Clive Robinson
Tuscan Winter is an extremely talented runner but at times can be his own worst enemy.
He often loses ground at the start and that already puts him on the back foot, especially as he is sprinter.
What he does have is an incredible turn of foot and invariably is the runner producing the fastest time over the final 400m. At times it is good enough to get him up close to the line and on other occasions he might just fail to win.
Nevertheless, he has a decent enough record of four wins and six places from 13 runs.
On Tuesday he lines up in a MR 92 Handicap over 1200m on the Inside track at Turffontein and the five-year-old gelding has to be the runner to beat, despite having to concede weight to the other eight runners.
One does feel that at the moment trainer Johan Janse van Vuuren probably has got this son of What A Winter in the best form of his racing career. His last five races have produced three wins and a second place, with his lone unplaced effort coming after a three-month break.
Regular jockey Gavin Lerena is not riding at the meeting so Keagan de Melo, who is on fire at the moment, has picked up the ride on Tuscan Winter for the first time.
He will face some strong opposition and once you look beyond Tuscan Winter there are a number of runners with chances.
Expeditioner is another who has been ultra-consistent, and the Candice Dawson-trained gelding has only been out of the first two on his debut run. Since then, he has been competitive in every race and has notched up two wins, both of them over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
Kabelo Matsunyane takes the ride.
Mathis was well beaten by Tuscan Winter when they last met but comes into this race 3kg better off for a 2.80-length beating so the grey colt should get quite a bit closer this time.
Mathis has recently changed stables and will be having his first outing for the Billy Ruiters yard.
Ryan Munger takes the ride.
