Piere Strydom is riding in PE double header

Piere Strydom will be one of the raiders com­ing to town this week­end to plunder the prize money on offer for the double header, the first on Fri­day on the Polytrack and the sec­ond the following day on the turf.

Saturday sees the running of the Grade 3 World Sports Betting East Cape Derby, one of the most important races on the Fairview calendar.

This R350,000 race has attract­ed runners from the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal with all of Candice Bass-Robinson, Justin Snaith, Brett Crawford and Dun­can Howells sending runners.

Interestingly Strydom, who grew up in Port Elizabeth, will be part of the home team in the Der­by as he is riding Off The Bit, one of three horses trained by Alan Greeff. Greeff also saddles Gimme Now, with Callan Murray in the irons, and Another Night, with Teaque Gould up.

Off The Bit has decent enough form but he has yet to prove he will see out the distance. He did run third in the Derby Plate over 2000m, 2.75 lengths behind Snaith-trained Strathdon but will be 4kg better off this time.

Bass-Robinson will be sending Dorset Noble, who has only raced three times, winning at the sec­ond time of asking over 2400m. Aldo Domeyer takes the ride.

Howells will be sending Sabre Charge who has won twice over this distance at Scottsville and is one of the higher rated horses in the field. Keagan de Melo has ridden him to victory in KZN and takes the ride on this occasion as well.

Also run on the day is the List­ed Epol Dahlia Plate for two-year-olds and in this event Strydom is carded to ride Desert Chief for the Sharon Kotzen yard.

Final field for the R350,000 World Sports Betting East Cape Derby (Listed)- 3rd Leg EC Soph­omore Challenge) over 2400m

1 – 6 STORY OF MY LIFE (G D Smith) C Maujean 60.0 – 83

2 – 5 SABRE CHARGE (D C How­ells) K de Melo 60.0 – 82

3 – 3 DORSET NOBLE (C L Bass- Robinson) A Domeyer 60.0 – 80

4 – 8 STRATHDON (S J Snaith) C Orffer 60.0 – 80

5 – 4 OFF THE BIT (A C Greeff) P Strydom 60.0 – 77

6 – 7 ARABIAN DYNASTY (B Crawford) G Cheyne 60.0 – 75

7 – 9 EN GEE OH (G D Smith) J P v’d Merwe 60.0 – 72

8 – 2 GIVE IT AWAY (G Paddock) L Mxothwa 60.0 – 66

9 – 1 ANOTHER NIGHT (A C Gre­eff) T Gould 57.5 – 77

10 – 10 GIMME NOW (A C Gre­eff) C Murray 57.5 – 63

Same Trainer: (1,7) (5,9,10)

 Final field for the R150,000 Epol Dahlia Plate (Listed) over 1200m

1 – 1 SACRED ORATION (G Pad­dock) L Mxothwa 60.0 – 88

2 – 9 BRIGHT FLAME (D Sham) M V’Rensburg 58.0 – 79

3 – 10 DESERT CHIEF (S B Kotzen) P Strydom 58.0 – 80

4 – 13 FORT WINTER (Y Bremn­er) C Murray 58.0 – 90

5 – 11 GONE NOT FORGOTTEN (A C Greeff) X Ndlovu 58.0 – 81

6 – 5 ITSGONNARAIN (Y Bremn­er) C Zackey 58.0 – 79

7 – 3 SEATTLE FLAME (A C Gre­eff) G Cheyne 58.0 – 87

8 – 6 VIA SEATTLE (Y Bremner) K Zechner 57.5 – 85

9 – 2 PURE FICTION (Y Bremn­er) J Penny 55.5 – 78

10 – 8 COYOTE CREEK (Y Bremner) L Hewitson 55.0 – 81

11 – 4 GREEN FIELD (Y Bremn­er) N Patel 55.0 – 0

12 – 12 JOKING (G D Smith) J P V’D Merwe 52.5 – 80

13 – 7 MISS APHRODITE (C Spies) T Gould 52.5 – 65

Same Trainer: (4,6,8,9,10,11) (5,7)