Three-year-olds ready to shine on Champions Day

Champions Day is always a great occasion for South African horseracing and Saturday’s meeting on the Standside track at Turffontein is no different.

Four Grade 1 races, four Grade 2 races, three Jackpots, two BiPots, Hong Kong World Pool betting on Races 6 to 11 and a prospective R5-million Pick 6 pool – it’s about as good as it gets.

This year it should a great day for three-year-olds.

Topping the Grade 1 pool is the R2-milion HKJC World Pool Premier’s Champions Challenge over 2000m and this should be a real thriller. Jockey Muzi Yeni will be chasing a record-equalling fifth win in this race aboard defending champion Royal Victory while last year’s Grade 1 SA Classic and SA Derby champion Purple Pitcher will be looking to clinch a third Grade 1 triumph.

With the Grade 1 SA Derby also run on the day, it is quite rare to get the top three-year-olds contesting this race but that is not the case this time and trainer Alec Laird has opted to run highly rated Fire Attack. This Fire Away colt had to be withdrawn from the Grade 2 Gauteng Guineas with a virus and his warm-up for the SA Classic was washed away due to inclement weather.

As a result, he came into the Classic underdone and still managed to fly up late to go down just 0.70 lengths. He will be fully fit for this race, he is looking for this distance and with champion jockey Richard Fourie in the irons this time Fire Attack is the horse to beat.

Last year at this meeting, Purple Pitcher claimed the Derby but has not won since then. This Robyn Klaasen-trained four-year-old has had a perfect preparation and as a strong front runner, will ensure there is a decent pace. Kabelo Matsunyane has ridden him to victory in both his Grade 1 successes and he is back aboard this time.

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Royal Victory had a brilliant last season, winning both the Betway Summer Cup and this race, and is not without a chance of doing the double. The five-year-old was fancied to repeat his Summer Cup win but ran into all sorts of trouble and was beaten three lengths. Jockey Muzi Yeni says Nathan Kotzen’s charge is doing well and they are expecting him to be competitive.

Much of the attention in the TAB SA Derby over 2450m will be on Mike and Mathew De Kock-trained Immediate Edge. The son of Vercingetorix is unbeaten in three starts and Mike de Kock has already said he would be looking to run him in the Grade 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July.

He will have to get his merit rating up and no doubt the father-and-son De Kock team will be hoping this is the race that will do it for them. In his last start, over 2000m on the Turffontein Standside track, Immediate Edge showed tremendous courage to get up close home and touch off Wild Intent by a head.

The two are carded to meet again in the Derby and many pundits will point to the fact that Lucky Houdalakis-trained Wild Intent is 3kg better off and well weighted to reverse that result.

Nevertheless, there are a few other factors to take into account, the most important being that he is still learning his trade and will only get better for the experience. De Kock commented after the colt’s last win: “I do think a lot of this horse, I think he’s going places.”

Over the extra 450m Immediate Edge is the horse to beat, in spite of the weight turnaround. Ryan Munger stays with the De Kock runner while Gavin Lerena will once again ride Wild Intent.

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Another runner with a winning chance is Legend Of Arthur. Trainer Sean Tarry rates this colt highly and he put up an excellent performance in the SA Classic. He got lost in the race following a slow start and turned for home in last place and more than 12 lengths off the leaders.

But he found an incredible finishing burst to run third and the son of Lancaster Bomber could be even better over this distance. Champion jockey Richard Fourie takes the ride once again and that combination must be respected.

The De Kock yard should also be in the mark with Spumante Dolce in the Grade 1 Empress Club Stakes for fillies and mares over 1600m, which has attracted a small but exclusive field of seven runners. This beautifully bred filly won her first three races, including the Grade 2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas over 1600m in which she beat reopposing VJ’s Angel.

She went into the Grade 1 SA Fillies Classic as a hot favourite but never got into the race and finished unplaced. It was discovered later that mucous was found in her trachea and that probably caused the poor performance.

She is a lot better than that run suggests and it is worth noting she has been fitted with a tongue tie for this race. Raymond Danielson takes the ride once again. William Robertson just gets better with age and the 14-time winner deserves a Grade 1 success.

He is well weighted and any give in the ground will work in his favour. He looks the best Pick 6 banker when he lines up in the Computaform Sprint over 1000m.

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