Fortune to split the breeze

Jockey Andrew Fortune is leading in the early part of this season’s South African Jockey Championship mainly due to heavy riding programme and with the Anton Marcus committed to riding at Fairview today he has taken up a number of rides that he would not normally have been given.

Split The Breeze is one of these and the Charles Laird-trained runner looks the right one to win Race 4, a MR 94 handicap over 1600m on the Greyville Polytrack tonight.

Although the four-year-old will be giving weight away to most of the other runners (only stable companion Waltzed Home carries the same as his 60kg) he is more than capable of still being underrated by the handicappers as he has only had eight starts for three wins.

His only run on the Polytrack surface saw him run a good third to Belong To Me.

Most of the eight races on the card look tricky but one horse who could be worth a bet is the maiden Cozzenes Prince in Race 1. This Dennis Drier-trained colt showed promise when fifth on his debut last month. The Mogok colt raced green that day and is sure to be smarter this time.

Jockey Sean Cormack should be able to have him well-placed from his draw and his rivals look a modest bunch.

Another runner who might be worth an interest is Daenerys in Race 3, a Maiden Plate over 1600m. This King’s Chapel filly showed very little on her debut on the turf but improved when trying the Polytrack in her second start.

From an outside stall Daenerys ran on into fourth behind Witchcraft. She is a lot better drawn this time and the step up to 1600m should suit. Princess Varunya took a bit longer to get out the maiden ranks but did it nicely in her latest and she may well follow that up by winning the
lucky last race. Jockey Muzi Yeni will be aboard the Australian import.