Sheriff back to his best distance

When a horse who was winning almost every race in which he ran appears to go off form one often wonders whether it is because the handicapper has caught up with him or whether it is because of some other factor.

Gogetthesheriff is one of those horses. After eight wins from nine outings on the surface at Fairview he was named “Polytrack Horse Of The Year”. Most of those wins were over 1200m to 1400m but the son of Go Deputy was performing reasonably well over further as well. His last few starts have been between 1600m and 2000m and Jacques Strydom’s charge disappointed.

However, today he runs in the November Stakes (Non-Black Type), Race 6 over 1400m and one can expect a return to form over this distance. He last raced over this course and distance in August in a Pinnacle Stakes and he produced one of his explosive finishes to beat home Russian Mig by 0.50 lengths.

One gets the impression the further he goes, the less able he is to put in that finishing burst for which he has become known. He will be ridden once again by Ryan Munger.

As this is a stakes race he comes in as the best handicapped runner – only just – but that is more because his merit rating has come down after his last few disappointing starts than anything else.

The second-best handicapped runner is Shadow Ofhis Smile who will be having his first run in Port Elizabeth. Many people thought this son of Western Winter would be a superstar after his runaway debut victory for Geoff Woodruff but sadly the six-year-old has had his problems.

He has not raced on the Polytrack and could need the run but is not without a chance if anything close to peak fitness. Raymond Danielson rides.