Time for a sun dance for the Matchem match-up

Whatever you do, don’t wash your car if you’re in Cape Town. And carry an umbrella with you in the next few days.

Indeed, racing folk have a solemn duty to try to stop rain falling on Western Cape so we can see the running of the Matchem and Diana Stakes at Durbanville on Saturday – highlights of the latest Spring Series instalment known as the Bubbles and Blossoms meeting.

The Matchem is of particular interest as it features a clash between champion miler Charles Dickens and star sprinter Gimme A Prince, over the mean distance of 1400m. Both horses are making their returns to the track after seasonal holidays, so it’s not a definitive test of superiority, but very intriguing all the same.

Wet weather has been a scourge in recent weeks and pictures of flood devastation at racing doyen Hassen Adams’s Nadeson Park Stud have been shocking. Adams has been a charismatic – not to mention historic – figure in the industry and it would be a great shame if he were to go through with his stated inclination to chuck it all in.

Kommetdieding

A little dryness and a drop of sunshine might lighten his – and the general – mood. Is the opposite of a rain dance a sun dance?

One individual who hasn’t been bothered by the Cape deluge is Kommetdieding, who does his work indoors nowadays. The hugely popular July-Met winner is in his first season at stud and, according to bloodstock guru John Freeman, is “firing on all cylinders and a star performer in the stallion barn” at Klawervlei Stud, where he has been syndicated.

In a phrase that thoroughbred breeding types enjoy using, Kommet “does the job” most satisfactorily – to the extent that, despite his covering book being full, he could fit in a few more mares after hours, so to speak.

Of course, Kommetdieding means “bring it on”, which is rather apt; as long as we’re not talking about precipitation.