Grand Series to be decided at the Vaal on 8 December

The race to decide the winner of the WSB Grand Series will be run at the Vaal on Saturday 8 December.

The race will be run over 1475m up the straight and they will run for prize money of R250,000.

The race went through a number of changes as firstly, the course made them move it from the Vaal to Turffontein and then split it up into two races, and at the second attempt rain put paid to the two legs.

Finally, the races were run at Turffontein last Saturday with Soldier On from the Stuart Pettigrew stable winning Leg 1 and Ashley Fortune-trained Tsitsikamma Dance winning Leg 2.

The jockeys were Marco van Rensburg and Ryan Munger respectively.

“Should one of the runners be unable to take his place then the runner-up in that race will replace him,” explained Clyde Basel, Racing and Events Executive for Phumelela.

The respective runners-up were Dan The Lad in Leg 1 and Zouaves in Leg 2.

In another seasonal change, the Grade 2 Dingaans and the Grade 3 Fillies Mile which were always run on the same day as the Summer Cup, will now take place a week earlier.

The races were very close to the Cape Fillies Guineas and the Cape Guineas and this has given trainers the option to contest both the Joburg and Cape Town events.

In another innovative move, while the race meeting scheduled for 24 November is scheduled to be run on the Turffontein Inside track, the Dingaans and the Fillies Mile will be the only two races taking place on the Standside track.

Both events are run over 1600m.

The draw for the R1-million Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile, to be run at Turffontein on 3 November, will take place today and the horses will be paired with their charities, celebrities and media partners.

The 16 charities will share R1-million and the amount they receive will depend on the position their horse finishes in the race.

However, no charity will go home empty handed.

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