To become South African Champion Jockey requires a lot travelling and that usually stops the majority of the really talented riders having a go at it. And without attacking the recent winners of this award it would be nice if a talented jockey like Richard Fourie were to win it.
Fourie has been doing a lot more travelling this season than ever before and he could be building for an attack next season.
He has some decent rides at Fairview on Friday and the best of them could be Follow The Star in Race 6, the Lakeside Handicap over 2400m.
This Glen Kotzen-trained mare has looked at her best this season and won nicely over the course and distance in October last year.
She beat rival in this race Miss Orange by 1.25 lengths and as there is a weight swing of 2.5kg, the chances are there it could be a different result this time but Follow The Star may have had more in the tank.
There are another three feature races on the day and punters will be treated to some good racing.
In Race 2, the Breeders Guineas Plate there was only a couple of lengths separating Miss Nibbles, Zambaq and Twice The Heaven when they met last time on the Polytrack.
The switch to the turf is likely to change that result completely and there is a weight shift in favour of Zambaq.
The Fairview Merchants over 1200, Race 7, could see Whatever Next and Captain Tatters fight out the finish. Captain Tatters finds it hard to win but should go close over a course and distance that suits.
Whatever Next, the Eastern Cape Champion Two-Year-Old colt, can get his three-year-old career flying.
The fourth big race of the day, Race 5, the Fairview Mile, sees Marmara Sea pull at the heartstrings one more time.
He has had a long, hard campaign and did find stable companion Carioca surprisingly a few lengths too good for him last time out.
It would be nice if he could pull off another feature-race win, but it is getting tougher for him.
Preview by Clive Robinson
