Back In Business should be just that when he returns to the Turffontein track on Thursday after a layoff of 86 days in which he was also gelded.
Trained by Joe Soma, this son of William Longsword hit the racing scene with a bang, notching up two consecutive victories before following up with a third-place finish, running just 1.75-lengths behind Dave The King in a Graduation Plate.
Considering that Dave The King went on to contest the Grade 2 Guineas at Hollywoodbets Greyville as well as the Grade 1 Daily News and Grade 1 Durban July – all with distinction – Back In Business should be hard to peg back if he resumes his career where he left off back in April.
With a perfect record of two from two over course and distance, and with S’manga Khumalo again in the saddle, Race 3, a Graduation Plate, looks his for the taking.
The only real challenger in the field seems to be Southern Skies from the yard of Johan Janse van Vuuren.
This daughter of Vercingetorix has never been disgraced when taking on the boys and is the best weighted runner in the pack, thanks to a Merit Rating of 96.
Back in April, she was the runner sandwiched between Back In Business and Dave The King when rated 98. She was dropped two points after her next outing when finishing tenth in the Durban Dash, finishing 3.6-lengths behind Captain Bombshell.
The 10-point difference in rating between Back In Business and Southern Skies does, however, not seem quite realistic, so Soma’s charge gets the nod despite being a good 4kg out at the weights and coming off a break.
Soma himself hasn’t saddled a winner since the first day of June and Back In Business could do the trick to get his trainer back in business too.
The highlight on the card is undoubtedly Race 6, a Pinnacle Stakes over 1600m, where Eye Of The Prophet is back over his best distance.
Winner of the Gauteng Guineas, trainer Paul Matchett did try his luck with this Gimmethegreenlight-gelding in the triple crown, but the SA Classic (1800m) and SA Derby (2450m) proved beyond his reach.
He did return to winning ways last time out when dropping back to 1450m.
With three of his five career wins coming over 1600m, he must rate the one to beat.
The biggest dangers are Stuart Pettigrew’s pair – Whafeef and Gilded Butterfly.
The former is in the form of his life, finishing in the top three in his last six consecutive outings, which include two victories.
While a case can be made for many others in the field, expect Eye Of The Prophet and Whafeef to fight it out.
Clive Robinson
