Tarry set to strike yet again with Machismo

With the Sean Tarry yard continuing to churn out win­ners it could be worth following Machismo in Race 4 at the Vaal tomorrow, a MR 82 Handicap over 1400m on the Inside track.

He has yet to win over this sort of trip but last time out could have been considered an unlucky loser when narrowly touched off by Daffiq in a Graduation Plate over 1450m on the Turffontein Inside track. The winner is highly thought of and Machismo did well to get that close, considering he suffered interference close home.

Apprentice Lyle Hewitson is reunited with the four-year-old son of Silvano and he has quite a decent record on Machismo. He has ridden him four times for one win, a second and a third place.

The biggest threat could come from Tandava, who has done well for Zimbabwean trainer Gorkhan Terzi since he relocated some of his runners to the Highveld. Tan­dava has run three times at the Vaal for two wins and a fifth place. All of those runs were over 1000m but he has won over 1800m.

Last time Tandava ran in a Graduation Plate and beat Cham­pagne Haze by 0.75 lengths. The runner-up is a top-class per­former but he carried 67kg and gave Terzi’s charge 15kg. Tandava received a 2kg penalty for that vic­tory and as he is dropping quite substantially in class will carry 60kg, 8kg more than last time. Jarryd Penny rode him to victory last time and he is back aboard.

Alec Laird saddles two runners in Cherokee Grey and Danza and while a case can be made for both of them, preference is for the for­mer. Cherokee Grey is a two-time winner and both were over this course and distance. In his last start, which was over 1500m, the gelding ran on best of all to finish 2.25 lengths behind Maximizer.

Nephrite is another to consid­er. He comes from the Lucky Hou­dalakis yard and that is another stable in fine form.