Three Grade 1 races head up Saturday’s card at Turffontein and include the second leg of the SA Triple Crown and Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara for three-year-olds.
The TAB SA Classic and Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic, both Grade 1 races over 1800m on the Standside track, is undoubtedly the pivotal leg of the three-race event as both winners of the TAB Gauteng Guineas and Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas will be back in action on Saturday in an attempt to keep the flag flying.
The key issue is that both Sandringham Summit and Gimme A Nother could not have been more impressive in their respective victories and they will be strong favourites to repeat their successes in the second leg.
Both will face similar opposition to the group that challenged them in the Guineas and Fillies Guineas with Mike de Kock having Fillies Guineas runner-up Silver Sanctuary and Champagne Cocktail joining unbeaten Gimme A Nother.
The runners who finished from second to seventh spot behind Sandringham Summit are all there again but the horse who is likely to attract some attention is Barbaresco, who did not run in Gauteng Guineas, but is in top form and will have his supporters.
The other Grade 1 feature is the Wilgerbosdrift HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes over 1600m and this has attracted an outstanding field.
It is headed up by Equus Horse-Of-The-Year Princess Calla and includes Hollywoodbets Durban July winner Winchester Mansion, Puerto Manzano, top three-year-old Main Defender, Cousin Casey and three runners from the Western Cape – Cosmic Highway (Dean Kannemeyer), Sugar Mountain (Candice Bass-Robinson) and At My Command (Brett Crawford).
Bass-Robinson won this race last year with Trip Of Fortune but could find it tough to repeat it this time against the quality of these runners.
Sean Tarry-trained Princess Calla, with Richard Fourie in the irons, will be very hard to beat under the race conditions. She gets a 2.5kg sex allowance and that makes her the best weighted runner by at least 3kg.
Clive Robinson
