Picture: Getty Images
Her Serene Highness will not be at the Royal Race Day staged in her honour at Turffontein on Saturday, but she’ll probably send a message saying she’s thinking of us as she serenely goes about her highnessing duties in the palatial halls of Europe.
Actually, Princess Charlene does like to hobnob with the hoi polloi in less-than-salubrious south Joburg when she gets a chance – it was once her home town and she has a penchant for the nags.
But not this time. She’s in Florence with her husband Prince Albert, putting on a show of unity in the face of yet more yellow press stories of a rocky marriage. They were photographed with opera singer Andrea Bocelli, supporting his charity for distressed people.
She wore what looked like an old smudged-white tracksuit from a second-hand clothes shop in Booysens but turned out to be a dove-grey high-fashion item from Emporio Armani. The UK’s Daily Mail described the outfit as “combining a crew-neck zip-front jacket and relaxed trousers” and asked: “Is there anything chicer than solo saturation from head to toe?”
The dress code for Saturday’s race meeting is “Great Gatsby” and it’ll be interesting to see how many tracksuits are on show masquerading as solo saturations from the Roaring Twenties.
Enough frippery. The race meeting is headlined by the Grade 1 1600m HSH Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes, one of the major races for fillies and mares in the country.
Some royal gold-dust has been lost by defending champion and likely favourite Princess Calla pulling out, leaving a field of just seven horses. The saving grace is that the band of few is high quality and extremely competitive.
The ruling favourite at 22-10 is Mike de Kock-trained Desert Miracle, who is already a Grade 1 winner and, at the weight-for-age conditions, justifies the bookmakers’ opinion. Sean Tarry’s Under Your Spell is very consistent and in top form and you can’t argue with the 3-1 about her.
But all runners pose some kind of threat, with the longest odds available being Billy Ruiters-trained Miss Daisy at 12-1. This three-year-old filly is a four-time winner over shorter distances but might be maturing into a mile candidate.
One of the unluckiest top-level horses in the country is Feather Boa, who has been within centimetres of a big win a few times and will be a sentimental favourite among many punters for trainer Stuart Pettigrew.
6 Feather Boa, 2 Under Your Spell, 1 Desert Miracle, 5 Gimme A Shot
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