Seven quality fillies and mares are carded to go to post for the R1.25-million HSH Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes.
The Grade 1 race over 1600m will be run on the Standside track at Turffontein on Saturday.
The one runner missing from the field is Princess Calla, who will not be back to defend her title, however, trainer Sean Tarry does have two other representatives in Marigold Hotel and Under Your Spell.
Under Your Spell Ran out an easy winner of the Grade 2 Hawaii Stakes and followed that up with a fourth place behind Trip Of Fortune in the Grade 1 HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes over this course and distance last time. This daughter of Capetown Noir is ultra-consistent and has to be a lively contender in this line-up.
Topping the field, however, is Mike de Kock-trained Desert Miracle, who earlier this year upset hot favourite Captain’s Ransom to win the Grade 1 Majorca Stakes over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth.
She comes in as the best-weighted runner by at least 5kg and will have Craig Zackey in the irons.
She is not always the most reliable of fillies as she does have her issues, but at her best, she will prove hard to beat.
She did disappoint in her first run back on the Highveld when a 5.50-length fourth stablemate and three reopposing runners, Humdinger, Marigold Hotel and Gimme A Shot.
De Kock-trained Humdinger does not know how to run a bad race. The daughter of What A Winter has run 12 times for the De Kock yard for four wins and seven places. S’manga Khumalo takes the ride for the first time.
Feather Boa has to be one of the unluckiest fillies in racing as she has been touched off in her last three races, which included the Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas and SA Fillies Classic, as well as a recent Pinnacle Stakes won by Humdinger, with Marigold Hotel in second over 1400m at this course. Just 0.15 lengths separated the three so it could be tight between the trio this time.
Mike and Adam Azzie send out last year’s Ipi Tombe Stakes winner Gimme A Shot who last ran in the Grade 1 HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes and may have been a little unlucky as she suffered some serious interference at a vital stage of the race.
The seventh runner is Grade 3 Starling Stakes winner Miss Daisy. The Billy Ruiters-trained runner was supplemented into the field and has some excellent form to her name.
Clive Robinson
